Aromatherapy Bath Salts Recipe

I've been making bath salts since I first became passionate about aromatherapy over two decades ago. Back then and until more recently, it was common practice to simply blend a few drops of essential oils into the selected salts, sometimes first mixing the essential oils into a carrier oil. However, a dilemma is that both carrier oils and essential oils do not stay mixed in water (much like oil and vinegar salad dressing needs to be shaken before each use). What care happen, therefore, is that the essential oils can separate from the water and come into direct contact with your skin. This leads to the potential of skin irritation or sensitization. To minimize this risk, it is therefore important to use a solubilizer when creating bath oils or bath salts. Solubol or Polysorbate 20 are suitable for consideration.

Ingredients

• 3 cups salt. Recommended salt types: Sea Salt, Dead Sea Salt, Himalayan Pink Salt, Epsom salt, or a combination these salts. Salts typically come in several grain sizes. Combining multiple grain sizes can make your salts more visually appealing. Although chunkier salts often look prettier, larger salts do take longer to dissolve in the tub and can be a little painful or awkward if you step or sit on on a few chunks that haven't fully dissolved.
• 15 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 Jojoba or other carrier oil
• Solubilizer such as Polysorbate 20 or Solubol. (For the solubilizer that you choose, follow the usage guidelines provided by your supplier.)

Directions

In a small bowl, combine your carrier oil, essential oil and solubilizer. Mix well. Add your salts to a separate bowl, and then add your oil mixture. Mix thoroughly using a spoon or fork. 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 to the colorant that you have chosen.

To Use

Add 1/2 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 can be uncomfortable, so make sure the salts have dissolved well before entering.

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

General Safety Information

These recipes are offered for educational purposes only. Before using any essential oil, carefully read AromaWeb's Essential Oil Safety Information page. For in-depth information on oil safety issues, read Essential Oil Safety by Robert Tisserand and Rodney Young. Do not take any oils internally and do not apply undiluted essential oils, absolutes, CO2s or other concentrated essences onto the skin without advanced essential oil knowledge or consultation from a qualified aromatherapy practitioner. For general dilution information, read AromaWeb's Guide to Diluting Essential Oils. If you are pregnant, epileptic, have liver damage, have cancer, or have any other medical problem, use oils only under the proper guidance of a qualified aromatherapy practitioner. Use extreme caution when using oils with children and consult a qualified aromatherapy practitioner before using oils with children, the elderly, if you have medical issues or are taking medications.

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