Making Bath Bombs at Home

Bath bombs are becoming increasingly popular, with many retailers now selling them. Ebay is full of bath bombs and small vendors and companies are also entering the market with tons of choices and options for you to choose from.

While bath bombs can be a great treat in your bath, they can get expensive. Ranging from about $3 - $10, and this price includes, generally, only one bath bomb! That can get quite expensive if you like to treat yourself to these little luxuries on a daily or weekly basis. Of course this is a great route if money isn't a problem, but for the majority of us, we need a break.

Here I will show you how to make your own luxurious bath bombs at home at a fraction of the cost! There are plenty of books available that can give you many more recipes if you want to get fancy. Many of these books also contain recipes for a wide range of natural beauty products. But here, I will just give you a basic no frills recipe that you can't screw up!

Making bath bombs can be a really simple, and fun project to do, either by yourself or with your children or friends. The ingredients are also very easy to come by, and can often be bought in kits.

I bought the Wild Science Bath Bomb Factory for my niece and she loved it. The kit includes more than just bath bombs, but it is terrific if you are just getting started. Her mom said they had tons of fun playing with it and ended up making the whole kit in one sitting and using it over the next week for all her baths. 

The Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Citric Acid
• 1 cup Baking Soda
• 1 - 5 drops of Food Coloring of your choice (you can use 1/8 tsp. of Mica powders if you choose)
• 15 drops Essential Oil of your choice
• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. Jojoba Oil
• Spray Bottle full of Witch Hazel
• Molds of your choice (this can be something as simple as an ice cube tray to start out with)

If you choose to do this without buying a kit you will need just a few things. Most of the ingredients you will have at home already, such as Baking Soda, food coloring and a Spray Bottle of Water.

Some things you might need to purchase are Citric Acid, which is the main component of Bath Bombs, and an essential oil, or fragrance oil of your choice. I tend to stick with essential oils because they are more natural than fragrance oils, but this is up to you. Fragrance oils have a more varying selection and are sometimes easier for beginners to use.

In addition to these, an oil is used as well. Jojoba is my preference, but other others such as Olive Oil, Grapeseed Oil, Hazelnut Oil, or the like can all be used in this recipe. It is important to note that there is not an exact measurement for the oil and when you start making your bath bombs you will need to rely on your senses to tell you when you have used enough oil.

Molds will also need to be obtained, and when first starting out you can simply use an ice cube tray. It won't be nearly as pretty, but it will work in a pinch. 

The Directions

1. First you will want to mix all your dry ingredients, citric acid, baking soda, and mica if you are using mica powder. You can mix this with your hands, making sure to get all large clumps out.
2. Now you will want to add in your food coloring and essential oil. Make sure these are mixed very well, sifting it can be helpful. Don't worry if your mixture fizzes a little bit. The water hitting the citric acid will do this, and it is normal.
3. Now you will want to add your oil. Use your hands to combine the mixture together as you are pouring the oil into your bowl. Make sure to go slowly evaluating the texture of your mixture. You do not want to add too much oil. When the mixture is clumping up easily you know you are on the right track.
4. The last thing you need to add is the witch hazel. This step can be tricky because too much will activate the citric acid to start foaming. If the citric acid foams too much your mixture is done for. This is why its best to use a spray bottle and spray a little and mix with your hand, repeating until your mixture is easily able to be formed into balls (like a hard compact snowball).
5. When it is easily mold-able, you will want to press the mixture into your molds.
6. Allow these bath bombs to set for 24 - 48 hours, either in your molds or out, it doesn't matter.
7. Store in a zip lock bag until you are ready to use them.

The whole process shouldn't take more than 15 minutes if done right, and after a few batches you will probably be finishing your batches in 5 minutes or less.

Youtube has quite a lot of video's on making bath bombs, and while I couldn't find any that exactly mimic my recipe, they are helpful when starting out because you can easily and quickly see the process from start to finish. You are especially able to see the texture of this mixture when watching the videos, which is about the only thing you could screw up if you are new to the process. 

In addition, you will see in this video that she is not wasting any remaining mixture. That is a great tip because its inevitable that when you are making these bath bombs you will have some extra that will not fit into its own ball. Mix it and use it for yourself, by mixing it with Sea Salt, as in this video, you are really getting more for your buck. Sea Salt mixtures can be very expensive, but they don't have to be if you are just a little bit crafty.