Lick sweat residue in case of electrolyte loss?

I went on a 22 mile 4000' gain hike today in temperatures that were hotter than expected. I had a bottle of gatorade at the beginning, but by the time I reached the peak 4 hours in, I only had half a camelbak left and my entire body was crusted with salt. At this point, I was already feeling very dizzy and disoriented and I could feel my low blood pressure because I was almost blacking out when I stood up. I knew it was electrolyte loss, but since I didn't have salt or gatorade powder handy, I decided to collect as much salt from my skin as possible using my fingers and licked them off. I was able to get maybe an 1/8 of teaspoon of salt over the course of ten minutes, and a while later, I didn't feel as dizzy and started back down.

So my question is, has anyone else ever tried anything like this or heard of anyone doing it? Obviously there are commercial mixes and tablets available, but what happens if you don't have anything and you're really feeling woozy? Was that just placebo, or might it have actually done something? Looking forward to hearing your responses. Thanks!