Purifying Myself in the Waters of the Blue Lagoon in Iceland

With Lara from Pretty Connected

If you haven’t seen Purple Rain, you might not get the pun in my title. Heck, I was barely 5 myself when it first came out but I have older sisters who kept me in the know. In fact one of them asked me if I was going to purifying myself in the Icelandic waters when I sent a picture of me posed in front of a glacier to the family group text…lol. Except, if given a choice I’d dive into the Blue Lagoon naked with a group of tourists watching with camera phones out than merely dip my toes in the waters of Lake Minnetonka. Because: yikes.

Read more posts in my Iceland series here

But yes, no trip to Iceland is complete without going to the Blue Lagoon. It IS one of the wonders of the world of course. Folks sometimes get right off their flight from the Keflavík airport and head straight to the Blue Lagoon—it’s on the way if you’re eventually heading toward Reykjavik. It was our main activity on our third day in Iceland and to be honest, I could still be sitting in it osmosis be damned…lol.

The Blue Lagoon is practically a magical place that I hope I wind up in every time I dream. The gorgeous, crisp waters are naturally heated thanks to geysers and have healing powers thanks to the minerals and algae in the water. In fact there’s also a skincare line made right on the premises based on the healing properties of the Blue Lagoon. Lara and I were given a special tour of the R&D site (this is not something open to the public) where we got to meet the team who makes the skincare products and see firsthand how materials like lava, silica, and algae are crafted into the products sold at the Blue Lagoon. Iceland is BIG on renewable energy and the Blue Lagoon prides itself on being a zero waste facility so it was really cool to see things like lava and algae being made into actual skincare. The Blue Lagoon is also well-received within the psoriasis community as the waters (and some of the products) have very soothing and healing powers. There’s even a psoriasis clinic on site.

Sidenote: we’re not wearing full faces of makeup—just lip color and only because we knew we were taking pics…lol. You *could* wear makeup if you want to, but I didn’t wear any on my face because I wanted to try the masks while in the water

So without me going into a whole entire geology lesson (which I would totally go into if this were a geology blog and I knew as much about it as I did beauty and fashion, but alas) while the temperatures in Iceland when we visited in March were in the high 30s and low 40s, the Blue Lagoon waters were quite warm—some spots warmer than others. And like I mentioned earlier, it’s naturally heated because of the geysers. It feels weird sliding out of a robe and unleashing a bikini in 30-40 degree (Fahrenheit) temps but as soon as you get in that water you feel fine. Well, you feel way more than fine—it’s like a whole therapeutic experience and then your skin looks amazing afterwards, too. Your hair might be a different story though.

I haven’t had hair issues anywhere I’ve traveled because I typically carry heat tools with a local plug with me so I don’t have to worry about blowing out any of my U.S. tools. I was weave-less before this trip and decided to get braids so I would be able to get dressed faster and wouldn’t have to worry about my hair when in the Blue Lagoon. I wore my braids into a top knot because I didn’t want them to get wet and feel heavy plus I didn’t want the Blue Lagoon water to touch my own hair as the minerals can make the hair—especially hair like mine—very hard. It’s highly advised that you wet your hair (except in my case with the box braids) and put some conditioner in it before you get in the Blue Lagoon. I do this when I swim as well so that I don’t absorb a ton of chlorine in my hair. The idea is to saturate the hair with “clean” water and conditioner so that the chlorine water or Blue Lagoon water doesn’t penetrate the hair as much or at all. You want to take heed because you don’t want the minerals in the Blue Lagoon water to make your hair hard and brittle which could lead to damage. The Blue Lagoon is amazing for the skin, sometimes not so much for the hair.

We were given access to a VIP area which allowed us to have our own private mini Blue Lagoon experience, but we could of course also have access to the main area. IT WAS AMAZING! In the VIP area we were given a rundown of the skincare products, given demos, and were basically treated like Queens. I was too busy indulging that I forgot to take pics of the VIP area…lol.

I couldn’t even tell you how much time we spent in there—it just felt SO GOOD to be in the BLUE LAGOON. There’s a drink bar (they use a digital wristband system to charge you so you don’t have to keep soggy krona in your swimsuit…lol), a mask bar (complimentary silica masks), and in certain areas you can find little gems. We happened upon an area where the floor felt squishy like mud so we used our feet to collect some of that mud and put it on our bodies…lol.

A five-star hotel is currently being built in the area surrounding the Blue Lagoon which sounds like it would be amazing if you want to be closer to the Blue Lagoon and depending on the time of year you go, you’ll also be in an area close to where you might get a good view of the Northern Lights since the area is a little more remote than areas closer to Reykjavik.

The Blue Lagoon R&D team sent me home with some of the products I got to try out. I really enjoyed the Lava Scrub, Silica Mask, Algae Mask, Foot Scrub (I may look into buying the Foot Scrub since I got to try it but didn’t get one to take home), and the Rejuvenating Day Cream—each made my skin look and feel amazing. I have to try them out more to see if I get the same results back in NYC as I did when I was in the Blue Lagoon. I may also need to see how I can make my own Blue Lagoon in my apartment in Queens…lol.

So that was the Blue Lagoon for me—an experience I’ll always remember and will always want to go back to. Our time there left my skin super smooth and radiant—and shoot, I already take good care of my skin so to see those type of results was amazing.

Posed for this right before we headed into the Blue Lagoon. That is all or mostly lava with moss grown over it. SO cool!

Oh—the drive to the Blue Lagoon from Reykjavik is SO BEAUTIFUL. The picturesque backdrops and breathtaking “OMG I CAN’T BELIEVE I’M SEEING WHAT I’M SEEING” landscapes are surreal. Give yourself enough time in case you want to pull over and get pics. Just please don’t touch anything as to not disturb nature. On one of our tours the guide told us about how Iceland is known for not having a lot of trees dating back to the original settlers coming to Iceland and tearing them down which caused a tremendous loss over the following centuries. I joked on our trip that I better not accidentally drop any garbage outside (especially in the super windy areas) because I could cause some major geological damage 400 years later and they’ll pinpoint it to me…lol.

Read more posts in my Iceland series here

Have you ever been to the Blue Lagoon? Would you want to visit after reading this post? Have questions? Tell me all about it in the comments!