Dear Oily,
I just had a new soaking tub installed in my house, and I’d love to put it to good use. Unfortunately, I just saw this really scary article about a woman who used some store-bought bath fizz thing and it turned her skin purple!
I want a relaxing bath but I don’t want to be soaking in some chemical concoction that will turn my skin purple. I also want something easy to make.
Got any ideas?
Soak It Up
Dear Soak,
Are you sure you don’t want purple skin? You’d probably look really cool. I always wanted purple hair when I was younger. Sigh!
Annnnnyway, you’re very wise to stay away from store bought bath fizzies and salts and bombs and torpedoes and bazookas… yeah. Whatever they’re called, they can contain artificial fragrance (yuck!) and chemical dyes and coloring.
Don’t ingredients like Yellow 5 & 10 + Blue 1 + Red 28 sound like they’ll give you that lovely purple skin you never wanted?
Fortunately, you can avoid the chemical-colorful-cocktail and get a relaxing soak in the tub all without too much work. All you need is bath salts! Yep, homemade bath salts. I’ve made them many times, and they are one of the easiest and best DIYs ever! Seriously.. so easy.
Basic Bath Salt Ingredients
Epsom Salts
Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate, which is great for a ton of stuff. Check out just some of the benefits of these awesome (and cheap!) salts here and here.You can get Epsom salt in most supermarkets and drugstores, just make sure you get unscented with nothing added in it! You can also get them online here.
Essential Oils
While the Epsom salts are great on their own, adding essential oils can give your bath extra oomph and make it smell wonderful. Since you’re looking to avoid chemicals in your bath, make sure you choose unadulterated essential oils that have been distilled in such a way that they still have their therapeutic benefits intact (like these).Extras
If you want to up your fancy factor when making bath salts, consider adding: baking soda, dead sea salt, Himalayan salt, oatmeal, bentonite clay, or dry herbs.Always be cautious about the source of the ingredients you add in to your DIYs. We want to keep things natural and pure here.
Recipe for Stress Buster Bath Salts
This is a really easy recipe to start off with and it’s also great after a long day at work.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Epsom salts
- 8oz (1 cup) glass jar
- 4 drops Frankincense Essential Oil
- 4 drops Lavender Essential Oil
- 4 drops Stress Away Essential Oil Blend
Method
- Pour 1 cup of the salt into the glass jar
- Add essential oils
- Put lid on the jar
- Shake like crazy
- Let sit for a while (unless you’re really eager to get into the tub) so the oils really soak into the salt
- Add salt to your bath and reeeelllaaaaax
So Salty
Once you learn how to make bath salts, it’s really easy to start mixing and matching essential oils to make your own blends. I usually pick three or four oils to add to my salts, and I only add a total of 8-12 drops of essential oil per cup of salt.
Remember, you should choose oils that make you feel good and fit your needs. It’s also a smart idea to consult your favorite third party reference material to find oils that are best suited for your bath time goal.
Ask Oily Tip: Bath salts make a great (and easy) gift for friends and family!
