Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Bath Salts from Aroma Web

Ingredients:

3 cups Dead Sea salt, regular sea salt or Epsom salt, or a blend of two or three of these salts. Sea salts typically come in several grain sizes. Combining multiple grain sizes can make your salts more appealing. Keep in mind, however, that more course grains do take longer to dissolve in the tub.

15-24 drops of your selected essential oil or essential oil blend. Be sure and take heed in the safety data for the oil(s) you choose to use.

1 tablespoon fractionated coconut oil or other carrier oil for moisturization (optional)

Directions:

Place the salt mixture into a bowl. If you have chosen to include the optional vegetable oil to your salt recipe, add it to the plain salts and mix well with a spoon or fork. Then, add the drops of your chosen essential oils. Again, mix very well. Add the mixture to a pretty jar, salt tube, or container that has a tight fitting lid. Salts that are kept in a container that is not air tight will lose their aroma more quickly.

After a day, you may wish to mix well again to ensure that the oils are well incorporated.

To Color to Your Salts:

For the most natural bath salt recipe, leave your bath salts uncolored. Certain exotic salts including Hawaiian Red Sea salt and Black Sea Pink salt are naturally colorful. Try mixing these salts with with Dead Sea or plain sea salt for a speckled effect.

If you would like to add color to your salts, FD&C liquid dye or mica powder can be added before you add the essential oils. When adding FD&C grade liquid dye, be sure to add only a drop at a time and stir well. When adding mica powder, only add a tiny amount (1/16-1/8 a teaspoon is usually sufficient) and stir very well. Using too much dye or mica powder can discolor the water and discolor skin, so be very careful. Leave bath salts at a soft pastel color. It is also important that you make sure that you are using skin-safe colorants and that the user of your bath salt blend does not have any allergies or sensitizations with the colorant that you have chosen.

To Use:

Add 1/2-1 cup of the salts to running bath water. Mix well to ensure that the salt has dispersed well in the tub before entering. To keep the essential oils from evaporating too quickly, you can add the bath salts just before getting in the tub instead of while the water is running. Sitting on undissolved chunky bath salts, however, can be uncomfortable, so make sure the salts have dissolved well before entering.

For more information on aromatic bathing, view the Aromatherapy Baths article.



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