Bombs Away!

You remember those horribly strong-smelling ice cream scoop-shaped bath bombs they had at Bath & Body Works? Yuck. They always smelled so…perfumy. I enjoy the occasional bath complete with self help audio book and glass of organic wine one in a while. Since my lavender bath salt supply is low and the possibility of hitting up Pike’s Market for a small glass jar of something I’m pretty sure I can make at home, I decided to try just that.

With some amazingly simple non-toxic ingredients I had in the cupboard I made these lavender scented bath bombs last night. The mold for the star shaped ones is a plastic ice cube tray, that I can say did not work out very well. The other mold is an ice cube tray which worked out amazing! The only disclaimer I have is that the mixture didn’t stick “like wet sand” and I ended up using half a bottle of almond oil. So they may leave me a bit oily after my bath. We’ll see after the standard 2 day drying time. But I think if the worst of this is a little bit of oil which saves me time on covering myself with coconut oil, we’ll call it a wash.

Here’s the recipe, and I can’t for the life of me remember the website!

Bath Bombs

Do not oil the molds beforehand; just make sure they are clean and dry.

Dry Ingredients:
1 cup baking soda
1/2 cup citric acid (do not substitute ascorbic acid)
1/2 cup corn starch
1/3 cup Epsom salts or coarse sea salt

Wet Ingredients:
2 1/2 tablespoons sunflower or other light oil (like sweet almond oil);  (Mine prob used 4-5 T)
3/4 tablespoon water or rosewater (be careful not to start the fizzing action by adding too much water)
1/4 – 1 teaspoon essential oils (I used 1/2 tsp lavender oil and it is pleasantly strong)
1/4 teaspoon borax as an emulsifier
vegetable or other natural colorant (optional)

Instructions:
Sieve the dry ingredients together until they are well blended. Measure and combine all the wet ingredients and borax in a clean jar. Cover tightly and shake vigorously. Slowly drizzle the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, gently stirring to prevent the reaction from starting. Make sure you mix in all of the wet ingredients. Afterward, you’ll find that the mixture is dry and crumbly and has to be packed in the molds quite firmly to keep shape. The mixture should just start to hold together when pressed in your hand, like slightly moist fine sand. You can unmold the bombs after 30 minutes, and let them dry for a few days before using them. Store them in a dry place.