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Brand of magnesium oil?

Ocean

Senior Member
Messages
1,178
Location
U.S.
Can anyone recommend a brand of magnsium oil or even a brand to avoid? I want to order some tonight or tomorrow but thought asking here might be more useful than just reading online reviews on Amazon alone. I don't know if the brand really matters anyway, but just thought I'd ask before purchasing. Thanks to anyone who can share a tip on this.

ETA: I found an old thread and it seemed like ancient minerals brand could be good. I'll probably go with that. Should have checked before I started this thread!
 

anne_likes_red

Senior Member
Messages
1,103
I really like Ancient Minerals (from memory this is the one Dreambirdie uses too).

You really know you're deficient when you're overcome by a relaxed feeling within 10 minutes of applying it! Great before sleep :)

I had to build up slowly - started with just one spray a day and increased to eight over several weeks.

HTH
Anne.
 

Ocean

Senior Member
Messages
1,178
Location
U.S.
Thanks so much. I desperately need help with my sleep and can't tolerate oral magnesium. I hope this works!
 

Alexia

Senior Member
Messages
168
Location
Portugal
Hi,

I use Magnesium Oil from "BeterYou". I mix it with a bit of body cream before I apply it otherwise I find that my skin gets a bit sticky. I'm very happy with this brand. They have several variations of Magnesium oil I use the "original spray".
 

Jenny

Senior Member
Messages
1,388
Location
Dorset
I use BetterYou too. No problems with it.

No idea if it's doing anything though.

(Used it for 6 months and now in bad relapse - this is how my illness goes, nothing to do with Mg I'm sure.)

Jenny
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
For transdermal magnesium, I have tried on my skin both:

• Magnesium oil, which is not an oil at all, but just magnesium chloride crystals dissolved in water, which for some reason has an oily texture.

• Magnesium sulfate crystals (Epsom salts) dissolved in water, which does not have an oil texture.

I much prefer putting magnesium sulfate dissolved in water on my skin, because this does not feel sticky like magnesium oil, and also it does not irritate and itch the skin like I find magnesium oil does.

The magnesium content of magnesium sulfate is comparable to magnesium chloride, so they are both effective ways of absorbing magnesium through the skin.

If you want to make life easy for yourself, just get an empty plastic household cleaner spray bottles (like the one shown), fill it with warm water, and dissolve in the Epsom salts. Then you can just spray this Epsom salts solution on your skin from the bottle, and in my experience it works great.

Actually what I do is spray a bit of solution from the bottle into the palm of my hand (rather than spraying directly on the skin), and then rub that onto my skin.

Household cleaner spray
bottle containing magnesium
sulfate dissovled in water


empty-bottle-of-cleaner-mdn.jpg

I sometimes just spray just my leg area, and rub in. It takes only two minutes to dry, and then you can put your clothes on. If I want a larger dose of magnesium, I spray over my entire body, from head to toe.

You don't have to wash off this Epsom salts solution, because it dries in after two minutes, and it does not itch or irritate at all, unlike magnesium oil, so I find you don't even know it's there. This means that you can go on absorbing the magnesium for a longer period of many hours.

I use a 750 ml (25 oz) cleaner spray bottle, and this lasts me months of daily application.

When you are making up a bottle like this, a surprising amount of Epsom salts crystals can be dissolved in the water. I get around two mug fulls of Epsom salts crystals to dissolve into one bottle. I tend to make the Epsom salts solution as concentrated as possible.

Since you can buy a 1 LB of Epsom salts crystals for a couple of dollars / pounds at a pharmacy, this is also a very inexpensive source of transdermal magnesium.



I calculated that if you are using a standard 750 ml household cleaner bottle like the one in the picture, and you dissolve two mugfuls of Epsom salts in that (which is about 500 grams in total of Epsom salts), then:

Each spray will contain around 100 mg or so of elemental magnesium.

These household cleaner bottles deliver 1 ml of liquid per spray (when I tested them), so that's how you can do the calculation.

I typically use 20 or so sprays to cover my whole body, so that will be a total magnesium dose of 2,000 mg = 2 grams.

It's not clear what percentage is absorbed through the skin, but I would estimate that a good 50% is absorbed, so that would amount to 1 gram of elemental magnesium actually entering the body from 20 sprays.



This study on the absorption of magnesium during an Epsom salts bath in 19 individuals found that after a week of daily Epsom salts baths, on average the blood magnesium levels increased from 105 ppm to 141 ppm. The concentration of Epsom salts in these baths was just 1%, which equates to 600 grams of Epsom salts in a 60 liter bath.

So given that my saturated solution Epsom salts spray is much more concentrated than 1% (I use 500 grams in 750 ml, which works out as a 67% concentration), I would guess you get a greater absorption of Epsom salts from my spray method than you will from a bath. Plus my method is much more economical than a bath, which requires 600 grams of Epsom salts for each bath.


Other studies on transdermal magnesium here.



If applying magnesium sulfate daily for long periods, it is advisable to consider oral calcium supplementation, as calcium and magnesium really need to be consumed in a certain ratio. If you do not take calcium, what happened to me may also happen to you (I developed an incredible unconscious craving for milk!).
 
Last edited:

anne_likes_red

Senior Member
Messages
1,103
Thanks Hip, what a simple recipe for transdermal magnesium!

I don't find the mag chloride oil sticky at all, but I have noticed it stings occasionally - I experience it maybe one application in ten? I get a sharp tingling that lasts 5 minutes.

I'm keen to try the sulfate version now, and maybe alternate them for a while. :)

Thanks again!
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
Just a tip on preparing an empty cleaner spray bottle: if it still has a strong detergent smell even after washing it out, fill the bottle with water, and leave it for a day or two, and this water will absorb the smell.
 

Ocean

Senior Member
Messages
1,178
Location
U.S.
Jenny, I hope you're feeling better too. Sorry I neglected to say that last time!
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
Thanks Hip, what a simple recipe for transdermal magnesium!

I don't find the mag chloride oil sticky at all, but I have noticed it stings occasionally - I experience it maybe one application in ten? I get a sharp tingling that lasts 5 minutes.

I'm keen to try the sulfate version now, and maybe alternate them for a while. :)

Thanks again!

I am glad you like it. It is quite simple and fast to use too. I tend to spray the liquid from the bottle into the cupped palm of my other hand, and then rub this straight on my skin, as I find this is better and easier than spraying directly on the skin.
 

nomad

Anyone interested in a London Support group?
Messages
66
Location
London, UK
Thanks Hip, love the spray bottle idea. Will be trying this, along with bathing in epsom salts
 

Gondwanaland

Senior Member
Messages
5,092
A couple of moths ago I have tried Epsom Salts foot baths. I then started feeling an uncomfortable sort of burning sensation at my lower back and discontinued them (my cat found the footbaths tasty though). I am not sure what happens to the urinary tract with the ES foot baths.

So recently when I had leg cramps from raising my methylfolate, I opened two caps of Mg glycinate and diluted them in the spray bottle. I sprayed my legs a couple of times a day, which seemed to help (but shortly after this I overdid with coconut water consumption and other bad moves).

I ask if the transdermal Mg glycinate can be actually effective?

izzy
 

Calathea

Senior Member
Messages
1,261
After getting through a bottle of Better You magnesium oil, I bought a tub of magnesium chloride salts and made up the next spray bottle myself, at vastly reduced cost and at a lower dilution due to skin irritation. I find it helps with the skin irritation if you out on a coating of vegetable oil first, e.g. hemp oil (reasonably cheap, nice light texture). The magnesium oil isn't sticky at all. I now have fabulously moisturised skin.

I've read that magnesium sulphate may not be as well absorbed, but since it's used for baths, that sounds unlikely. I can't see how a water solution would sink into your skin, though. I was wondering about mixing magnesium chloride and magnesium sulphate, to reduce skin irritation. Would you end up with a less viscous brine, or would they not mix?
 

liverock

Senior Member
Messages
748
Location
UK
Interesting study using 'Better You' Magnesium Oil and the increase in tissue magnesium levels. There was also a high reduction in tissue heavy metal levels.

http://www.cnelm.com/NutritionPractitioner/Issues/Issue_11_1/Articles/7 Transdermal Mg revised2.pdf
This study was designed to test whether transdermal application of a 31%
magnesium chloride formulation could alter serum magnesium levels and whole body calcium/magnesium ratios. Patients were screened using a sophisticated hair analysis to determine pre-treatment levels of cellular magnesium and then again following the adopted protocol for product application.

After 12 weeks’ treatment 89% of subjects raised their cellular magnesium levels with an average increase of 59.7% recorded. Equivalent results using oral supplementation have been reported over 9-24 months. Furthermore all patients showed an improvement in the calcium/magnesium balance ratio where the mean improvement seen over the trial period was 25.2%.

Further observations indicated that 78% of patients also showed
significant evidence of detoxification of heavy metals following treatment with
BetterYou™ Magnesium Oil. These results show that non self selected patients who exhibit variable levels of intracellular magnesium can improve this significantly and could therefore impact on many areas of general health and well being, including cardiovascular and skeletal fitness.


My experience with mag oil is it is better to start with low dosages. Magnesium can lower sodium levels and those with already low sodium and low blood pressure can sometimes find it lowers it more. The magnesium oil levels used in the study where on healthy people.
 

Calathea

Senior Member
Messages
1,261
Yeah...not keen on hair analysis. Also there's a total lack of placebo, and I suspect the study was paid for by the manufacturer. Who assured me that the stinging would stop happening after a few weeks, by the wat, and that is most assuredly not true. In fact, it recently got slightly worse.
 
Messages
12
Hi HIP I bought some magnesium oil which is soon to run out and will then try this spray. Thank you so much for sharing this. It seems a very effective, creative solution. Can I ask how much calcium do you take and is this as a tablet supplement .
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
Can I ask how much calcium do you take and is this as a tablet supplement .

If I am just spraying magnesium on my skin for a few days, I don't take any calcium. But if using this transdermal magnesium for longer periods of weeks of twice daily application, I will take something like 500 mg of calcium to help maintain the magnesium-calcium balance.
 
Messages
12
If I am just spraying magnesium on my skin for a few days, I don't take any calcium. But if using this transdermal magnesium for longer periods of weeks of twice daily application, I will take something like 500 mg of calcium to help maintain the magnesium-calcium balance.
Thanks