Welcome back to another tutorial!
Today I will show you a simple way to make bath bombs and, because you know I am a huge fan of customisable recipes, how to customise them into very useful products. The base of our recipe is always made by 1 part citric acid and 2 parts baking soda.
This tutorial can get a little messy but it’s so much fun, easy and quick. Ok let’s get started.
The first recipe I want to share is, of course, bath bombs you can gift or use for a relaxing warm bath.
This recipe can be done with kids too because we are not handling potentially irritating ingredients.
Want to watch it instead of making it? Here is my video tutorial:
Relaxing bath bombs
We are going to need:
1 tablespoon citric acid
2 tablespoons baking soda
1 tablespoon of citric acid
2 tablespoons of baking soda
1 tablespoon of salt - I have used Himalayan salt
1 tablespoon of oat meal powder
1 teaspoon of sweet almond oil
1 teaspoons of witch hazel
You can also add up to 10 drops of your favourite essential oil
We will mix these powders together and then we will add our liquid components. The liquid ingredients will be used to turn the dry part in a wet-sand consistency which will allow us to mould the ingredients into our chosen shape.
I have chosen to blend two very calming essential oils: cedarwood and rose geranium.
When we are adding our water-based ingredients, in our case witch hazel, we need to make sure to add it a little at the time and mix really fast as otherwise the mixture will start fizzing!
If you feel that the mixture is too wet and is a bit swollen, you will understand what I mean when you try this, just let it calm down for a few minutes. It will become a little drying and of the perfect consistency to be put into the mould.
What we want to achieve is basically a slightly wet and quite compact consistency which, when squeezed in the palm of your hand it will hold its shape and not crumble.
Let them rest and dry in the mould for a good hour before unmoulding.
Dish washing bombs
1 tablespoon citric acid
2 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sodium percarbonate
1 teaspoon sodium carbonate
1 teaspoon vinegar
Half teaspoon detergent
5 drops lemon or tea tree essential oils.
The sodium percarbonate is an alternative to bleach, it disinfects, deodorises, improves ceramics whiteness. The sodium carbonate is also known as washing soda and it is an effective degreaser. The vinegar adds shine and the detergent cleans further. Make sure not too add too much or you will end up with a sea of bubbles in your kitchen!
Sodium carbonate is very alkaline and must be handled with rubber gloves.
We will mix these powders together and then we will add the liquid component of the recipe which will be used to turn the dry part in a wet-sand consistency which will allow us to mould the ingredients into our chosen shape. If too wet, let it dry for 5 minutes. We will then add the powder to your mould. Make sure to press hard until the mix is quite hard and stable, and again let dry for about 30 minutes or even a little longer.
Toilet bombs
The third and final recipe I want to share is a toilet bomb recipe. We will need
1 tablespoon citric acid
2 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sodium percarbonate
1 teaspoon lemon
5 drops lemon or tea tree essential oils.
I also recommend to wear gloves. The sodium percarbonate is there to really bleach, disinfects, and kill odours. If you want you could also add 1 teaspoon of washing soda to this recipe for extra degrease action. I would leave out any essential oils as I think it’s a bit of a waste to throw them down the toilet and the other ingredients are already cleansing. If you do want to add it anyways, you can add a few drops of lemon or tea tree.
I hope you enjoyed the tutorial, which one of these 3 recipes will you try first?
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