My bath needs some fizzling fragrant bombsfeatured

As a kid I loved bubble baths. I’ll bring in my toys, and re-enact my favourite scenes from The Paperbag Princess; when Elizabeth told Ronald he’s nothing more than a pretty bum and flew off into the sunset with the dragon to live happily ever after. I’ll stay in the bath for as long as I can, just playing with the toys and the bubbles. Of course you couldn’t do that for long when you have 3 other siblings who’ll knock on the washroom door every fricken 15 minutes asking, “what’s taking so long?”

The best part about living on your own is the luxury to stay in the bathroom for as long as you want. I’ll bring in a glass of wine, fill my tub with hot running water, pour in some Epsom salt, a couple of drops of lavender oil, and relax my head on a soft bath pillow. With every sip of wine, I’ll feel all the tensions easing slowly out of my tensed, sore muscle. It is especially more tranquil when you have someone you love relaxing in the tub with you; to massage each other’s hands, feets, legs and back. Every time we’re off from work, this is our routine, our sanctuary.

To have some more variety, I bought a couple of bath bombs from Lush while visiting a friend of mine in Toronto. And. I. Fell. In. Love. Jose was also instantly hooked. They re-invented baths for us, but of course they’re way overpriced, so we only used them occasionally. In my frantic search for a more frugal solution, I decided to make them myself. I love you Google. So here it is, my Coconut Bath Bombs recipe. I love using coconut oil in our bath bombs not only because it’s good for your skin, but its oiliness assists in our massages. Although be warned, it does get a little slippery when you shower afterward.

DIY Lush Inspired Coconut Bath Bombs

Solids
1/2 cup baking soda
1/4 cup epsom salt
1/4 cup citric acid

Liquids
1 tablespoons coconut oil
Food colouring, optional
5 drops of essential oils, optional (I used ylang ylang)
Tea in a spray bottle (I used coconut almond green tea. Steep it longer to get a darker colour)

Others
Molds to shape your bath bombs. I use these egg molds, which you can purchase at most asian supermarket for $3. They’re perfectly sized. I purchased the hello kitty candy holder and used it as a mold, but it’s a bit big. Although, they’re still much smaller than Lush’s which are too big in my opinion, unless you happen to have a humongous bathtub. If so, congrats, I’m jealous.

Add all solid ingredients: Grind the citric acid and shift it into a large bowl. Grind the Epsom salt and shift it into the same bowl. Shift each and every solid ingredients into the large bowl so it doesn’t clump. In a separate glass, combine the liquid ingredients. With a whisk, slowly add the liquid ingredient into the dry ingredients small amounts at a time, until the mixture becomes like clumpy sands. Note: stir quickly and immediately to stop the citric acid and baking soda from activating. The mixture will foam slightly with each addition of the liquid ingredients, but that is normal.

Squeeze a small amount of the mixture in your hand. If it clumps together without being sticky, It is good to go. If it doesn’t clump together, spritz a bit of the tea (just once) and test again. Be careful though, if it’s a bit too sticky, you may have added too much liquid. Note: If you add too much liquid, the bath bomb when molded will continue to expand into blobs that takes FOREVER to dry. Once dry, it still works nicely, but you wouldn’t have a fizz since the ingredients have already activated.

Once the mixture is ready, overfill each half of your mold and press it firmly until you hear a click. Leave it in the mold for at least 5 minutes before taking it out. To remove from mold, just tap lighting on one side. It should just smoothly drop. It wouldn’t be rock hard yet, so be careful with it. Once dried, remove from the mold and store in an airtight container until ready to use.

Side Notes
Avoid using olive oil, honey or any other humectant, the bath bombs will not dry properly. If you live in a very humid region, take out the water ingredient completely, and spray with witch hazel instead to speed up the drying time.

Using Epsem salt gives it that glistening, shimmery look, but I used it mostly because of its therapeutic value; relieving sore, stiff muscles.

Wear gloves and mix with your hands so you can detect the correct consistency for making the perfect bath bombs; spray with one hand, mix with the other hand.

You can experiment with adding different botanical to create a more beautiful, and colourful bath bombs; Rosemary to invigorate and energize, Lavender to relax, calm and detox, Peppermint to stimulate and unblock any stuffiness, Green Tea to relax and sooth your skin.

 

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