Bath Salts as Gifts

Whichever type of salts you decide to use as your base ingredient for your bath salts recipe - this has got to be the easiest and most effective homemade beauty recipe on this website! All you need is a fancy jar to put them in and a little ribbon or lace and you have a delightfully aromatic gift. Don't know what to give your child's teacher at the end of term? Well look no further...

Basic Lavender Bath Salts

Ingredients200g Coarse Sea Salt
200g Epsom Salts
100g Dead Sea Salt
5ml liquid Glycerine (optional)
10ml Lavender Essential Oil

Method
Combine the salts together in a glass or china bowl or jug. Do not use plastic bowls or spoons since the essential oils can discolour these. (And always remember to clean the bath thoroughly after using the salts since prolonged use of essential oils can discolour your bath too!)

Sprinkle on the lavender essential oil and liquid glycerine if using. With a wire whisk carefully mix the ingredients until everything is well combined. Mix really well. The better you mix the better the end product. If you have used liquid glycerine the salts mixture may feel a bit wet or sticky. If so, you can dry them by spreading them onto greaseproof paper and leave for 24 hours.

Pack the salts into a fancy apothecary jar or container and label it. Include ingredients on your label in case the person you are giving them to is allergic to anything and directions for use. i.e. A tablespoon of scented bath salts poured under running water is plenty for an average bath.

A single sprig of fresh lavender can be inserted into the jar for decoration. I tend not to include actual lavender buds in any of my recipes since they do not look nice once they are floating on the top of the bathwater, however if you like this sort of thing, remember less is better... you don't want it to look like a swarm of ants in your bath!

Leave the salts in the jar for at least 24 hours to allow the essential oil to settle down before using in the bath.

To Vary
Absolutely any pleasant smelling essential oil or blend of essential oils can be used in this recipe. Just be guided by your nose... if it is a very strong smelling essential oil then you may wish to use slightly less than the recommended 10ml.

The liquid glycerine can be replaced with a similar quantity of vegetable oil - choose one that suits your skintype.There are plenty of suggested essential oil blends in one of my earlier posts (just click on essential oils on the label cloud above) and more information about vegetable and plant oils for use in skincare... again look for the label that applies and click.

Coming up next a recipe for detox bathsalts.