In this post, Steph puts her craft skills to use and teaches you how to make your own bath salts.

In order to help others and ourselves, many of us will be spending a lot more time at home. So what do you do to keep yourself busy? It’s important to stay informed with everything that’s going on but you also need to look after your mental health. Crafting will keep you busy and who knows? Maybe you’ll discover a new hobby! Today we’re going make something that’s easy and fairly cheap to make, using some things you may already have at home. If you don’t have any of these ingredients, it’s something you can bear in mind as a future craft project. Please don’t go out shopping just for these ingredients during this time. You can probably pick these up online and if you really do need to go to the supermarket, you can usually get sea salt and Epsom salt from some of these places. Don’t put yourself or others at risk if you can avoid it!

 

There’s nothing like a nice, relaxing bath! It doesn’t really matter if you only have one of the key ingredients; you may only have sea salt or Epsom salt at home and that’s fine! I usually use a 1kg bag of coarse sea salt and a 1kg bag of Epsom salt at the same time because I make large batches, which I would normally put into ten little 200ml jars as Christmas gifts and so on. It’s fine if you only have a small amount of either salt. This isn’t an exact science. The size and quantity of jars really depends on how much you’re making but a large lunch box would also do the trick.

 

You might have other essential oils that you want to try out rather than using the oils I usually use, just make sure to check whether or not these oils can irritate your skin! You can also use other dried flowers but, again, you should check whether or not any of these can irritate your skin. Dried rose petals are a good, safe alternative option. If you don’t fancy picking petals or flowers out of the bath, you might want to stick them in a little muslin pouch (if you have one) before popping them in the bath. If you’re going to save some of your bath salts for quite some time, it might be worth not mixing in any dried flowers just yet anyway. The salts should keep for a while (probably a few months before they get a bit lumpy) but you should probably store them in a cool, dark place and keep an eye on them.

Ingredients:

Here are the ingredients I normally use;

–Coarse sea salt. (1kg if you want to make a lot)

–Epsom salt. (1kg if you want to make a lot, usually sold in 1kg bags or larger quantities anyway)

–Lavender oil.

–Peppermint oil.

–Mixing bowl

–Mixing Spoon, measuring cup or an ice cream scoop (they all work just fine and I don’t think that I need to tell you to wash them thoroughly afterwards)

–Jars. I often use small 200ml or similar jars. What you use depends on how much you’ll be making.

–Dried lavender (optional). You only need a small amount.

*Some people use Himalayan rock salt instead of sea salt or Epsom salt. It will also add more colour to your bath salts if you want colourful bath salts.

Mixing the Bath Salts

Start putting those ingredients into the mixing bowl! If you’re using coarse sea salt and Epsom salt in large quantities then you’ll want to keep adding a little of each throughout the process.

 

Once you have started to add a small amount of each of your salts, add a few of drops of whatever oils you’re using. Keep adding little drops of oil here and there and whatever dried flower you’re adding to the mixture (if any). You don’t need to use a lot of oil but you may want to open a window. A little goes a long way with these oils and yes, your home is going to smell amazing when you’re finished, but it can still smell a bit strong when you’re the one doing the mixing!

Tips on blending those oils: The mixture may smell a bit sickly at first as you start adding those oils, depending on what you’re using and how much you use. Don’t worry, though; as you carry on mixing the oils will blend more and it will smell better and better!

If you’re adding dried lavender as well as lavender oil, you may find that you want to add more of the peppermint oil. The amount of lavender oil you use and how much peppermint oil you add to balance it out may vary depending on the variety of lavender that the oil comes from. English lavender varieties smell a bit different to French Lavender and you might find that you use more or less depending on the kind of lavender oil you have and your personal tastes. I’m not fussy when it comes to lavender; all varieties smell equally lovely to me.

 

And you’re done! Now all you need to do is scoop your bath salts into jars or whatever container you’re using. If you’re using square jars, secure the lid and give them a good shake to see if any gaps appear between your bath salts and the corners of your jars, in order to check that they really are full.

You could tie a piece of twine or ribbon around the top of your jar/s to make them look more fancy!