It’s winter, which means we’re looking for new ways to keep dry, cracked skin from appearing. There is nothing better than pouring yourself into a bathtub to relax after a long, cold day, but it also happens to be a great way to give your body the luxury treatment it deserves, especially during seasonal change (hello, chapped elbows, knees and toes). Enter: Bath bombs.
Bath bombs are a combination of skin-soothing salts and essential oils that fizz when they’re dropped in water. The salt component helps exfoliate your skin while the oils add moisture, and after soaking for a few minutes you'll feel like a whole new person. They make for a fun bath time experience, and also happen to be really easy to make at home.
We've all seen the glittery, multi-colored, cupcake shaped bath bombs at the kiosks in the mall, and while these can look super cool (especially if you like feeling like the main ingredient in a pot of rainbow soup), when DIY-ing them it’s better to skip on the craziness and focus on adding natural ingredients like coconut oil, vitamin E oil and essential oils that are actually beneficial to the skin. "If you make your bath bombs really natural with good oils and moisturizers and without all hoopla surrounding it like the coloring and glitter, I think it can have skin benefits," says dermatologist Dr. Shereene Idris. "But the ones that are very processed are very drying."
Full disclosure: Bath bombs don't do anything different than if you were to just pour salt and oils into your bath tub, they just happen to be cuter and more fun to watch fizz. Here are five all natural bath bombs you can make at home to treat your winterized skin — without having to scrub glitter out of your tub afterward.
What You’ll Need:
From the grocery store:
- 1 Cup Baking Soda
- 1/2 Cup Corn Starch
From the drugstore:
- 1/2 Cup Epsom Salt
From the health food store:
- Essential Oil (any scent you like!)
From the internet:
- 1/2 Cup Citric Acid
- Bath Bomb Molds
You're better off ordering these products online ahead of time instead of scrambling to try to find them in stores. If you're in a crunch, you can substitute ornament molds (from the craft store), a microwaveable egg poacher or even an ice cube tray (from the grocery store) for your mold. You may be able to find citric acid at a health food store, just don't try to get around it and substitute lemon juice... it won't work. (I’ve tried it, and it was a mess.)
What You’ll Do:
All bath bomb recipes share the same basic principles (with a few recipe-specific changes you’ll find in the videos below):
- Using two big bowls, combine all of the dry ingredients (like the salt, citric acid and corn starch) in one and all of the wet ingredients (like the oil and food coloring) in the other.
- Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ones verrrrrry slowly so you don't activate the bath bomb and it doesn’t start fizzing like crazy in the middle of your kitchen (you want to save that excitement for bath time!) If you have a spare spray bottle lying around, you can put the wet ingredients into it and spritz them into the dry mixture, which is kind of fun but isn't totally necessary.
- After you mix the wet and dry ingredients, the combination should have the same texture as wet sand (#tbt to summer when we could exfoliate with actual wet sand at the beach).
- Put the mixture in the mold, and freeze for at least an hour. After freezing, it's best to let the bomb sit for at least a day until it's completely dry before dropping it into the bath.
- ENJOY BATH TIME! Added bubbles, optional.
Rose Milk Bath Bombs
Rose oil doesn't just smell amazing — it actually has some pretty major healing benefits, too. It can help ease blemishes on your face and body, and opens your pores so that moisturizing agents can get into your skin more easily and do their job. Adding dried rose petals to bath bomb isn't totally necessary, but it will make you feel like a straight up #queen to float in a bubble bath full of salts, oils and flowers. Trust me.
Coconut Oil Bath Bombs
Considering we already lather coconut oil all over our bodies, faces and hair every day, this is a way to streamline the process of getting it into your pores. Soaking in the oil will make your skin feel extra silky smooth because it penetrates your skin almost immediately — just make sure not to slip on your way out of the tub!
Oatmeal and Milk Bath Bombs
These bath bombs have a ramped-up combination of exfoliating ingredients (ground up almonds and ground up rice) and moisturizing ingredients (cocoa butter, shea butter and coconut oil), and actually won't fizz when you drop them in the tub.Oatmeal helps treat acne and eczema and helps soothe sensitive skin while removing dead skin cells. If you aren't into the idea of soaking in a pot of oatmeal and don't want to deal with the oats to float around in the bath, tie the bomb in a mesh handkerchief. It will catch the oat flakes while still allowing your skin to reap the benefits.
Lavender Oil Bath Bombs
If your skin is feeling red and raw from the cold air, lavender may be exactly what you need. It soothes irritation on the surface while also helping your skin absorb other active ingredients, which in this case would be coconut oil, jojoba oil or olive oil. Lavender oil also has calming properties and acts as a sleep aid, so drop one of these balls in a pre-bedtime bath for some seriously sweet dreams.
Matcha Green Tea Bath Bombs
It's no secret that the winter months make us all extra sleepy (what's up with it being dark at 4:30pm?!), so we’ll take all the caffeine we can get… even if it is in bath salt form. Matcha green tea is high in antioxidants and has as much caffeine as 10 cups (!) of regular green tea, which can still effect you even if its applied topically. Maybe save this one for a weekend afternoon bath instead of a weekday evening one, just in case!
Related: 8 of the Most SATISFYING Bath Bomb Videos on YouTube
