Lavender Bath Salts

Sorry for the long pause in posts! Life can sometimes get in the way. I am back and ready to delve into my next project for you all. As I mentioned on my Facebook page I have created some tasty (not really, I’m sure they actually taste pretty awful) Lavender Bath Salts for everyone to try! These salts are my all time favorite bathtub addition…other than bubbles, of course! As many of you may already know, Epsom Salts have so many uses & benefits! This “recipe” only takes about 10 minutes total.

These salts specifically are for use in the bathtub, but Epsom salts have other household and gardening perks too. The benefits from soaking with salts include: easing stress and muscle relaxing, relief of pain and muscle cramps, helps prevent hardening of arteries and blood clots, as well as eliminating toxins from the body, and so much more! The awesome thing about my salts is that they’re made with Lavender essential oil which greatly boosts the relaxation properties.

So here are the steps….

First, you must decide what you will store your salts in. For my small batch that I made today, I just used and old jar. I filled the jar with Epsom salts just to measure how much I would need. If you’d like you can use a scale, but I was feeling lazy and didn’t want to pull mine out. The scale would be useful if you’re making a large batch and don’t want to pour salts all over the place.

Anyway…I dumped the salts into a medium bowl. I chose glass because it’s easy to clean. I always add food coloring to give the salts a pretty color. In this case I made the salts purple to go with the Lavender theme. Food coloring is not harmful to your body, but it can sometimes turn your bathwater a different color! At any rate, food coloring is optional (but highly recommended!). I just use some typical McCormick food coloring, any kind you find in the baking aisle is fine.

I usually follow the directions on the box that’s labeled “White Icing”. In my case it called for 12 drops of red and 8 drops of blue to get purple. I usually end up adjusting it a little to get the color perfect…I added 2 more drops of red this time. *Note: the coloring fades over time, so if you end up making purple salts they will probably fade to blue after about a week.*

Make sure to mix your salts really well to blend the colors. Sometimes you’ll need to take the back of the spoon and smash salts against the bowl when clumping occurs. Just mix until the color is right.

Then add your essential oil! I added about 20 drops of Lavender essential oil because I really love the strong scent. Add as much or as little as you’d like. It also doesn’t need to be Lavender. There are many great smelling and beneficial essential oils that you could add to your salts. For example, if I’m congested or have a nasty cough I will sometimes make my salts with a combination of Peppermint and Eucalyptus oil. This combination is great to loosen the mucus-y crap in the lungs, it works kind of like Vick’s Vapor Rub! There are many awesome combinations, just look them up and find the right one for you!

After you have finished mixing in the color and oil, you can then start spooning it into your container. I was lucky this time…my spoon fit through the mouth of the jar, but if yours doesn’t just use a funnel! Seal the container and tie it with a pretty bow (or don’t, I just like things to be pretty). I typically use about 1/2 cup in my bathtub.

In the past I have collected empty liquor bottles, old milk bottles, and miscellaneous jars to fill with salts. The liquor bottles can be particularly pretty and make excellent gifts, just put a little ribbon around the top and you’re in business! When I was a little girl, my Aunt gave me a Chambord bottle full of these salts and told me she made them. I asked her to show me and I’ve been making them throughout the years ever since. One time I made some Aqua-colored Sweet Pea salts and put them in a Milagro tequila bottle, that was really pretty! So get creative and make some awesome salts for someone…or yourself!