Approximately 2,700 years B.C.there was published in China the PENG-TZAO-KAN-MU, probably the earliest known treatise on pharmacology. A major portion of this writing was devoted to a discussion of more than 40 kinds of salt, including methods of extracting salt and putting it in usable form.

From ancient civilizations to today, salt and the sea has been associated with health and therapy.

Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, was the first one to detail the benefits of using sea water to cure various ailments. He encouraged his fellow healers to immerse patients with aching muscles and arthritis in sea water. The ancient Greeks continued this thinking by soaking in sea water hot tubs and heated seaweed bath's, they drank and inhaled sea water for health, got sea water massages, had sea green facials and body wraps, and used sea water pools for hydrotherapy and elimination of toxins from the body.

Then came the Romans, who raised bathing to a high art. Roman citizens lingered for hours in communal hot baths, where they socialized, conducted courtship, and even sealed business deals. They built lavish baths wherever they found natural hot springs.

In Europe in 1753, The Uses of Sea Water was published by English author and physician Charles Russel, whi discussed the various therapeutic properties of seawater. Once people started hearing about the curative properties of sea water, they began flocking to the coasts, especially to Great Britain and France. Marine hospitals opening up in England and France. The first French marine hospital, Petit Berck, opened in 1861. In 1865 Joseph La Bonardière coined the term thalassotherapy (from the Greek thalassa for "sea" and therapeia for "care"). Then in 1899 Louis Bagot started balneotherapie (bath therapy) treatments at the Institut Marin de Rockroum. This was the first true thalassotherapy clinic in Europe.

During the next several hundred years, doctors and scientists began studying what it was that made sea water beneficial for so many ailments

The Roman reverence for bathing has survived today in modern upscale spas and resorts were various bathing and sea therapies are used to reduce tension and stress, detoxify the skin and improve circulation, speed weight loss and cellulite control, and even ease menopausal discomforts. In Japan a highly ritualized bathing culture has evolved. Whole towns exist as destination resorts around Japanese natural hot springs and visits to the local communal hot tub are an everyday occurance.

Modern Thalassotherapy uses sea water treatments with the goal of improving health, fitness, well being and beauty. Here at SFBSC we endeavor to make these treatments accessible to everyone by providing you with the Spa therapy products for use in your own home.