Addition to your Hilton Head spa life: Mud masks from Austrian mountains, German lakes

Lisa Wilson
·3 min read

Hang around the Lowcountry long enough, and you’ll likely encounter the pluff mud that forms the base of our salt marshes. But there’s a spa on Hilton Head that would like a different kind of mud to come to mind when you’re on the island.

Moor Spa Hilton Head, located on Dunmore Court, specializes in treatments using moor from Vorarlberg, Austria; algamoor from a lake bed in northern Germany; ground gemstone clay from Vancouver Island; or kelp enzyme from an ancient seabed in Nevada.

Spa owner Deb Durrant, who is a massage therapist, said the “earth therapy experience” is purposeful from the spa’s entry throughout the treatment.

“We’re all stressed in life ... and so we need to be guided to let go,” she said. “So many of us are so wound tight from life that we have to be encouraged or reminded that you need to take time for yourself.”

The spa opened last year, but in January it expanded its offerings to appeal to couples and groups such as bridal parties that would like to have spa treatments together. The newly renovated Elevation Lounge can have up to four therapy tables.

Moor Spa Hilton Head uses Austrian deep moor in its therapies.
Moor Spa Hilton Head uses Austrian deep moor in its therapies.

Unique to Hilton Head

The Moor Spa product line was created by Michael Beresford in the late 1990s in Canada and is now sold worldwide. There are more than 80 products in the line.

Durrant first used the products as a massage therapist in Florida and became friends with Beresford during that time, but she left the spa business when she and her husband moved to Beaufort County in 2013. A decade later she mentioned to Beresford that she was missing her profession.

“And he says, ‘Listen, I’m really throwing around the idea of a concept spa for the brand. Would you be interested in, in helping me develop that?’ So that’s where it started,” Durrant said.

The Hilton Head spa is the result of that partnership and is the only one of its kind.

“We have very unique treatments that we do at the spa,” Durrant said. “It’s different, very different.”

Therapies offered

Where there’s mud, there’s water, and that plays a distinct role in the Moor Spa treatments as well.

The Hilton Head spa has a 72-inch tub where clients can have a bath and soak in warm water with moor added. The warm water is particularly good to relieve chronic pain, Durrant said.

“Somebody who’s in a lot of chronic pain, whether they have arthritis or aches and pains, joint pains ... you’ll feel relief right away,” she said.

A vishy table is equipped with a steam canopy and shower heads to follow a masking treatment, while the sauna offers salt and light therapy.
A vishy table is equipped with a steam canopy and shower heads to follow a masking treatment, while the sauna offers salt and light therapy.

Another of Moor Spa’s therapies uses a vichy table. After a body mask with moor or one of the other products, clients are draped with a canopy for a steam treatment, and then shower heads built into the canopy are used to rinse the mask off.

A sauna large enough for three people to sit in comfortably includes dry salt therapy or light therapy, and more traditional relaxation or deep-tissue massages, hand and foot treatments, and an assortment of facials are also offered.

At a glance

  • What: Moor Spa Hilton Head

  • Address: 4 Dunmore Court, Building C, Suite 300, Hilton Head

  • Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday

  • Phone: 843-681-6060

  • Website: https://moorspahiltonhead.com/