The best things are the simplest things, especially when it comes to health and beauty. In this book you will find an array of recipes for salts soaks, salt scrubs, and bath bombs. Making these simple creations brings together all aspects of our life: health, beauty, love, travel, and spirituality.
Salt Soaks
Salt soaks are a simple way to give your body the extra love and attention it needs. Salt soaks are a combination of salt, essential oils, and sometimes beautifying and detoxifying clays. They are extremely therapeutic and can be used to heal a number of different ailments or skin issues. They are probably best known as being used for relaxation after a long day or used to reduce stress. As you will see with the array of different types of salt soaks, their uses are almost endless.
SUPPLIES
• Mixing bowl
• Measuring cups
• Measuring spoons
• 26-ounce to 32-ounce glass jar for storage (depending on recipe)
• Whisk (optional)
STORAGE
As far as storing the bath salts, it’s entirely up to you to decide how fancy you would like to get. I do recommend storing the salts in a glass container or jar. Glass mason jars work great, plus their pricing is extremely reasonable. You can find more decorative jars at a local craft store or my favorite place to buy most of my online ingredients, Mountain Rose Herbs.
Sterilize Your Storage Jar
Be sure to always sterilize any jar or container you use for a homemade beauty recipe. The process is very easy. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and then let the glass jar or container simmer in the boiling water for about five minutes. Remove and place on a clean towel to dry and cool off. This will ensure that you’re putting your salt soak into a clean container and will help it stay fresh longer.
DIRECTIONS
For all the salt soak recipes in this book, follow these directions. You’ll find that creating different salt soaks is just a matter of switching up the ingredients for the desired outcome.
1. Measure out and add the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl.
2. Mix your dry ingredients with clean hands or a whisk if you prefer.
3. Add oils and mix again.
4. Pour mixture (you may want to use a spoon for this) into a jar.
5. Store in a cool, dry, and dark area when not in use.
Salt Scrubs
Salt scrubs are mainly used to remove dead and dry skin. You will find your skin literally glowing after using them! They are also great for reenergizing and leave you feeling invigorated. You can use salt scrubs in a shower or before soaking in a bath.
SUPPLIES
• Measuring cups
• Measuring spoons
• Small spoon for mixing
• 250-ml mason jar for storage
STORAGE
I usually use smaller mason jars for scrubs. Scrubs can last up to a month or so, but longer than that is not recommended. Vitamin E oil can be added to the recipes as a preservative.
DIRECTIONS
As with the salt soaks, making a scrub is one of the easiest things you will ever do. So worth the reward it hardly seems possible that something this simple works wonders when it comes to your overall health and beauty. Scrubs will leave your skin glowing and help reduce stress, vital for overall wellness.
Follow this set of directions for all of the salt scrub recipes, switching out the ingredients depending on the recipe.
1. Sterilize your storage jar (page 13).
2. After the jar has dried and cooled, add salt to the jar.
3. Add vegetable/nut carrier oil and mix.
4. Add essential oils and mix thoroughly.
5. Store in a dark, cool, and dry area when not in use.
Bath Bombs
Unlike salt soaks, bath bombs are actually dry, molded mixtures of salts, clays, baking soda, citric acid, and essential oils that fizz when you drop them in water.
Here is where we get scientific. Where measuring for salt soaks and scrubs is not exactly crucial, it is for bath bombs. It took me some experimenting to get my first bath bombs to work, but then they were buzzing and fizzing like no other. It was really exciting! These make great gifts, as there’s something really playful about them. They also have similar benefits to salt soaks. They’re extremely relaxing after the fizzing has subsided; many are included as alternative options to the soaks in this book.
Because these are natural bath bombs, there is no added food coloring in these recipes. If you’re trying to switch over to natural beauty, the last thing you want to do is soak in a bath full of toxins. So instead, I added floral powders to some of the recipes for coloring. These powders also contain benefits similar to essential oils.
• Mold for bath bomb (molds can be found on Amazon, eBay, and Etsy, or use a cookie mold from your local kitchen supply)
• Two bowls
• Whisk
STORAGE
As far as storage goes, the same mason jars you would use for the salt soaks work well. Choose a larger size for the bath bombs.
DIRECTIONS
For all of the bath bomb recipes in this book, follow this set of directions and switch out the ingredients depending on the recipe.
1. Mix dry ingredients together.
2. In a separate bowl, mix water, coconut or carrier oil, and essential oil.
3. Pour the liquid a little bit at a time into the dry ingredients and mix.
4. After the mixture begins to clump together, fill the mold as much as possible, as this will help hold it together. (You may not need to use all of the liquid if the mixture is already clumping.)
5. Once the mold is formed, just tap out the bath bomb and let it dry for 12 to 24 hours (avoid leaving it in a room with humidity).