Bath Salts

Kids may kick up a fuss at bathtime, but more experienced souls know that nothing is more restorative than a hot bath. Rushed adults know that few pleasures are rarer than a long soak in hot water, and that few are more curative. From nobles in ancient Rome to congregants at mineral springs, our ancestors knew that a hot bath is cleansing not just physically but spiritually. Early bathing spots included such natural gathering places as rivers and lakes, whose waters were often believed to be magical, especially if they met at a crossing, spring or waterfall. We have long since developed methods to test for such naturally occurring enrichments as minerals, but science doesn’t really contradict magic, and measurements don’t mean that waters aren’t magical.

 

Any kind of water from the pure cold of a snow melt to the cedar heat of a steam room has cleansing and rejuvenating properties. Spa goers bathe in mud and at least one Broadway actress was said to have bathed in milk. A soak in a swingtown hot tub is a bath, as is the classic Saturday night scrub of countless B westerns. Bathing happens alone, with partners and in groups, and while some may cavil at the thought, it happens across genders as well as amidst gender. People often took the baths coeducationally at hot springs, and beaches front the biggest co-ed tubs of all: lakes and oceans.

 

We enrich our baths with everything from bubbles to herbs, but the most common is salt. The crystalline mineral sodium chloride is one of the most abundant resources in nature and, along with mud, is among the most ancient enrichments for the bath. At its most basic, bathing is cleaning, and salt was the original soap. Salt expresses impurities: it attracts water, and as the water rises to the salted surface, it brings impurities with it. This is one of the reasons people take a shvitz, and it's why you salt your vegetables before cooking them. The next time you’re cooking, notice how after a few moments of being salted, water rises to the surface of your vegetable. Even though in the bath you’re soaking in water, salt’s effects work on your skin, your muscles and your spirit. In the truest sense of the word, salt cleanses.

 

Herbalists and apothecaries have long understood the beneficial qualities of minerals and herbs. These specialists have a long practice of compounding these ingredients for healing and rejuvenating use, including in bath waters. One of the most popular of these apothecary preparations is bath salts. To make bath salts, essential oils (pressings of herbs into neutralized oils to express and preserve the oils within the herbs) and/or dried or fresh herbs are mixed into salts and then bottled for use in the bath. You can use any food-safe salt except iodized table salt for your bath (bathers may have a reaction to the iodine). The best food salts for the bath are kosher salt and sea salt, which have sturdy medium- to large- grains that are friendly to human skin. Non-food salts do exist for purchase by bath salt compounders. These include such non-food grade sea salts as Atlantic, grey and Dead Sea. You can use Epsom salts for bathers who are not sensitive to them, but Epsom isn’t salt at all – it’s magnesium sulfate.

 

Making your own bath salts is not just creative; it requires knowing. Making and distributing your own baths salts a magical act, in some ways as healing as utilizing the final product. It is easy to learn about the salts and their enrichments, and rewarding to start making your own bath salts, both to bathe in and to share – the salts, and maybe the soak. Here is the basic technique for making bath salts, and some of my original recipes for bath salts, inspired by our new life on the Pacific.

 

Bath Salts

Remember not to distribute bath salts to anyone who has an allergy to or other health concern with the ingredients. The best way to manage this is to be upfront regarding the ingredients. Both the compounder and the user should consult a medical professional before handling or using essential oils if you have any potentially affected health condition such as high blood pressure or pregnancy.

 

Dried and fresh herbs are available from a reliable herbalist, health food store, grocery store, or your own pantry. Essential oils and salts are available from herbalists and health food stores. Click here for Urban Home Blog's free downloadable guide to herbs and spices. Good online sources for all of these ingredients are included below.

 

Per batch

2 cups bath salts, such as kosher, Dead Sea, Atlantic Sea, Grey Sea or Epsom, or a combination of these

Essential oils as called for in recipe

Dried/fresh herbs as called for in recipe

Body-safe clay, cake-decorating dust or food coloring as called for in recipe

Large metal or ceramic mixing bowl, dedicated to salt-making

Clean plate dedicated to salt-making

Wooden spoon dedicated to salt-making

Metal scoop dedicated to salt-making

Clean jars with lids for storage (retired Mason jars are ideal)

Labels (Click here for Urban Home Blog’s free, downloadable canning labels)

Fine line waterproof pen, such as Marvy Uchida LePen

Paper towels or retired tea towels

 

Master Technique for Making Bath Salts

1. Place a double layer of paper towels or a retired tea towel on a counter. Place the jars on the towel, mouth up.
2. Use a paper towel or retired tea towel to swab out the interior of the bowl.
3. Measure the dried/fresh herbs if using onto the plate. Gently shake the plate to mix the herbs if indicated. Place the plate within reach of the mixing bowl.
4. Measure salts into the bowl.
5. Open the essential oil(s) if using. Place the open bottles within reach of the mixing bowl.
6. Use one hand to stir the salts with the spoon while using the other hand to add the oils, one drop at a time, to the salts.
7. Use one hand to stir the salt mixture with the spoon while using the other hand to add the dried/fresh herbs if using into the salt mixture.
8. Allow the bath salts to settle, typically five – ten minutes.
9. Once the salts have settled, use the scoop to transfer the salts into the jars.
10. Affix a label to the lid of the jar. Use the pen to write the name of the salts, the active ingredients, and the date made on the lid.
11. Place the lid on the jar and close the lid. Keep salts lidded except when in use.

Bath Salt Recipes

• Laurel Canyon. 2 cups salt, 4 drops olive leaf oil, 3 drops eucalyptus oil, 3 drops avocado oil, 2 drops hemp oil, 1 dried bay leaf.
• Citrus Grove. 2 cups salt, 5 drops sweet orange oil, 5 drops lemon oil, 5 drops grapefruit oil, 5 drops tangerine oil, 5 drops lemon verbena oil, 2 drops lime oil. Optional: 2 drops yellow and 2 drops red food coloring.
• Santa Monica Boulevard. 2 cups salt, 7 drops spearmint oil, 5 drops almond oil, 3 drops eucalyptus oil, 1 teaspoon dried, powdered witch hazel, 1 sprig fresh rosemary.
• The Sunset Strip. 2 cups salt, 7 drops pomegranate oil, 6 drops hops oil, 3 drops lilac oil, 2 drops patchouli oil, 2 drops cinnamon bark oil.
• Malibu. 2 cups salt, 7 drops vanilla oil, 7 drops sandalwood oil, 5 drops bergamot oil, 1 teaspoon dried powdered sweet Melissa. Optional: 2 – 3 drops blue food coloring, ½ teaspoon opal cake decorating dust.
• Dressing Room. 2 cups salt, 20 drops rose oil, 5 drops tuberose oil, 1 tablespoon silver, white, pink or opal cake dust.
• Redwood. 2 cups salts, 6 drops cedar oil, 5 drops Douglas Fir oil, 4 drops oak moss oil, 3 drops pine oil, 1 drop cinnamon bark oil, 1 drop peppermint oil, 1/2 tablespoon juniper berries.
• La Brea Tar Pits. 1 cup Epsom salt, 1 cup dead sea salt, 10 drops tea tree oil, 5 drops rosemary oil, 1 tablespoon dried rubbed sage, ½ cup Bentonite or French green clay.
• Smog. 1 cup salt, 1 cup Epsom salt, 4 drops fig oil, 4 drops lavender oil, 4 drops clary sage oil, 4 drops tobacco leaf oil, 3 drops patchouli oil, 2 drops camphor oil, 2 drops blue food coloring, 2 teaspoons gray cake-decorating dust.  

Resources

Essential oils, herbs, clays, jars. Mountain Rose Herbs

Salts. Saltworks

Cake-decorating supplies, including dust and food coloring. New York Cake