by Dee McMath

An Algae Body Pack is a warm therapeutic full body seaweed wrap with a relaxing and often pain relieving effect.

The Algae Body Pack or seaweed wrap is a popular treatment and one of my personal favourites. It is offered at many of the beauty and spa areas of luxury, four and five star hotels all along the cosmopolitan and much visited south coast. You can usually book treatments, even if you're not staying at the hotel. To get hold of names and numbers of hotels that offer this and other similar treatments, pop into a local travel agent and ask for one of the current Health & Beauty Holiday brochures and see what's on offer. This way you also get details of each hotel and its location, style, etc. Not so many of the smaller beauty clinics offer this kind of treatment, as it requires more space and shower facilities are necessary in the treatment room. There are a few outstanding hotels and luxury beauty clinics on the coast where the rich and famous go for this kind of pampering. More accessible and less expensive are the numerous golf course hotels dotted all along the Costa del Sol (and the Atlantic coast - Costa de Luz). More and more of these golf hotels are becoming more aware of the demand for relaxing therapies such as the body wrap from golfers and their families.

Often there will be special packages for two or more treatments together. Since this is a relaxing therapy, it's often nice to combine it with a back massage or other treatment.

If you have never had a body wrap of this kind before, the main thing is to go along with the idea of relaxing. A thin layer of seaweed paste is spread on the skin and then you are wrapped in a specially designed, plastic lined, electric blanket, which is set at a low heat. The warmth helps the health giving elements of the seaweed to penetrate the skin. Once all wrapped up, you will be left to relax and soak in the seaweed for about 20 minutes to half an hour. This treatment is so relaxing it is often described as having a 'sedative effect' and gives great pain relief to rheumatism sufferers.

If you have any medical disorders or doubts about this, or any treatment, ask your own GP if it's suitable for you. In the better and more established spas and clinics there should be a medical consultant who can advise you and perhaps check your blood pressure or answer any specific questions you may have.

This is a very pleasant treatment, especially in winter. If, however, you suffer from claustrophobia, bear in mind that you will be left for up to half an hour like an Egyptian mummy with only your head outside of the warm cocoon of the blanket. If you have this treatment in the hot summer months - make sure the treatment room is air-conditioned or at least in a cool part of the building. The nice thing about this treatment in summer is that it leaves your skin all smooth and supple to show off on the beach or by the pool.

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