Homemade Bath Salts and Salt Scrubs

Entered in Mountain Rose Herbs Recipe Contest! 5/9/10

Homemade bath salts are a great way to pamper yourself while detoxifying your body. Bath salts (dry) and salt scrubs (with added emollient) will open your pores, increase circulation, stimulate lymphatic function, and draw out toxins. Salt blends also soften your skin, relax tense muscles, and alleviate stress.

Ready-made bath salts and salt scrubs often contain unnatural ingredients. Common ingredients found in commercial salt blends include fragrance, butylene glycol, propylene glycol, ethylhexyl methoxcynnamate and phenoxyethanol.

These chemical ingredients are known toxins that negatively affect your immune, reproductive, endocrine, respiratory and neurological systems. In addition to including these harmful ingredients, commercial bath salts can also be very expensive.

When you make your own you’ll save a lot of money and avoid the chemicals. With homemade bath salts and scrubs you can control the quality of ingredients and choose your favorite oils/herbs. It’s also detoxing to simply use a high quality salt with nothing added. Read more tips on our detox bath page.

Quality Ingredients and Simple Instructions

Once you’ve mixed your bath salt, use 1 to 2 cups per bath. Add the salts directly to your hot bath water or bring a bowl of salts to the tub with you and scrub it into your body while you soak. The gentle scrubbing action is energetically cleansing, exfoliates dead skin cells and draws out the toxins that are lurking within your pores and beneath your skin. It is also very grounding and feminizing (getting you out of your head and into your body). Soak in the salty bath waters for 20-30 minutes. Rinse with warm water.

Homemade bath salts and scrubs can be stored in glass jars. Add a label and a ribbon for a nice gift! There are many more essential oils than those listed here. Try any of your favorites. For a variety of high quality bath salts, vegetable oils, glass jars and 100% pure, steam distilled, organic essential oils, visit Mountain Rose Herbs.

Ingredients

• Coarse Sea Salt
• Fine Sea Salt (texture like a sugar scrub)
• Epsom Salt
• Dead Sea Mineral Salt
• Himalayan Salt
• Pickling Salt
• Bolivian Pink Salt
• Utah Red Sea Salt

• Almond Oil
• Sesame Oil
• Jojoba Oil
• Olive Oil
• Cacao Butter
• Coconut Oil
• Apricot Oil
• Avocado
• Honey

• Lavender (lifts mood, relaxing)
• Jasmine (lifts mood, soothes nerves)
• Peppermint (soothes pain, digestive)
• Eucalyptus (antiviral, decongestant)
• Tea Tree (antibiotic, boosts immune)
• Lemongrass (digestive, lifts mood)
• Ginger (digestive, laxative)
• Lemon (detoxifying, energizing, digestive)
• Orange (detoxifying, energizing)
• Grapefruit (detoxifying, digestive)
• Rose (laxative, liver tonic, lifts mood)

Extras – add amount desired

• Alcohol-free Vanilla extract (extra aromatherapy)
• Vitamin E (extra skin healing)
• Nut shells (extra exfoliation)
• Crushed cucumber (extra vibrant skin)

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. You may want to mix essential oil into emollient oil first, then add to salt for better blending. Use immediately or store in an air-tight container – the best is a glass jar.

Tips

• If you plan to give homemade salts as gifts or store for long periods, mix your essential oils with a small amount of dendritic salt first – about ½ cup for this recipe. This finely ground salt absorbs the oils to increase the life of the aroma and reduces clumping.
• If you’d like to make unscented homemade bath salts, but still want the healing properties of herbs, use crushed herbs instead of essential oils.
• For a dry homemade bath salt, omit the emollient and simply use salts and essential oils/dried herbs.
• If you’d like to add color to your salt, add crushed herbs (try flower petals like lavender, jasmine or calendula). Some natural micas may be safe, but be careful of additives. We do NOT recommend the use of food coloring or other dyes. Also, do not use conventional perfumes or fragrance.