Create a Custom Bath Salts Blend with This Master Recipe
Create custom bath salts with therapeutic benefits by using these master bath salts recipes to guide your choices. Don’t be stuck following a recipe designed for someone else’s needs. Instead, use the guidance of this master recipe and the ingredients you already have in your DIY cupboard to create a customized bath experience that will leave you feeling restful and whole.
You’ve probably heard that your skin is your largest organ. It’s helpful as a conduit for therapeutic herbal remedies because it absorbs all that you put on it. While we’ve talked before about slathering herbal salves and ointments on your skin, and they are fabulous for on-the-go application, sometimes you need something fast and deep.
That’s when having an herbal bath can make a huge difference. While you relax and soak in the warm water, your pores open up to receive the therapeutic herbs and minerals and help you feel better faster.
Whether you need a remedy for stiff, sore joints and muscles, a skin-healing soak, a health-boosting detox bath, or you just need to relax, this master recipe will help you craft the kind of therapeutic bath salts that will be the most beneficial for your time in the tub.
If you aren’t a bath person, you can use these bath salt recipes in the shower by making a salt scrub like this one.
How to use this Master Bath Salt Recipe
Pick one ingredient from each column or a combination of ingredients to total the quantity in the master recipe’s first row. For instance, the first row says to use 2 cups of salt. You could pick one salt from column one or a combination of salt provided that the total volume of salt comes to 2 cups.
The emulsifier in this recipe ensures that your essential oils are not floating on the surface of the bath, potentially harming delicate tissues, instead, they are distributed throughout the water. If you choose to skip the emulsifier, the bath might get a little slippery, so be careful getting in and out of the tub
The powdered herbs in this recipe increase the therapeutic benefits of the bath. You can powder whole herbs from your garden in your blender to get them fine enough. Large unpowered pieces of an herb will float on the surface of the water.
The oatmeal in the final column should be powdered very finely so it has a silky feel with no grains when rubbed between your fingers. The optional flower petals should be whole and will float on the surface of the bath. Use dried flowers and dried petals from your garden or from an online herb supplier. Or just leave them out. However, don’t let these petals go down the drain. Rather scoop them out of the bath and discard them in the compost, to avoid a plugged drain.
Skin Soothing Bath Salts
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Skin Soothing Recipe
Description
A soothing bath salt blend.
Ingredients
- 2 cups Dead Sea Salts
- ½ teaspoon Sunflower lecithin
- 20 drops lavender essential oil
- ½ cup dried lavender blossoms, powdered
- 2 tablespoons oatmeal, powdered
Instructions
- Blend in a bowl, and pour into a two cup, wide-mouth jar.
- Cap tightly.
- Use half a cup per bath.
2 cups Dead Sea Salts
½ teaspoon Sunflower lecithin
20 drops lavender essential oil
½ cup dried lavender blossoms, powdered
2 tablespoons oatmeal, powdered
Blend in a jar and store near the bathtub. Use half a cup per bath for therapeutic benefit.
Bath Salts for Frazzled Nerves
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Bath Salts for Frazzled Nerves
Ingredients
- 2 cups Dead Sea Salts
- ½ teaspoon turkey red oil
- 10 drops chamomile essential oil
- 10 drops rose geranium essential oil
- ½ cup dried chamomile flowers, powdered
- 2 tablespoons rose petals, dried
Instructions
- Blend in a bowl, and pour into a two cup, wide-mouth jar.
- Cap tightly.
- Use half a cup per bath.
2 cups Dead Sea Salts
½ teaspoon turkey red oil
10 drops chamomile essential oil
10 drops rose geranium essential oil
½ cup dried chamomile flowers, powdered
2 tablespoons rose petals, dried
Sore muscle or sore joint soak
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Sore Muscle or Joint Soak
Ingredients
- 2 cups Epsom salts
- ½ teaspoon polysorbate
- 10 drops grapefruit essential oil
- 10 drops lavender essential oil
- ½ cup dried dandelion flowers, powdered
Instructions
- Blend in a bowl, and pour into a two cup, wide-mouth jar.
- Cap tightly.
- Use half a cup per bath.
2 cups Epsom salts
½ teaspoon polysorbate
10 drops grapefruit essential oil
10 drops lavender essential oil
½ cup dried dandelion flowers, powdered
Detox Bath Salts for Colds and Flu
1 cup Dead Sea Salts
1 cup Himalayan Pink Salt
1/2 teaspoon sunflower lecithin
10 drops grapefruit essential oil
10 drops rosemary essential oil
½ cup fir needles, dried and powdered
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Detox bath for colds and flu
Ingredients
- 1 cup Dead Sea Salts
- 1 cup Himalayan Pink Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon sunflower lecithin
- 10 drops grapefruit essential oil
- 10 drops rosemary essential oil
- ½ cup fir needles, dried and powdered
Instructions
- Blend all ingredients in a bowl, and pour into a two cup, wide-mouth jar.
- Cap tightly.
- Use half a cup per bath.
Now that you have a master recipe you’ll be in charge of your own water wellness. Check out my water wellness course to increase your prowess when it comes to baths, showers, and DIY spa products.
Do you use lecithin powder or oil?
Hello,
First I want to say THANK YOU! I have learned so much from you:) I am curious if you have ever used emu oil as an emulsifier?
Thank you
Tracy
I have no experience with emu oil. Its one of the dearer oils and I don’t have access to it. I’d love to hear your experience though.
I have sunflower allergies…what can I use instead of sunflower lecithin?
Turkey red oil or soy lecithin will both act as an emulsifier in this recipe. YOu could also use 1/2 teaspoon of Dr. Bonner’s liquid castile soap. It will also distribute the essential oils safely in your bath products.
What might you exchange the grapefruit essential oil with? I am very allergic to anything grapefruit.
Just leave it out.
Hi, Chris.
I made your Gardener’s Hand Salve with Lavender, but thanks to our record-breaking high temperatures, it becomes almost liquid. I know you said that it may not harden in warm climate, but could I add some beeswax to stiffen it a bit? If so, how much would you recommend?
Thanks for your simple recipes – I’ve tried most of them and even made up some of my own recipes following your suggestions and samples. I had never made any herbal products, but now I’m confident enough to sell them at our local farmer’s market.
The gardener’s handsalve has a ratio of beeswax to other oils of 1:7. Try a 1:4 ratio and see if that is stiff enough in your area. But only make a small batch so that you can test the ratio before proceeding with a large batch.
The Detox Bath for Colds and Flu does not list an emulsifier, was this left out on purpose?
Thank you for your time – Jamie
Thanks for pointing that out. Yes, it should have 1/2 teaspoon of sunflower lecithin or the emulsifier of your choice.
Hi Chris;
I’ve been trying to order 3 of your rosemary shampoo bars for the last 3 or 4 weeks and when I get to the PayPal page where it says the total, it freezes. The only option that is ‘live’ is to cancel the order and return to your shop page!
I’ve ordered from you in the past (last summer or fall was the most recent I think) without a problem and I used PayPal on June 1 to order from and pay a different retailer so I’m mystified as to why this transaction is hanging up. I’m getting dangerously close to being out of shampoo, might I be able to snail mail you a check or something?
Hmm. That’s strange, Carla. I just tried it in Firefox on Desktop and it worked for me. I’m not sure what’s up with that. Did you try using a different browser? We’ve got the shampoo bars in stock.