Bath bomb, what is this? Necessary tools and ingredients, simple recipes, and properties for making soft drinks. Difficulties that can await beginners.
A bath bomb is a product pressed from loose material in the form of a sphere, a pyramid, and other sweet images, which, when it enters the water, makes it boil and foam, fill the air with a pleasant aroma, and the bath with substances useful for the skin. The only thing that is uncomfortable is that these little cute things are not cheap but are destroyed quickly. But if you have citric acid, soda, and half an hour of free time, then it will not be difficult to make a bomb yourself.
What is a bath bomb?
A bath bomb is a product made of loose material (pyramid, bubble, various figures), which boils when it falls into the water. Citric acid and alkali (sodium bicarbonate or simply soda) are responsible for the conversion of water into a boiling geyser, clogged in a special bath. These two substances have amazing properties: when mixed dry, they do not react to each other in any way, but as soon as this duet is diluted with a spoonful of water, the reaction begins and a neat image with smooth sides begins to melt with a violent hiss.
If the recipe for bath bombs contains useful additives, emollient, nourishing, refreshing ingredients go into the water along with air bubbles, which will have a positive effect on the condition of the skin.
If an effervescent toy is fragrant, a regular bath turns into a relaxation time, becoming one of the methods to deal with depression or set on naughty thoughts – it all depends on which perfume you choose.
Often, decorating the “soda” useless from a practical point of view, while creating a mood of sequins, flower petals, and food coloring that paint the water a bright color. These funny and cute little things are especially loved by creative people who make homemade bath bombs because with them it is so easy to give the next masterpiece a unique look and style!
In short, effervescent entertainment made with the soul is both a useful cosmetic and a way of expressing oneself and a great hobby, cheap and not time-consuming. If you want to try a new kind of creativity, start working.
Various “burners” are different from each other, not only in shape, decor, and colors. Much more important is the composition of the bath bombs that determines their purpose.
Foaming toys are:
- No additives … A little boring, but simple: combine sodium bicarbonate with acid and you have a small explosion with foam, bubbles, and hiss. As a rule, such products have a laconic strict form, are distinguished by white color, and are suitable for everyone, including children and allergy patients. Except, of course, those bathers who do not respond well to one of the two parts of the bomb.
- Taste and color … These “pops” do not have the ability to lubricate the skin with nutrients, but they fill the bathroom with a wonderful fragrance and make you feel like in a spring forest, rose garden or pastry shop. Homemade bath bombs are good because they can have any fragrance of your choice and at the same time be colored with food coloring according to the requirements of your imagination.
- With cosmetic properties … Depending on the ingredients used by the master, the bomb can soothe, strengthen, cleanse the skin, provide it with healing substances, relieve cramps, resist colds and perform many other important tasks.
Tools and materials for making bath bombs
A novice “bomb maker” can easily be without many things that are important to the enthusiastic creator of home cosmetics. There is no special mold, take babysitting to make shortbread or kitchen molds to bake sleeves. Not enough essential oil, sprinkle the mixture with your favorite perfume. There are no scales and measuring spoons, we combine the ingredients with the eyelet it comes out crooked, but from the heart.
But for those eaters who prefer to approach the issue thoroughly, we take up the basic settings for the production of homemade “soda”.
Musical instruments:
- Filter;
- Mortar and pestle;
- Spoon, preferably wood;
- Bath bomb forms;
- Containers for mixing ingredients;
- Spray bottle;
- Gloves, better latex – they fit well in the hand, perform great with the protective action, and do not restrict movement, unlike bulky kitchen or garden gloves.
An optional but useful item will be a kitchen scale that can measure grams. They will be especially useful if you are serious about making bath bombs. Turn your kitchen into a real chemical laboratory!
Ingredients:
- Baking soda – 2 parts;
- Citric acid – 1 part.
This is the minimum required. We will talk about useful and fragrant additives just below, in the recipe section.
Important! Boric acid sometimes appears on the list of essential ingredients in a bath bomb instead of citric acid, but it is undesirable to deal with it. Recent studies have shown that boric acid can have a detrimental effect on hormone levels, which is why it was banned for use in some countries – for example in Canada.
But born chefs who love to pamper their home with fresh pastries have every chance of finding a worthy substitute for citric acid in the form of tartar – a powder with baking powder properties. If you have a package of this miracle product in your kitchen cupboard, then you are on the right track, because making a bath bomb at home with it is as easy as peeling pears.
How to make a bath bomb with your own hands?
It is easier and smarter to start mastering the home production of bath bombs with easy recipes. Later, after gaining experience, you will be able to create very complex compositions and your own aromatic compositions from additional ingredients, but at first, it is better to limit yourself to the simplest form of “soda”.
Prepare your workplace before you start. Clean the table, cover it with oilcloth or paper, and spread all the necessary ingredients within reach of an outstretched hand. If everything is not planned correctly, there is a risk of filling half of the kitchen with soda.
How to make a bath bomb:
- Thoroughly mash the crumbs of baking soda with disinfectant and pestle and then sift through a sieve.
- Mix baking soda with citric acid and mix well.
- Enter an optional ingredient of your choice and mix again. In rare cases, baking soda will boil after skin softening oil has been added or run to foam better with your bath bomb. To avoid this, mix them for a while continuing to apply the spoon actively.
- If you are going to color the “pop” in different colors, divide the mixture into the required number of parts, get each in a separate container, and mix with a drop of color. The color should be uniform, without spots and baldness.
- The most important moment! Take a spray bottle with clean water and dampen the mixture slightly. The main difficulty in making a bath bomb at home is that the powder needs to be moist enough to lump easily when you squeeze it into your fingers, but not enough to react in advance. Be very careful and considerate.
- Arrange the spoon again and seal the mixture into the mold. If you are using splits – for example, to get a ball, fill each half separately and then press them tightly together.
- Leave the finished product in a warm, dry place until it is completely dry and then remove it from the mold. After that, the “eruption” must be wrapped in film or paper and stored in a place where it does not come into contact with moisture. By the way, fresh bombs sizzle active, so do not let them get too old.
Note! To create a bath bomb at home, it is important to choose the right size the shape. Too big a product can fall apart in your hands, and small will dry quickly. Look for a middle ground.
Popular recipes for bath bombs
The sour and baking soda popcorn is easy to make but can only be used for entertainment. To make your bathroom experience not only enjoyable but also useful, it should have additional ingredients.
Recipes on how to make a bath bomb for every taste:
- Emollient with milk powder … 2 tbsp. l. soda, combined with 1 tbsp. l citric acid and add 1 tbsp. l. milk powder or cream. Add 10 ml of sweet almond or wheat germ oil and 5-10 drops of rose essential oil.
- Soothing with sea salt … Mix 2 tbsp. l. soda with 1 tbsp. l. citric acid and the same amount of sea salt, ground in a coffee grinder. Add about 10 drops of lavender and bergamot essential oil. To make the bomb completely “sea”, add 2-3 teaspoons to the mixture. Kelp powder (looks for it in hobbies and makeup stores, or buys bath salts that were originally mixed with algae).
- Upstream chocolate … Add 1 tablespoon of the already known can of soda and citric acid. l. cocoa and cream powder, about 1 tsp. avocado oil and 8-10 drops of orange essential oil. The latter can be replaced by a taste of milk chocolate, black truffle, cappuccino, tiramisu, or other sweet pastries bought in the same hobby products.
- Nourishing honey … You need baking soda, citric acid, 1/2 tbsp. l. honey, 1 tbsp. l. oatmeal crushed in flour, 1-2 tsp. apricot oil. Chamomile essential oil or honey aroma is suitable as a flavoring and a pinch of whole oatmeal will act as an ornament.
- Toning lemons … In fact, artisans claim to be able to mix a lemon bath bomb with natural yellow citrus juice before reacting to soda, but for beginners, such an attempt is 99% likely to fail. Better to try to strengthen the amount of sodium bicarbonate, acid, and oatmeal (2: 1: 1) 1 tbsp. l. effervescent vitamin C with lemon flavor, by buying the necessary tablets at the nearest pharmacy and grinding them into a powder. The last touch will be 7-9 drops of lemon essential oil and grated lemon rind. Due to the vitamin, such a bomb is twice as strong.
- Refreshing with menthol … Take 2 tbsp. 1 tbsp. l. citric acid, 1 tbsp. l. starch, add 2 tsp. jojoba oil, 5-7 drops of peppermint essential oil, and 3 menthol crystals.
- Stiffening with clay … Rub baking soda, citric acid, and cosmetics in the ratio of 2: 1: 1, and soften the mixture with 1 tbsp. l. fatty oil and add your favorite flavor. To create a “gothic” black bomb with the same properties, the clay is replaced by crushed activated carbon.
- Foaming soap … Choose any recipe you like and add 1-2 tbsp. to the ingredients. l. soap shavings. Keep in mind that soap bath bombs often look awkward and sink because of their weight, but they grumble just as well. The veneer is replaced with a shower gel, shampoo, or a special soap base from a soap shop.
To improve the medicinal properties of the bomb, add eucalyptus essential oil to it and make a hot cold bath. If you add magnesium sulfate (pharmacy magnesium) to the list of ingredients, you get antispasmodics with increased soda.
Suitable for decoration:
- Dried flowers;
- Granulated sugar;
- Coffee beans;
- Dried berries;
- Shiny eye shadow;
- Multicolored cosmetics.
A big plus for homemade bath bombs is that the recipe will only contain the ingredients you choose. There will be no questionable boric acid or glitter from plastic here. In addition, you can always decide for yourself whether you want to choose a natural or artificial essential oil for perfume and what to mix with soda and acid – a safe coloring or artificial coloring.
Note! For bombs, all fatty oils can be used, with the exception of palm and coconut oils, as their consistency is difficult to grind evenly with loose ingredients and cocoa butter needs to be grated on a fine grater or melted in a microwave oven.
Properties of bath bomb use
Surprisingly, not everyone knows how to use a bath bomb properly. Just in case, let’s note the general provisions.
When you are planning to make a bath bomb with your own hands, do not forget to make sure that you are not allergic to any of its components and that the desired aroma does not cause dizziness and migraines. These harmless children have no other contraindications.
Rules for using “soda”:
- The water should be warm and comfortable for the body, but not hot.
- The bomb is placed in an already filled tub; it means nothing to throw it under a stream of water.
- There is no need to wait until the “pop” completely dissolves. Start immersing in water during this process to find many bubbles on the skin.
- Drink the fragrant water. Even with the simplest bath bomb at home, you can arrange a little relaxation activity, put scented candles around, turn on quiet music and throw flowers in the water.
- Give a light massage or simply massage your body with a hard washcloth.
- After 15-20 minutes, raise, and rinse the body lightly with clean warm water, and wipe the skin with a towel.
- Apply lotion or lotion to your body.
- Lie down and lie down for about half an hour to get a good rest. A good book, classical music, or a romantic melodrama is welcome.
You can use bombs every day. In addition, the “pops” will always be in place in the foot baths.
Some things for the home that you should pay attention to:
- Pigments often leave streaks on the walls of the bathtub so that it is not damaged by crossing them with a sponge once more after rinsing with water.
- If you overdo it with oils, they can settle on the bottom of the pot. Do not slide when you get out of the water!
- Petals and other decorative information are clogged in the drain. Get them in advance or put the bomb in a cloth bag before diving it into the water.