Homemade Bath Salt

From LoveToKnow Crafts

Homemade bath salt is a wonderful, quick craft that makes a great gift for anyone on your list. Everyone needs to make a little more time for relaxation, and giving them a gift of homemade bath salts is just a little nudge to take a nice, long bath.

Homemade Bath Salt Recipe

The wonderful thing about bath salt is that it is a very quick craft. It also involves very few ingredients, though you will probably have to do a little shopping to get all the things you need for homemade bath salt.

Ingredients

1 cup Epsom salt
1 cup baking soda
2 tablespoons vegetable glycerin
3 or 4 drops food coloring

You can use the regular food coloring that you’ve got in your cupboard for cooking or other crafts. Epsom salt and baking soda are available all over the place, from drug stores to regular grocery stores.

You might have to go to a natural foods store or drug store to find glycerin. You will find it in the health and beauty section of your local natural foods store. If you find it in a drug store, you’ll probably find it near the suppositories (glycerin is a common ingredient in laxatives). In homemade bath salts, glycerin helps moisturize and smooth the skin.

Of course you can add all sorts of things to your basic recipe. The most common addition is an essential oil that will smell nice or add a medicinal property to the bath salts (we’ll talk more about that in a minute).

Instructions

Mix the Epsom salt and baking soda well in a large bowl. You want to make sure that these two ingredients are well mixed before you add any of the liquid ingredients. The liquid will make clumps, so everything needs to be unclumped before the liquid is added.

Once you’re all mixed up, add the glycerin and food coloring. Stir well. Start with just a few drops of food coloring to make a light color throughout your salts. If you add too much food coloring, it can stain your skin or your bathtub.

You’ll know that you have mixed enough when the color is uniform throughout. Store the homemade bath salts in a glass jar with a good seal, to keep extra moisture out for as long as possible.

Customizing Your Homemade Bath Salts

It’s a wonderful idea to make your salts a little different every time you make them. The addition of essential oils will make your bath salts smell nice and can also help the skin, relax you, or do a whole host of other things.

Always use essential oils that are safe for bath products. You don’t want to use fragrance oils that are made for candles or other products. You should always buy 100 percent natural essential oils from a reputable source. A great source is Nature’s Gift.

Some great choices for aromatherapy essential oils that you can use in homemade bath salts follow:

Lavender: wonderful for calming anxiety, easing depression and cutting stress.
Rose: a great-smelling oil used for stress reduction, eliminating panic attacks and causing a feeling of happiness.
Sandalwood: a superior calming scent, it eases irritability and insecurity.
Peppermint: eases fatigue, is also good for increasing blood circulation.
Chamomile: another classic calming herb.
Tea tree oil: doesn’t smell very good, but is wonderful for controlling acne, itching, and other skin problems. Mix with a nicer-smelling oil.

To use essential oils in your bath salts, add 10 to 20 drops of essential oil to the salts at the same time you add the other liquid. Mix well.

Gifting Homemade Bath Salts

If you want to give your homemade salts as a gift, you should put the salts in a pretty jar and attach a little note that explains how to use them. Scoop two tablespoons into running bath and soak to your heart’s content, for instance.

If you have used an essential oil, include information on that oil with the gift. And if you’re giving the homemade bath salts to a crafty friend, make sure you enclose the recipe. You could also throw in a tiny scoop that the recipient could use and keep in the bathroom at all times.

Relax and enjoy!