A New Way to Wash Your Face: Neti Pots

A few months ago, a character on Six Feet Under gave another guy a neti pot and suggested he use it for his sinus problems. Ever since, I've been curious but can't find any information about them. What can you tell me?
- Ben

Getting health tips from an HBO show about a funeral home could never be classified as a good idea, whereas basing a vehicle purchase on the trunk size/dead body ratio does justify careful observation of The Sopranos. Given that a neti pot is used to rinse salted water through your sinuses, in one nostril and out the other, TV images of its use are enough to make you both cringe and gag. Come to think of it, those are precisely the two reactions for which HBO wins Emmys.

For centuries, practitioners of yoga and Ayurvedic medicine in India have known the benefit of daily nasal rinsing for both health and spiritual reasons. Shaped like the love child of an English teapot and Aladdin's lamp, neti pots are as common as toothbrushes in some parts of the world. Originally used as a part of yogic cleansing rituals, the West has now embraced forms of this nasal irrigation as a treatment for allergies and sinusitis. Other positive effects have been shown for headaches and snoring, but newer claims of magically eliminating all manner of ailments, including temper tantrums, seem a bit hysterical themselves. Threatening your kid with salt water up his nose when he demands the new Boba Fett action figure sounds more like child abuse than effective parenting.

Taken together, chronic sinusitis and pollen allergies (hay fever) affect more than a quarter of the population. Both involve swelling and irritation of the tissues lining the nasal passages and result in congestion, headache, post-nasal drip and runny nose. On normal days, you make about a quart of mucus, but when allergy and sinus problems begin, it starts to feel like you could produce more barrels than OPEC. The fault lies, usually, with a hypersensitive immune system reacting to dust, mold, tree pollen or animal dander.

These floating time bombs are generally inhaled and filtered out by an ingenious system inside your nose. Your first defense is tiny hairs that line your nasal passages, followed by a nice light coating of wet mucus to catch the particles. Finally, the minuscule arms of cilia pass the offending speck (crowd surfing style) back to the throat where it can be swallowed. Thick sticky mucus, paralyzed cilia or raw dry tissues allow the offensive bit to linger long enough to bind to cells that begin the dreadful immune response. Gently rinsing away these particles is the principal benefit of Jala Neti, or nasal irrigation.

The western medical community initially called it Nasal Douching, not understanding the obvious marketing blunder. Now more savvy, products have hit the shelves ranging from ergonomic squeeze bottles and giant syringes to frightening WaterPik attachments. However, the original homemade method of warm saline from a simple pot cannot really be improved upon. Research has exploded in the last decade showing significant decreases in allergy medication use, improved quality of life, resolution of chronic sinus problems and numerous other perks of regular use. The only problems are developing the skill and overcoming the ick factor.

A wide variety of neti pots are available in health food stores and online. Begin by making a saline solution fresh for each use; a teaspoon of non-iodized salt and a pinch of baking soda in two cups of warm bottled water approximates the saltiness of our bodies and will be soothing once you triumph over the gag reflex. Tilt your head over the sink or bathtub so your forehead is level with your chin, turn your face up to one side, make a good seal with the upper nostril and start to pour (this is where I tell you I've been joking, then laugh and laugh). Complete relaxation and breathing through your mouth are essential, but don't expect success your first try. Some instructions direct you to spit the liquid out your mouth rather then allow it to flow from the other nostril, but if you can do that, I'd suggest applying to the Cirque du Soleil.

Showing someone using a neti pot on television, even cable, would probably lose more viewers than it would gain. But there are plenty of things we do in the privacy of our bathrooms that wouldn't make good TV. I'm glad something you saw on television made you curious enough to pursue, but I think I'm happier that it wasn't something Tony Soprano was up to.