Bath salts have long been a tried-and-true way to relieve tense, achy muscles and unwind after a hard day. But have you ever wanted to customize your relaxation experience for the ultimate at-home getaway? If you have, look no further! This article will review how to make your own relaxing herbal bath salts so that you can have a spa day any day.
Table of Contents
Choose Your Base Salt
Your first step is to choose your bath salt. You have quite a few options to choose from, and which one you buy is up to your preference and what you have access to. You can use two cups of Epsom salt, Dead Sea salt, or Himalayan pink salt, or combine them all together using 2/3 cup of each.
When you run a bath, you’re going to use about a quarter to a half cup of your bath salts. If you feel like two cups aren’t enough, you can double or even triple the recipe to four or six cups, depending on how much you’ll use. Once you’ve put the salts in a clean mixing bowl, you can move on to the next step.
Select Oils That Suit Your Mood
Depending on what your bath time goals are, you should choose an essential oil to meet that goal. If you want to relax and reap the mental health benefits of taking a soothing bath, lavender, cedarwood, sage, and patchouli are all great options. If you’re looking to soothe the mind and body before bed for better sleep, chamomile, ylang-ylang, lavender, sandalwood, and marjoram oil can help you drift to dreamland. If you’re looking for the opposite and want to energize yourself, spearmint, grapefruit, rosemary, lemon, and peppermint will all pep you right up.
Regardless of which oils you choose, you shouldn’t use more than 15 to 30 drops of oil per two cups of bath salts, even if you mix and match oils. Once you’ve added your essential oils to your bowl, you’ll want to dilute your oils with a carrier oil if they haven’t been diluted already. On their own, these oils can be harsh, so add one tablespoon of coconut, jojoba, or olive oil per 15–30 drops of essential oil.
Use Botanicals for Aromatherapy
Adding dried herbs and flowers is the best part of making your own relaxing herbal bath salts because they make your bath beautiful and smell amazing! When you add dried herbs and flowers to the warm water, their smell amplifies, filling the air with beautiful scents. Just be sure that your botanicals are organic so that you don’t accidentally introduce pesticides into your bath water.
Again, which flowers and herbs you choose depend on preference, what you have access to, and what your bath time goals are. If you aren’t sure which botanicals to use, look to your essential oils. You can easily find dried citrus, lavender, chamomile, jasmine, eucalyptus, and much more. Add one cup of dried botanicals per two cups of your bath salt base, and you’re ready to mix all of your ingredients together with your mixing tool of choice.
Store your bath salts in an airtight jar, and voila—you have your own customized bath salts that you can give away as a gift or spoil yourself with!
