Mixing up Bath Goodies in My Kitchen

I have been interested in homemade skin care and bath products off and on for years.

I used to make facial masks from a variety of ingredients including such things as egg whites, honey, oatmeal, avocadoes, and cucumbers, to name a few. I recall using lemon juice to add highlights to my hair, and also have used olive oil to condition it, and apple cider vinegar to make it shiny.

Recently I used a mixture of olive oil and coarse salt to help my runner's feet recover from our Spring  half marathon training. It helped shed the calluses and nourished the skin and nails very well.

Now that we are not living on the sailboat any longer, and I have a real bathtub and all the hot water a girl could possibly want at my fingertips, I thought it might be fun to make some bath goodies.  I do love me a long hot soak.

I have been looking at Pinterest for bath salts recipes, and at personal blogs for bath bombs, and also different lotions. A couple of days ago, someone loaned me a fairly recent issue of Women's World Magazine... and it just happened to have an article on homemade bath goodies.

I didn't want to go out an purchase a bunch of odd ingredients that I would never use again, so I decided to concentrate on a couple of the recipes that required things I already had hand.  And then I picked up a couple of decorator storage jars from the local dollar store.  You could certainly dress these up with ribbons and labels if you decided to use them as gifts.

I chose two recipes... one for Snickerdoodle Bath Salts and the other for Oatmeal Cookie & Milk Bath... oh my.   They are both lovely.

Snickerdoodle Bath Salts



I have long been a fan of epsom salts. As a child I watched my Mother soak her tired feet in a basin of hot water and epsom salts about once a week.  It is magnesium-rich, and I find it relieves muscle soreness and aches, especially nice after a long run or a hard workout. Combined with cinnamon and vanilla and a warm soothing bath, these are the makings of a calming, soothing indulgence. I love to soak in the tub and the aroma arising from the warm water is just luxurious.

You will need:

• 2 cups epsom salts
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 6 drops vanilla extract
• 2 drops yellow food coloring

1. Mix half the salts with vanilla extract and yellow food coloring, and the other half with the cinnamon.
2. Alternate layers of each salt color in a clean, reusable jar and cover.
3. To use pour 1 scoop of the salts under warm running water as you draw a bath.
4. Keeps indefinitely.

In hindsight, I think I should have chosen a plainer jar for this mixture so that the striped effect of the two different treatments of the epsom salts would show more.  You may want to measure how much epsom salts your jar will hold and then work the recipe with just that amount.

 

Oatmeal Cookie & Milk Bath

 

 

Oats have been used for many years to soothe rough, dry, irritated patches and the lactic acid in the milk gently exfoliates and brightens your skin.

You will need:

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup baking soda
• 1/4 cup powdered milk
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 Tbs vanilla extract

1. Place all the ingredients (see my comment below) into a food processor and blend until you have a powder-fine mixture.
2. Pour the sweet-smelling bath soak into a clean reusable jar and cover.
3. To use drop 2 scoops of the powder under warm running water as you draw a bath.
4. Keeps indefinitely.

I poured the vanilla through the feed tube of my food processor while it was blending the other ingredients.  I was afraid it might make some clumps if left sit on the other ingredients before I got the food processor working.

 

I think either of these would make lovely and inexpensive gifts... for gift exchanges or to have for unexpected guests or events where you need something quick to take along... for your child's teacher or a neighbor…

 

Have you ever made your own cosmetics in the kitchen?