If you’re a beginner to making bath bombs, here is a quick overview of the ingredients and process. You will see that there’s nothing to it — seriously. Three whole ingredients for the basic bath bomb!  Of course, it’s pretty boring, but this is the foundation of bath bombing.  Everything else, the color, fragrance, oils, corn starch, etc, is just icing on the cake, so to speak.

Ingredients

• 2 cups Baking Soda
• 1 cup Citric Acid (Sour Salt)
• Spray Bottle with Tap Water

• Optional: 5 – 20 drops liquid food coloring
• Optional: 1 or 2 teaspoons of massage oil, grapeseed oil, olive oil, or almond oil
• Optional: 1 tsp. skin-safe fragrance oil

Why do I say those last three are optional? Because they are. You don’t need anything other than baking soda, citric acid, and a little water to make bath bombs. You can even hand mold them! Yes, they’ll be boring bath bombs, but they will fizz in the bath.

Process

Combine your oil, fragrance, and dry ingredients in a large, wide mixing bowl. If you’re using coloring, drop the coloring in at this point. It will fizz a little and ball up in the dry stuff, that’s normal.

Start with two or three spritzes of water into the bowl, and rub the mix between your palms. This way, the color will break up and distribute evenly. You will get some fine speckles, but I figure that it’s part of the beauty of a handmade product

When the bath bomb mix packs easily, but still doesn’t feel wet, it’s time to mold ‘em.  For your first batch, use an old measuring cup that you don’t mind being scented (if using fragrance.) Press the mixture in like you’re trying to make a sand castle — the firmer, the better.  Then, flip the mold upside down and unmold. If you do your mixture right, your bath bombs should unmold immediately; you don’t have to wait for them to “set” in the molds, or anything.

I have to warn you, plastic stuff doesn’t make the best molds.  It tends to get pitted with tiny holes, and they act like Velcro to a bath bomb.  You can flex the mold around the bomb and that will usually help, but the best thing I’ve used are the stainless steel bath bomb molds.  You don’t need those to start, though!

Put your molded bath bombs on a tray to dry overnight. Of course, you can use them immediately – after all, they’re just going to get wet again! But you should not wrap them or store them until they are fully dry. If they retain moisture, the bath bombs will start to “fizzle out” over time. It’s a slow process, but it does happen. starts to clump together when you squeeze it, you should stop and test its mold-readiness, even if you think it’s too dry. Mold one bath bomb, and see if it holds together.

If it does, mold the rest. If it kind of falls apart, add another spritz or two, and do another test mold.

Put your molded bath bombs on a tray to dry overnight. Of course, you can use them immediately – after all, they’re just going to get wet again! But you should not wrap them or store them until they are fully dry. If they retain moisture, the bath bombs will start to “fizzle out” over time. The bath bombs will be hard and dry, but their fizzing power will be disappointing. It’s a slow process, but it does happen.

Bath Bombing Is A Process, Not A Recipe

There are a lot of “recipes” for bath bombs around, but it’s really a process.  One of my readers has compared it to making a pie crust.  You can’t think rigidly about following a recipe because it’s dependent on the humidity of the air, the heat, etc.  Plus, you’ll never come up with your own creative versions, and that’s the fun part.

To help you through the bath bombing process, I’ve written the now-famous “Fast Guide To Making Bath Bombs,” a 48-page monster all about the process.  It’s very plainly formatted with no photos, but it continues to be the best instructions on the net for making these fizzy devils.  You can download it by joining my bath bombers’ list here:

Once you submit the form, you’ll get an automatic confirmation email asking you to confirm your subscription. Click the link, and you’ll be sent the Fast Guide in an attachment, along with “Anatomy of a Bath Bomb,” which shows you how easy it is to recreate one of Lush’s most popular bath bombs, and an info sheet for the molds — just because people keep asking about them!

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