Tips and Tricks for DIY Soaks and Scrubs

The process for making bath soaks and scrubs is  straightforward. You choose desired ingredients, mix them up, and put them in a jar. Really, it’s almost impossible to mess up. If you want to make your soaks and scrubs extra special, here are some tips and tricks to help you on the road to success.

 

How to deal with flowers and herbs

Dried pomegranate flowers on a white background

Dried flowers and herbs are wonderful to add to soaks and scrubs. They look great in a clear jar, and herbs can have powerful benefits to your skin and as an aromatherapy tool. There are some problems with herbs and flowers. Once soaked in your warm bath, they can cling to the bathtub walls and even clog drains.

Blend them up

You can take your dried botanicals and pulse them in a blender until they’re a fine powder that can wash harmlessly down the drain. They might not look as pretty in a jar, but it makes cleanup a lot easier. 

Use a bag

You can also use a muslin or canvas bag. These fabric bags hold in your botanicals, keeping them from messing up your tub or clogging your drain, while still letting in warm water to dissolve your salt, oils, and other ingredients into your bath so you can reap the benefits. Most of these are also reusable! Look for bags with drawstring tops; you can usually find them at craft stores.

 

What salts to use

Whether you’re making bath salts or a body scrub, the kind of salt you use is important. You probably want to avoid regular table salt. It’s highly processed and has had beneficial minerals removed.

Try natural salts, like Himalayan pink salt and sea salt.

Use epsom salt

Epsom salts are widely used to treat aches and pains in joints and muscles, so epsom salts are always a good addition. But don’t feel limited to epsom salt! You can use it half and half with other salts. This can be for their mineral content, or even just for their color.

Try dendritic salt

Dendritic salt is a specific kind of high-purity salt. It has a unique and intricate crystal structure, and is great at absorbing moisture, kind of like those silica gel packets you find in things from time to time. This means that they can help prevent your salts from clumping together.

 

Using oils in bath soaks and scrubs

Small bowls of different oils on a white surface

Oils can make bath soaks extra luxurious. When mixed with the water, they make the water itself feel soft and silky. Scrubsare typically a mix of an exfoliator (often salt or sugar) and oil.

Use skin friendly oils

Bath soaks and salts typically use a smaller amount of oils. That means that you can use some indulgent specialty oils. That means things like borage oil or rosehip seed oil that are a little expensive to use in large quantities, but can add something special to bath salts.

In scrubs you’re going to use a larger amount of oil, so those specialty oils may not be practical. You may want to stick with things like coconut oil and olive oil. These oils still have skin benefits, but are easier to afford in large quantities.
You can also use a blend to customize your soak or scrub to specific skin types and conditions.

Avoid slippery tubs

Whether you’re using a scrub or a soak (or both, we don’t judge) in your bath, there’s the possibility that the oils could cling to the sides and bottom of your tub. That’s not just annoying to have to clean up; it can also lead to falls and injuries in the bathtub. Polysorbate 80 is an emulsifier that helps the oil mix in with your bath water instead of sitting on the surface. This means that it mostly drains away with the bathwater instead of clinging to your tub.

 

How to package soaks and scrubs

Scooping a grey scrub into glass jars

Some folks will go through a soak or a scrub pretty quickly, and for others it’s an occasional indulgence. So you have to keep in mind that your soaks may sit in the bathroom for a while. The bathroom is notorious for being damp. That means that your bath salts can clump and depending what they’re made of your product could even mold. For this reason, some crafters add an oil-soluble preservative to their scrubs. 

Non-reactive packaging

The material that your packaging is made of matters. Salt, essential oils, some botanicals… it can all react with packaging materials. For example, you can use plastic tubs and jars to package these products, but there are only two types of plastic that won’t react with some essential oils: PET and HDPE. So check the kind of plastic that your container is made from.

Some metals also react with salt or essential oils. Aluminum is one to watch out for; it can be damaged by essential oils, causing it to seep into your product. Glass is the safest non-reactive packaging, but you can also use stainless steel and PET or HDPE plastic.

Exclude air and moisture

It’s hard to find a completely airtight container, but any jars or tubs that limit your product’s exposure to air and moisture will extend the shelf life of your product. That means things like screw top jars and bail jars that close securely and help to prevent moisture infiltration.

 

Exfoliants to use

piles of multicolored powder exfoliants on a white surface

Exfoliants are important for scrubs, because they, well, they scrub. Some bath soaks also use salt and other exfoliants too. As long as you don’t use anything that’s a skin irritant, there’s no one answer to what you should use.

Salt or sugar?

Both of these are great in scrubs. Sugar tends to be a gentler exfoliator, so it’s better for folks with delicate or sensitive skin, or for scrubs meant for the face. Brown sugar or unrefined sugar also have nutrients in them, mostly minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium, and more.

Salt scrubs provide a more thorough mechanical exfoliation. They’re better for the body than for the face. Salts offers some other benefits. Epsom salt may ease aches and pains, and salt may also have beneficial effects for the skin, both cleansing and nourishing.

Which one you choose depends on how your scrub will be used, who will use it, and of course, personal preference.

Powders and beads

Some exfoliants and powders can also be used for exfoliation. They provide a different grain size than salt or sugar, and can be combined with them. These exfoliants include things like sand, walnut powder, and even ground coffee. These offer variety and also a cool look to your scrubs. It can also look cool in your bath salts and soaks.

There are other products like Gold Bursting Beads. These beads dissolve when exposed to water, and release moisturizing jojoba oil onto your skin. They also help exfoliate before they dissolve. Cocoa Butter Popping Crystals pop and fizz when introduced to water, and they’re made with rich and skin-friendly cocoa butter!

 

Use colors and aromas 

A mass of pink peony flowers

Aside from cleaning, moisturizing, and soothing skin, or soothing aching muscles, soaks and scrubs are also mood lifters. They’re a little luxurious, a small indulgence. If you want to bump up the mood lifting power of your soaks and scrubs, both color and scent have been shown to change mood.

Color for soaks and scrubs

You have a lot of options here. Water based colors and dyes might cause your bath salt mixture to clump, but you can also use micas, plant powders, and clays. Clays also have benefits for the skin. The salts you choose can also impact color. Pink himalayan salt will create a pink scrub. You can even add EcoGlitter to a soak or scrub. This is fun for kids, or for adults who like a little sparkle. EcoGlitter is biodegradable too, so you won’t have to worry about plastic pollution.

Fragrances for soaks and scrubs

You can use fragrance to impact the kind of mood you want your soak or scrub to inspire. Lavender is a scent known to be relaxing, while citrus smells tend to be uplifting and happy. In the quantities used, essential oils will be safe for the skin.
But if you want a more complex fragrance, or something fruity or floral, you might want to check out our fragrance oils. They offer a wide range of smells, some of which just aren’t possible in essential oils.

So there you go, some of our favorite tips and tricks for making your soaks and scrubs the absolute best they can be. Use these to make bathing a real treat, for you, your loved ones, or your customers. You can see that the only limit is really your own creativity.

 

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