Everyone loves their bath time. It’s a relaxing time of cleansing and reflection that can turn a stressful day into a tolerable one, and soothe your senses back to normal. Baths can be great for your skin, because nothing’s better at bringing natural moisture back to your body than water. Along with taking warm baths, there are plenty of exciting ways to jazz up your water and make it even better for your skin. Bath salts, bubble bath, and bath oils can moisturize your skin quickly and naturally, as well as help lift off dirt and dead skin.
There are two different ways to make some of my personal bath salts at home that harness the natural goodness of one of nature’s sweetest, most fragrant nut – the almond! Almond oil is very easy to find, and you can even find a soft, oily almond extract that uses nothing but natural extract from almond and can even be found cheaper than the oil itself. Once you have some almond oil, all you need is a cup of Epsom salt, and a cup of unaltered sea salt. (I would recommend dead sea salt, even though it’s hard to come by and often very expensive. Unaltered sea salt works just as good, and can be found at any supermarket or drug store.)
Almond Oil and Jasmine Bath Salts
This is the most sweet smelling bath salts I know how to make at home! If you’ve had a particularly stressful day, taking a bath with the scent of almonds in your nose can completely turn your mood around.
To make almond and jasmine bath salts, use a cup of Epsom salts, and a cup of sea salts. Mix the salts together as well as you can in a big glass bowl – you’ll want them evenly distributed so they dissolve in the water quicker and at the same time. Once your salts are mixed, you can add about 6 to 8 drops of almond oil. Normally, you could just mix this well and use the almond bath salts themselves for a fantastic bath experience, but I love to add jasmine to boost the naturally sweet fragrance of the salts, as well as add an extra cleansing, detoxifying element to them. Jasmine pearls are perfect for this, because you can easily dry and crush them into powder and mix them right along with the salts. If you mix them well enough and grind them small enough, the pearls will just as easily dissolve into the water. Make sure you mix all your ingredients very well, and let them settle for about 5 to 8 minutes before you use them in your bath.
Almond and Chamomile Bath Salts
This is a fun way to utilize the great cleaning powers of tea as well as the natural goodness of almonds as well. Use about a quarter of a mug full of hot water, and put a chamomile tea bag into the mug. Let it sit while you add a cup of Epsom salts and a cup of sea salts together, mixing them very well. Once they’re mixed, add about 8 drops of almond oil or almond extract.
Mix the oil very well with the salts, and let it sit for a minute or two. Now, remove the tea bag from the mug and squeeze it into the salts, pouring about half of the quarter cup of water into the salts as well. This will ensure that your bath salts won’t be watered down, but will still have soothing, fragrant chamomile tea mixed right in. Mix the salts together with your fingertips, and let it settle for about 5 more minutes before you add them to your bath.
Almonds are great at moisturizing and cleaning your skin, and when their natural cleaning powers are added to your bath, you can’t go wrong! Have fun, and keep it natural!
