Blends for Bath Bombs or Bath Salts

[OceanMomma]

I thought it would be fun to have a thread for blends we're all using in the bath bombs & bath salts we're making.

I love to try different blends & have got some real good ideas from other people.

My current fave for using in bath bombs is :

2 drops Patchouli
3 drops Ylang ylang
3 drops Rosewood - ok the original recipe was for rosewood but it's an environmental no-no, so I use ho leaf instead which is really a camphor of some kind that smells virtually identical & is almost identical chemically as well ( > 95% linalool )

There is also an awesome recipe for a blend for bath salts called Sea witch which is in my scott cunningham book that I use for my bath bombs. Saffron is asleep at the mo' so I can't go in & get it. But I will post it later if anyone wants it.

[LaLa]

I use Lavender and Clary Sage (just a hint of sage) and then Put dried flower petals on top :)

[OceanMomma]

How do the dried flower petals go in the bath? I've been experimenting with moulds for the bath bombs & have decided my best bet is a muffin tin. This means I can put flower petals on top of them. I've got lots of dried lavender & some really beautiful fragrant roses in flower at the moment I could dry.

[tuckermama]

Where can you find the whole recipes, these sound like fun x-mas gifts to make? someone mentioned a book? thanks, sarah

[OceanMomma]

There'[s a thread in talk amongs ourselves, I think, entitled xmas gifts with lots of ideas. The book I mentioned was called incences, oils & brews by Scott Cunningham. It's got some nice blends in but he has very little regard for what you should & should not apply to your skin ( eg cinnamon oil in the bath ) It's not really a gifty type recipe book tho'

[onehipmomma]

OceanMomma: I tried your recipe for bath bombs. I will be testing them out on myself in the near future, probably Saturday! I am so excited!

Thanks for posting it!

Christina

[Jazmommie]

I put epsom salts in a tulee(sp) (netting in a circle),add a few rock salts,dried lavender,& a couple drops of oils.I made some & put them in baggies to keep fresh.I tried lavender oil,jasmine oil,eucalyptus oil,rosemary oil, & lemon oil.Tie it closed with a ribbon.
Easy gifts!

[abimommy]

My favorite

bagamot coriander and tangerine oils...then I put in some grapefruit rind curls......very yummy...

[Missgrl]

OceanMomma
```
Please post those recipes you are referring too........:p

[OceanMomma]

Hmm something went wrong here & I stopped getting emails for this thread. I just found it by accident.

Which recipes do you want ?

[Missgrl]

The ones you referred to earlier in this post.......and any other good ones you might happen to have....;)

[OceanMomma]

I got loads of recipes. Bath bombs I make by using 3 parts baking soda to 1 part citric acid. Mix well together. Then add essential oils & mix in. Then add enuf of a base fatty oil, like almond or lite olive, to make it just stick together. Bung into shapes & leave to set.

The bath salts, I usually just make from epsom salts & essential oils. Altho' you can put sea salt in as well. I tend to only use the finely ground sea salt tho' coz the coarse doesn't dissolve properly & you get a scratchy butt which is not very relaxing ! I avoid putting things like whole herbs & flower petals in my bath bombs coz they look pretty in the bath bomb, but all they do in the bath is float on top & stick to your skin & are really difficult to get off if some form of base fatty oil is involved too. If you want a herbal bath, I find it's best to just add a strong tea or tie a muslin bag full of herbs around the hot tap & use it like a tea bag.

I usually calculate amounts based on a total of 6 drops of essential oils per bath. Taking into account things too like photosenstivity ( ie no bergamot oil etc. ) & things like no known sensitisers such as cinnamon oil too & relative qtys of oils etc. Mind you, I've known people have sensitisation reactions to even something as innocuous as lavender. With possible sensitisation reactions, you need to keep in mind, is the person this is for atopic in any way ( excema, asthma, hayfever etc ) & less is more & vary your blends. It's often constant daily use that causes reactions. You know like continual butt wiping during nappy changes with the same oil, daily massaging of other people with blends containing the same oils & so on. The other thing to watch out for is pregnancy & by this, I don't mean the usual list of not to oils, but rather your skin changes during pregnancy & can get far more sensitive. I remember one particularly unpleasant experience where I decided to go for the classic pregnancy oils in my bath - lavender & mandarin. I only put one drop of mandarin in there & I ended up with some very painful itchy red welts where it had burnt my skin. Dilution in a base oil like in a bath bomb probably would have stopped that, but even so - yuck!!! Anyways, I digress.....

here is the sea witch recipe ( from Scott cunningham ) which I love. It's a bit naughty coz it uses a drop or so of fake musk oil. You can leave it out but the scent is not quite the same. I figure on the general scale of things, unless you're totally organic with absolutely everything, it's not that bad.

Definitely avoid if you get any skin issues tho'

You need for 4 bath bombs

300g ( approx 12oz ) baking soda
100g ( approx 4oz ) citric acid
8 drops lavender essential oil
4 drops rosemary essential oil
4 drops ylang ylang essential oil
4 drops musk fragrance oil
2 drops jasmine absolute
2 drops rose absolute or steam distilled essential oil

Mix all ingredients well together until oils are evenly distributed in powder. Mix in enuf lite olive oil or almond oil or other suitable base fatty oil to make mixture just stick together. Put in moulds & leave to set.

If you have skin issues & don't wanna risk bath bombs with eos in. Note btw that the jury is still out on the issue of skin absorption. It's the political hot potato of aromatherapy. What you can do is make the bath bombs without any essential oils at all so you get the skin softening effects & simply use a diffuser with the desired blend in the bathroom so you get the aroma while you're in the bath.

enjoy :)

[madison]

Here's what I used more or less at Christmas:

BATH SALT RECIPE

2 C epsom salts
1/2 C Dead Sea Salts
1/2 C baking soda
enough essential or fragrance oil to smell good


MILK BATH RECIPE

3 C powdered milk
1/4 C finely ground organic oatmeal
1/2 C baking soda
1 tsp corn starch
essential oil or fragrance oil
additives like dried roses or dried calendula petals

If I had liquid glycerin, I'd add a bit to each one of these. I might also add some rice flour if I had any (makes smooth pouring).

With all of these, I mixed all the dry ingredients together and then added in the drops of essential oils/fragrance oils, and stirred thoroughly.

I found some great tub tea bags (3 x 5, iron sealable) that I tied together with lead free hemp candle wicking (so they could hang from the tub when done) - they look great! And then I put them in little plastic display bags with a label & the back ingredients label seals the back closed. Th tea bags and plastic wrappers were cheap, too - like 100 bags for $6!

I made lavender & honey, oatmeal-milk-honey and citrus (a lemon & mango blend).

[Missgrl]

Wow~~~You guys are the best!
I feel ready to dive in deeper with my bath crafts!

Oceanmomma....thank you for taking the time to help me out in such detail! Much appreciated/:love

Madison~~I want you for my craft swap partner.....LOL

[abimommy]

i made milk bath bombs by dumping dry milk into my bath bomb miture....they work great and are super ymuuy

[LaLa]

yesterday I used coconut oil for the first time (instead of almond oil) and they were much firmer and nicer looking!

I love them now :)

I made a batch with a soft black currant fragrance oil, and a few organic rose petals. It smells and looks heavenly!
:D

[madison]

OH, LaLa, where did you get black currant oil? That sounds yummy!!!

Missgrl, email me - madisonlinfield@hotmail.com :)

[LaLa]

I found some on ebay. It is yummy! I bought some from cedarvale but that one is stinky, so don't buy it there!
Ick!

:(

The bummer about buying it on ebay was the company was too busy, didn't pay attention to their auctions, and it took about 3 months to get the product! So, I can't recomend them either.

:(

Congrats on your soap success, though! I'm excited for you!

[abimommy]

bump for oakdalemomma