Blog · Natural Skincare
Homemade Bath Salts Recipe (Spa-Quality at Home)
Shop-bought bath salts are usually synthetic fragrance and colourant on a cheap salt base. Making your own is simple and inexpensive, and you control the scent, the minerals and the fizz. Here is a full effervescent formula.
Why these bath salts work
- Sea salt supplies the minerals and the body of the blend.
- Magnesium flakes, or Epsom salt, are the classic muscle-relaxing component.
- Baking soda softens the water and takes the edge off the acid.
- Citric acid is what fizzes when the salts hit water.
- Polysorbate 20 disperses the essential oils so they mix into the water instead of floating as a film.
The formula (500 g)
| Ingredient | Function | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Sea salt | Mineral base | 250 g |
| Magnesium flakes | Muscle relaxation | 150 g |
| Baking soda | Water softener | 50 g |
| Citric acid | Effervescence | 50 g |
| Ingredient | Function | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Polysorbate 20 | Solubilizer | 0.5 g |
| Bergamot essential oil | Fragrance | 0.5 g |
| Lime essential oil | Fragrance | 0.1 g |
| Rosewood essential oil | Fragrance | 0.1 g |
| Ingredient | Function | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Dried rose petals, crushed | Decoration | 7 g |
How to make it
- In a large, completely dry bowl, whisk together the sea salt, magnesium flakes, baking soda and citric acid.
- In a small glass, mix the essential oils into the polysorbate 20.
- Drizzle the oil blend slowly over the dry ingredients while whisking constantly, so it never lands in one spot.
- Fold in the crushed rose petals.
- Spread on a tray and leave to dry for 4–8 hours.
- Fill into airtight jars.
How to use it
Add four to five heaped tablespoons under warm running water and let it fizz out before you get in.
Keep the jar sealed and away from steam. Any moisture reaching the blend starts the citric acid reacting with the bicarbonate, and the salts will clump and go flat.
Want more spa-quality formulas?
This effervescent bath salt is one of sixteen formulas in The Big Book of Homemade Skin Care, which also covers whipped body butters, coffee and salt scrubs, a contouring gel, a pH-correct shower gel and nine facial formulas from cleanser to copper-peptide serum.
Every one gives INCI names, percentages, phases, temperatures, target pH and shelf life.
The Big Book of Homemade Skin Care
From a pH-balanced foam cleanser to a copper-peptide serum. Phases, temperatures, preservatives and shelf life, stated for every formula.
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