I know the old song says “smoke”, not “salt”, but down here, it’s definitely the latter. I wash my car on a semi-weekly basis, more often than in Minnesota, because, as you know, salt corrodes metal.

And, despite what Rainbow claims is my imagination, it also coats your skin. I was shocked the first time I washed my face and found salt encrusted on my nose, along with every inch of exposed skin.

A daily scrub is a necessity. When washing your hair, massage your scalp prior to rinsing or risk leaving a salty layer. If you stoop to pet a dog and they start vigorously licking your hand or leg, it’s a dead giveaway that you haven’t scoured hard enough.

Now I know why seagoers used to be referred to as “old salts”. In the olden days, to dogs and livestock who lived near a port city, those sailors coming off the boat must have seemed irresistible–walking saltlicks!