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Oatmeal and Lavender bath bombs soothe dry itchy skin, reduce inflammation, and reduce irritation. Use these for insect bites, poison ivy, rashes, and other minor skin irritation that makes it hard to relax. Grab the recipe.
Summertime heat, mosquitoes, chiggers, and other irritations can make your skin itch. It can drive you crazy, keep you awake at night, and make you uncomfortable. But these bath bombs are crafted to soothe the itch, soften your skin, and give you relief from the irritation.
Oatmeal is known to relieve itchy, dry skin, while the soothing anti-inflammatory actions of lavender help restore your skin, quell the itchy redness.
While you could just mix lavender, oatmeal, and salt to make a comforting bath additive, these bath bombs make the bath a special experience, increase the relaxation effect, and soothe frazzled nerves as well as itching skin.
Oatmeal Lavender Bath Bombs Recipe
Use these oatmeal and lavender bath bombs when you need fast relief from itchy, irritated skin and frazzled nerves. These soothe both mind and body.
Place oatmeal and 2 tablespoons of lavender blossoms in a blender. Whirl on medium speed until the mixture is finely blended. It should have a silky texture.
Place oatmeal blend, baking soda, pink salt, clay, rose hip seed oil, and lecithin into the mixing bowl. Whisk the mixture to blend in the color and remove any clumps of baking soda. Whisk until it is of uniform fine consistency and pale lavender in colour.
Using the whisk, stir in the essential oil. Mix well so that the mixture has a uniform consistency.
Whisk the citric acid into the mixture. There is no water in this mixture so there should be no foaming up. Mix fully with the whisk.
There is no need to treat the molds. The mixture will drop out of the molds without issue.
Working in a well-ventilated area, spritz the mixture lightly with the alcohol, while whisking to prevent a fizzing reaction. Avoid breathing in the alcohol. Add only enough alcohol to allow the mixture to clump together when squeezed in your hand. It should have the moisture content of barely damp sand. Try three spritzes and then check the consistency. Test it to see if it will hold together. It should be fluffy after spritzing, not dense and wet.
Only add more alcohol if the mixture won’t hold together easily. How much alcohol you need depends on the relative humidity in your air.
Using the bath bomb mold, place a pinch of lavender blossoms into one side of the mold. Scoop up enough of the mixture into each half of the bath bomb, so that both sides are over-full. Really pack it in. Both sides of the mold should be overflowing. Press the two halves of the mold together tightly, to compress the bath bomb mixture into a tight package. Brush off any excess mixture.
Allow the mold to sit undisturbed for 5 minutes, or so. Tap the outside of the mold on both sides with the back of a spoon to loosen the bath bomb. Open the mold and pop out the bath bomb onto a piece of parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Be gentle. The bath bomb will solidify as it dries.
Allow the bath bombs to dry overnight. Turn it over and dry for an additional 12 hours. Wrap the lavender bath bombs in plastic wrap or a shrink wrap, if desired, to make them more secure if you are gifting them.
Drop one bath bomb into a bath of hot water, just before you are ready to enter the bath. The lecithin allows the oil in the bath bomb to mix with the water so that your tub doesn’t become slick with the oil.
Soak for at least 20 minutes to allow the oatmeal and lavender essential oil to relieve itching, irritated skin.
After the bath, rub any itchy spots with a lavender lotion bar like this one, to soothe irritated skin.
Spray down the bathtub immediately after the bath, so that it is easier to clean.
Why lavender?
Lavender is one of the best herbs for dry itching skin. It is anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and anti-fungal. It’s also soothing and calming to the nerves, relieving pain, tension, and stress.
Substitutions
If you are allergic to lavender — some folks are — try this recipe substituting frankincense essential oil for the lavender essential oil. Use calendula or dandelion flowers in place of the lavender flowers for a similar skin-soothing effect.
Sunflower lecithin is an emulsifier that prevents the essential oils from floating on the surface of the bathtub, which can irritate skin that they come in direct contact with, create a slipping hazard. Using an emulsifier keeps the oils in this mixture suspended in the bath water, where they can lubricate and soothe dry, itchy skin. If you don’t have sunflower lecithin, turkey red oil, or polysorbate can be used instead.
Next time you are suffering from dry, itchy, and irritated skin, make up a quick batch of this oatmeal, lavender bath bombs for quick relief.
More bath bomb recipes for your DIY spa experience
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You can use arrowroot powder, corn starch, colloidal oatmeal, powdered milks or even cream of tartar in place of clays in bath bombs. In this case they are using the clay as a colorant so you could just leave it out or replace with beet powder if you want a natural colorant.
Sunflower lecithin, soy lecithin and hydrogenated castor oil will all act as a dispersant. For the oils, colors in bath bombs. Turkey Red, also a treated castor oil, will do this but I hear it has an odor. Natrasorb Bath is a specially treated tapioca starch and polysorbate 80 also work well for this job. So you have choices if you want to stay natural or buy ingredients from the grocery store. The other ingredients are easily available on line and since you use such a small amount are also cost effective.
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Is it possible to substitute for the clay? It draws moisture out of the skin and my husband needs the opposite :/
You can use arrowroot powder, corn starch, colloidal oatmeal, powdered milks or even cream of tartar in place of clays in bath bombs. In this case they are using the clay as a colorant so you could just leave it out or replace with beet powder if you want a natural colorant.
Hey
Wats can i used instead of rosehip seed oil
Thanks.
Olive oil, sunflower seed oil, grape seed oil.
Could you use sunflower oil as the emulsifier? Also is turkey red oil the same as castor oil or can it be used in place of the turkey red oil?
Thanks
Sunflower oil is not an emulsifier. Turkey red oil is sulfur treated castor oil. It is an emulsifier. Castor oil is not an emulsifier.
Sunflower lecithin, soy lecithin and hydrogenated castor oil will all act as a dispersant. For the oils, colors in bath bombs. Turkey Red, also a treated castor oil, will do this but I hear it has an odor. Natrasorb Bath is a specially treated tapioca starch and polysorbate 80 also work well for this job. So you have choices if you want to stay natural or buy ingredients from the grocery store. The other ingredients are easily available on line and since you use such a small amount are also cost effective.
can you use glycerine as an emulsifier?
I’ve always wondered about oatmeal in the bathtub – doesn’t it clog the drain?
Not colloidal oatmeal. It’s a very fine powder.