DIY Bath Bombs

DIY bath bombs make a great holiday gift when you’re on a budget, and they are a great way to enjoy a bath with soothing scents.

DIY Bath Bombs

I’m not a huge bath fan, but when I’m trying to relax or take some time for myself I do enjoy a good fizzy bath treat. I used to treat myself with Lush, but those are expensive and I’m not a huge fan of mall shopping during the pandemic. So, I figured out I could make my own with a few kitchen ingredients to still get the enjoyment of a fizzy, good-smelling, colorful bath!

Ingredients

Bath bombs have a few components: the color, the smell and the fizz.

For the color, I used basic food coloring. It’s a cheap and accessible way to make the bath bomb and the water basic colors. If you want to get fancy, you can look into micas that are used in soap making. I have not had any problems with food coloring staining my tub, but be carful depending on your tub is made of.

For the scents, I used essential oils. Again, soap supply companies sell fragrance oil, but cheap essential oils work fine as well. Just remember to give the oil you pick a quick google search to make sure it’s safe on skin. Lemon oil and some other citrus oils can cause skin irritation or make your skin hypersensitive to sunburns. Another warning while we’re at it, as good as cinnamon smells, DO NOT use cinnamon in skincare products because it can cause burns.

Finally, the fizz. The most important part of a DIY bath bomb is that it fizzes like the ones at the store. This is achieved by a chemical reaction between citric acid and baking soda. When the acid and base are combined in the dry ingredients, nothing happens. But, when you drop it in water, then you get the reaction that makes carbon dioxide bubbles, and your bath bomb fizzes!

Citric acid is the weirdest ingredient you need for this recipe. It’s typically used in canning, so you can find it at some specialty grocery stores. I’ve bought in in the bulk section of Sprouts and Whole Foods. Recently, I found it at Target by the other canning equipment.

Tips and Tricks

The oil in this recipe which makes a silky smooth bath is fractionated coconut oil. This is commonly used in beauty products and as a carrier oil for essential oils. The only difference from regular coconut oil is that it has been processed to remove the solids. Fractionated coconut oil stays liquid at room temperature. You can use regular coconut oil, but you need to melt in to be liquid for the recipe.

The best way to make the bath bombs is to add the water last. We need the water to help hold the bath bombs together. However, the water can start the fizzing process too soon. If you mix fizzes too much while you’re making it, then it won’t fizz as much in the tub. So, when you add the water, you need to do it very slowly and mix the mixture to distribute the water.

You want the final texture to be like moon sand if you’ve ever played with that. The mix should keep it shape in your hand when you squeeze it. When you’ve reached this texture, then it’s ready to mold! You can use ice cube trays, chocolate molds, muffin tins, or bath bomb molds specially. Anything you can press the mixture into and then it can dry.

You can leave out the color if you don’t care about your water changing color. You’ll still get the smell and the nice moisturizing effects of the bath bomb. When adding essential oil, you can add more or less depending on how much smell you like. My first batch I added 10 drops and the solid bombs had a nice smell, but it wasn’t strong at all in the bath. The second batch I used about 20 drops. The smell was stronger but not overpowering.