I am obsessed with bathing: always have been and always will be – come winter, summer, rain or shine: if there is an option for me to soak in a tub, I will take it. I have dabbled with various oils, milks, salts and bubbles over the years and I have recently stumbled onto a bath concoction that is so good, I felt it my duty to share it with you.
First Ingredient: Epsom Salts
I must admit I knew very little about the virtues of epsom salts until I read about Liv Tyler’s bath time routine on Into The Gloss (How to Bathe like a Detox Princess from She’s In The Glow is also very informative). These magical salts are comprised of magnesium, sulfur, and oxygen, and are said to soothe sore muscles, alleviate aches and pains, and generally detoxify the skin (I work out never, so can’t confirm if it alleviates sore muscles, but I can tell you I always sleep incredibly well after my bath, so it must be doing something!). PS these are incredibly cheap – I think R13.00/500g.
Second Ingredient: Himalayan Salt
I have been stalking the Therapie Himalayan Detox Salts on Cult Beauty for years, however I cannot bring myself to drop ±R700 on bath salts when I am fairly certain I recreate a similar effect at home at a fraction of the price. You can find Himalayan salt online or in-store at Wellness Warehouse (amongst other places I’m sure), and they’re a whole lot cheaper than the Therapie offering! You can choose between the finely milled version and a more coarse version, and the benefits are similar to epsom salts, so expect lots of detoxifying, soothing and cleansing.
Third Ingredient: Oil
My current favourite is the utterly delicious Uplifting Coconut Bath Oil from SOiL – it combines coconut oil, grapefruit and lemongrass to soothe the skin and uplift the senses. You can, of course, also use regular coconut oil and it will do wonders for your skin, but the scent of this SOiL oil has me hooked!
I like to mix the salts and crystals together beforehand and store them in a tub next to my bath (500g epsom salts + 250g crystal salts). When bath time rolls around I don’t hold back – I would say I add 2-3 generous scoops of the mixture and a nice big glug of oil into the piping hot water and swirl it around until it’s dissolved. I then light a few candles, line up some beauty videos and unwind for about half an hour (don’t forget to take a big glass of water with you – all the salt/heat makes me incredibly thirsty). When I emerge I feel calmer, more relaxed, and I sleep like the dead afterwards!
Do you have any secret bathing combinations you’d like to share? Please let me know!