As an herbalist, I love using herbs not only in the kitchen, but in the bath, as well. Taking a leisurely soak with bath salts is a comforting, healthful way to end or start a day. Making your own bath salts is not only fun, but economical and makes a great gift.
Sugar and salt scrubs are all the rage now and they are easy to make at home.
Rita’s Homemade Bath Salts
The two ingredients that are key here are sea salt and epsom salt. I developed this recipe as my signature bath salt recipe.
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The dry milk is a soothing ingredient. Epsom salt is soothing to sore muscles and is found in the pharmacy aisle. A little more or less of any ingredient is OK for both salts and soap. And if you want to really make it just like the expensive versions at the bath & body shops, add a tablespoon or so of fine granulated sugar and pack a few vitamin E tablets in which will melt in the hot bath water. The sugar scrubs your skin and makes it soft, while the vitamin E acts as an anti-oxidant and is soothing to cuts and scrapes.
Master Recipe:
Mix together:
1 cup Epsom salt
cup sea salt
2 tablespoons baking soda
Variations:
1 tablespoon dry goats milk
1 tablespoon regular (not instant) oats, run through a blender (optional)
1-2 tablespoons bath herbs of your choice, finely ground or not, your choice, or several drops essential oil of your choice
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
Vitamin E capsules
Wheat Germ capsules
Vitamin C tablets
Mix together. You can add food coloring. Depending on how thorough you are in mixing, all the crystals won’t be colored, but you’ll get pretty dots of color here and there. To use, pour a cup into a hot bath.
Herbal Sugar Scrub
All the rage now, exfoliants (which remove dead skin cells from the skin) and scrubs have been used for centuries. Sugar makes skin soft.
Blend together:
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons olive oil or more to make a gritty, but not pasty, mixture
Several drops essential oil (optional but nice)
To use: Apply with smooth strokes and rinse. Avoid eye area.
Simple Sea Salt
Salt acts as a good exfoliant to remove dead skin cells and rejuvenate the skin. When using salts for bath salts, I like to use sea salt for its purity and minerals. Sea salt is formed from surface evaporation, naturally, while most table salts are made by vacuum pan evaporation.
(It’s fine to use fresh or dry herbs instead of essential oils. Just be sure to crush them, to release their oils, before adding to the salt scrub.)
Mix together:
3 tablespoons or so of sea salt
1 tablespoon Epsom salt
Enough olive, almond, grapeseed, jojobo, sunflower or other base (not essential oil) oil to make a paste.
Essential oil: your favorite, start with a few drops (optional, but nice)
To use: Rub on wet skin (avoid face), rinse.
Almond Massage Oil
1/4 cup almond oil
20 drops essential oil of your choice or 1 tablespoon dried fragrant herbs
Pour oil into sterilized jar, or rinse jar out with cider vinegar. (Cider vinegar kills bacteria so it provides an acid shield for your oil.) Let the jar dry and then proceed. Add oil or herbs and shake well. Let steep in a dark place for about a week, to mature.
To use: add 1 tablespoon to bath or use a small amount on skin. If using fresh or dried herbs, strain before using. (Calendula flowers are great in here, and very healing to skin). This makes a nice gift when placed in a pretty decanter.
Base oils:
A few popular base oils are: Olive, Sunflower, Soy, JoJoba, Almond, Apricot Kernel, Grapeseed, Avocado, and Mineral (this is what Baby oils are made of and is the most common oil used in bath oils).
Essential oils
Distilled from the plant itself and are very potent.
The ingredients used to make these items are available in most health food stores
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Rita Nader Heikenfeld, CCP, CMH, is a Certified Culinary Professional and Certfied Modern Herbalist, educator, author, founding editor of www.Abouteating.com
a popular website that showcases her many interests in healthy living.
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