Treat Yourself Tuesday: Bath Bombs
We are talking about bath bombs today for our Treat Yourself Tuesday, The Day I picked to put aside some time for myself! They are one of my favorite things, and there is no better way in my mind to treat yourself than with a hot, decadent bath. It is kind of a ceremonial way of washing yourself: adding bubble bath… then adding more bubble bath… then using a bath bomb with a cocktail in hand. It is iconic to sit in a warm bath with relaxing smells, to just let your thoughts go free, and to let yourself relax. But what are these fizzy, bubbly bombs? Well, per my usual we will start in the beginning.
What are bath bombs?
Besides being basically explosions of pure joy, they are typically a mixture of citric acid and baking soda with fragrances, oils, salts and optional glitter but only if you want to take this bath to an 11. The fizziness is caused by a chemical reaction that happens when an acid and base are mixed together. Like the baking soda and vinegar volcano experiment, bath bombs employ the same idea! Combined together they make salt, water, and carbon dioxide gas, which is the same thing that we breathe out, and what carbonates champagne and beer. If you every wanted to be the new year’s champagne cocktail this is your chance. Unlike in the volcano trick, the bath bombs have a slow release of carbon dioxide by combining the dry acid and base together with oil and a small amount of water and compacting it all together. This can be formed into a solid ball (or other fun shapes), and since the ingredients are dry they cannot react with each other until they are placed in water to slowly dissolve, tickling your tushie in the process.
How to make bath bombs?
They are pretty easy to make. If you can make cookies, you can make these. All the ingredients are easy to find online or in some craft stores. There are many recipes, and they are all very similar. I used the one here from Popular Science How to Make Your Own Bath Bombs. They came out really nice, and I gave them as holiday gifts last year.
If you are not the crafty type, Lush has some of my favorite bath bombs, and my personal favorite is the Lush Golden Egg Bath Bomb. Packed with glitter… so much glitter your treat yourself Tuesday will last probably until Friday. You are welcome.
Recap
- Treat yourself. You are worth it.
- Bath bombs are literally the bomb, and you can be crafty and make them yourself.
- Science is fun and makes bath time fun, too.
Additional Reading
- Pick up that book you have been meaning to read! Reading a few pages of a book is always better than no pages.
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