With the opening of Intown Salt Room in early July, Atlanta gained its first dedicated salt spa inside the Perimeter, claims founder and owner Carrie Wright.

Salt spas, which have been popular in Europe for decades, are gaining in popularity in the U.S. Indeed, today’s salt therapy had its start in the 1800s, when doctors in Eastern Europe started noticing that salt-mine workers were in better health than their peers. Not long after that, therapeutic clinics were set up in salt mines for patients who wanted to benefit from salt therapy.

The health benefits most often associated with salt therapy include relief of respiratory and skin conditions, including asthma, allergies, bronchitis, sinusitis, acne, eczema and psoriasis.

According to the Salt Therapy Association, three attributes of pure salt contribute to the substance’s health benefits: It is “super absorbent, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory.” After breathing salt in, the dry salt “naturally starts absorbing allergens, toxins and foreign substances into your lungs and throughout your respiratory tract.”

As for health benefits to the skin, the Association writes, “the properties of dry salt also absorb impurities and provide anti-bacterial properties that benefit the skin . . . The smaller particles can reach beneath the skin’s surface and absorb moisture towards the skin. The larger salt particles land on the skin and absorb any bacterial and foreign substances.”

Wright says that visitors to her spa, located on Memorial Drive across from Oakland Cemetery, have thus far been split between those wanting to address specific health conditions such as allergies or eczema and those seeking a quiet, calming place to relax. That may be a function of the fact that Intown Salt features two rooms, Breathe and Meditate.

Breathe is the salt therapy room. A machine called a halogenerator pulverizes Himalayan salt and disperses it in the air so that visitors can breathe it in. The Meditate room features an infrared Himalayan salt tower. According to Wright, the salt tower is similar to a home salt lamp except that it’s 100 times more powerful. It generates negative ions, which creates a sense of calm, just like a visit to the beach.

In addition, Meditate features two SoSound Wave Loungers, the experience of which the manufacturer describes as a “musical massage.” As a visitor listens to music through headphones provided by Intown Salt Room, the loungers gently vibrate in synchronization with it. Wrote one customer who used Meditate: “You feel the vibrations from the music emanating from the chair in addition to the sound, and the combination is very relaxing.”

Wright focuses her marketing message on the benefits of relaxation because that reflected her first experience of halotherapy. “A couple of years ago I discovered dry salt rooms and dry salt therapy to help with stress,” Wright says. “Then I started feeling and realizing additional benefits from the dry salt, being able to sleep better at night, my skin was looking better.”

Wright decided to start her business because, “I wanted to go as often as I could, but living in Grant Park, if I wanted to go visit a salt room I was going to Peachtree City, or Cobb County. I couldn’t understand why there wasn’t one located inside the Perimeter.”

For those visiting Intown Salt Room for health reasons, Wright recommends trying two visits a week for several weeks, then gauging effectiveness and adjusting accordingly. First-time visitors can purchase an introductory three-visit package to either Breath or Meditate for $60 and $35, respectively; the usual prices are $40 and $25 per session, respectively. Introductory package sessions must be used within 21 days.

Intown Salt Room is located at 563 Memorial Dr. Unit CU-A, Atlanta, GA 30312. For more information, see intownsaltroom.com, or call 678-974-7867.