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Clay Compresses - Sodium Bentonite & Illite

Using and Preparing Clay Compresses

Large Bentonite Clay Compress - Always fashion compresses to the exact needed size

See Also:


Using Healing Clay Externally Poultices, Compresses & Healing Clay	Clay Packs / Clay Poultices Using Clay Gel, Clay Magma for Packs & Poultices

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Featured: Did You Know...?

From Anion A of Switzerland, to Fuller's Earth of the U.S. Midwest, to Argiletz's French Green clay in France, to the fine glacier clays of Canada, to the Dead Sea Muds of the middle east, to the vibrant green bentonites of Wyoming, to the pale grey bentonites of Death Valley, montomorillonite, bentonite, illite, and zeolite have held a long standing reputation for curative powers in natural medicine.

Healing Clay Compresses

A clay compress is quite different from a clay poultice. There are many reasons one may elect to use clay compresses over clay poultices/packs:

When the body is too weak to handle full clay packs
When the supply of clay is too limited to continually use clay packs
When a very wide surface requires continual treatment
When convenience is such an issue that clay compresses are the only viable treatment option

As an example, if the entire back/spine requires treatment, the body may not be able to tolerate sustained use of clay poultices. Furthermore, such a treatment would require that the back be immobilized during treatment, which is often impractical, if not impossible.

A clay compresses ( or multiple compresses ) may be prepared, placed on the body, secured, and the individual can continue with normal daily affairs.

Due to the fact that clay compresses are not usually as insulating as clay packs, the body may experience coldness when large compresses are used on the torso. This needs to be monitored carefully, with common sense guiding how long treatments should be continued.

Clay compresses may also result in pain masking, rather than true pain relief, in situations with severe chronic pain. Individuals should be careful not to over-tax any injured area while using clay compresses.

Preparing a Clay Compress

Clay Compress First, one pre-prepares clay for use. The author prefers a super-hydrated clay, where the clay is completely hydrated to the point that no further water may be added without causing a seperation of the clay magma.

There are two methods generally used in the preperation of clay compresses:

The first method is easier to prepare, but may not be as "strong" as with the second method. A clean, white cotton cloth or dressing is completely soaked in the clay; the dressing is thus completely saturated. The compress is then placed on the treatment location. These types of clay compresses should be changed after twenty minutes.

The second method requires a bit more work. A clean, white, cotton dressing is placed on a table, and the clay is applied to only one side of the dressing. Enough clay should be used so that one cannot see the dressing through the clay. Too much clay added will cause clay to leak from the sides once the compress is placed on the body. Depending on the density of the clay used, these types of clay compresses can be left on the body for between twenty minutes and 3.5 hours.

Leaving a clay compress on the body to the point that it dries can cause some difficulties with the skin, with prolonged use. Every situation is unique, and one must use good judgment when deciding how long each compress can remain on the body.

Generally speaking, the higher the swelling potential of a clay, the longer a compress can be left on the body before necessitating a change.

When preparing a clay compress, always fashion the compress to the exact needed size; one can even cut the dressing to comfortably mold and fit precisely on the desired treatment location.

When Should a Clay Pack be Used Instead?

There are many cases where a poultice should be used in place of a compress, if possible:

When any skin or open infection is present
When treating any condition that requires the clay work deep within the body

In such situations, compresses can still be used, but preferrably after a clay poultice.

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Featured: Did You Know...?

"What is the evolutionary significance of plant toxins and animal anti-toxin behaviour? From a plant's evolutionary perspective, a seed should be high in nutrients to support germination and seedling growth; the ripe fruit around the seed should also be nutrient-rich and attractive to animals, encouraging them to pluck and eat the fruit and disperse the seed. On the other hand, the seed itself should be repulsive to animal consumers, inducing them to regurgitate or defaecate it, and the unripe fruit should be repulsive, lest animals harvest it before the seed is viable. From an animal's evolutionary perspective, an ability to defeat the plant's toxin defences would enable it to obtain the nutrients in the seed as well as those in the ripe fruit, and to outcompete other animal consumers by harvesting the fruit while it is unripe and still unpalatable to them.

"Any textbook of animal biology describes the resulting evolutionary arms race, in which plants evolve increasingly potent toxins (such as strychnine and quinine), and animals evolve increasingly potent means of detoxification. While enzymatic detoxification has previously received the most attention, the work of Gilardi et al.10 and the wide distribution of geophagy among animal herbivores suggest an additional important means of detoxification by adsorption on ingested soil minerals."

- Jared M. Diamond, Department of Physiology, University of California Medical School, Los Angeles

Read more about indigenous habits and instinctual use of edible clay minerals in our bentonite articles section.