Pluff Mud-Mud Treatments

Pluff mud has become much more than just a rich, organic material that feeds our crops. It has developed into an icon of the Lowcountry, something that says you’re here and you know it.

When Chris Fulks started Pluff Mud Properties, his property and management company, coming up with the name was natural.

“Pluff mud has kind of a cult following, and I wanted to key in on that,” Fulks says. “A woman from New York asked me why I would associate myself with such a disgusting smell. Obviously, I decided not to work with her.”

Those in the hospitality business want some of that Lowcountry connection as well. The Spa at the Inn at Palmetto Bluff in Bluffton developed an entire Lowcountry menu of treatments and treats, including one of their most popular – a palmetto pluff mud wrap.

“We sent an actual pluff mud sample to a laboratory and had them recreate it for us specifically, taking out anything harmful. They also dampened that harsh, fishy smell,” says Raye Fetzner, director of the spa.

The spa’s most popular couples treatment incorporates the pluff mud wrap. This private treatment is called Spa Boggin’, which begins with a detoxifying steam and piney sea salt exfoliation. Then the couple applies the pluff mud to each other and relaxes wrapped in linens. Champagne and strawberries or oysters are served while the couple soaks in a Spanish moss and citrus bath, and the finale is a massage. The whole treatment takes 2 1/2 hours.

“Couples love it,” Fetzner says. “We do between two and five spa boggins a week.”

Is pluff mud the mud of love? Should we even be asking if there is a “mud of love”? Who knows – it’s the Lowcountry after all.