Bath melts should be smaller, since a little goes a long way when it floats on top of the bath water. Most of Lush’s are 1 ounce, and that is too much for a lot of people, especially those with compact bath tubs.

I’ve also seen a combination of bath bomb and semi-solid butter also described as bath melts. They have the bonus effect of fizzing slightly while the oils and waxes melt. See “Le Bath Melt” on Snowdrift Farm’s page here.

Anyway, no need for me to reinvent the wheel, especially since I’ve never actually made any bath melt or massage bar like products. Here are some links to basic bath melt recipes — the majority use cocoa butter and sweet almond oil, which you can probably find at your local health food store if you don’t want to wait to order online (though it’ll cost you.) Massage bars often use beeswax to make them harder.

As with bath bombs, the fun in making bath melts is elaborating on the basic recipe and creating your own versions — especially the appearance! You can have a lot of fun with different mold shapes and packaging.

Cute! Tub toads wrapped in hoppin’ green foil.

Bath melt with milk powder.

Nice looking recipe for tub truffles.

Massage bar with beeswax.

PS
Does anyone have a nice photo I can use? I didn’t want to use anyone’s picture without permission, and it would be great to showcase a member’s handiwork!

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The Aromatherapy Angle
According to several sources, the purpose of shower steamers is aromatherapy. You make them with essential oils, get them a little wet, and put them out of direct range of the shower spray. The steamy heat from the shower helps the essential oils circulate, creating an aromatherapy steam-room environment.

I thought that was pretty cool. There are few products that enhance the shower atmosphere — just the bath — and leveraging the humid heat is clever. I’ve done shower sprays with mint and eucalyptus, but I never thought to repurpose the bath bomb in this way.

How To Make ‘Em
I checked the ingredients on several sites, and they are exactly the same as a bath bomb: citric acid, baking soda, essential oils. Some have borax, possibly to alter the pH balance or make the tub easier to clean. All of them have to have good essential oils, of course, and some knowledge of aromatherapy is required.

As far as I can tell, you can just make a basic bath bomb with essential oils and call it a shower steamer. If I’m wrong about this, be sure to email me and let me know, but my research supports this conclusion.

If you don’t know how to make bath bombs, you can start by downloading my free Fast Guide, a 48-page instruction manual on bath bomb making.

Packaging
I didn’t want to steal anyone’s product photos, but if you search Google images for “shower steamer,” it’ll give you a good idea what other people are doing.

The format is either a small bomb size, such as the 2 ounce size, or half a 4 or 6 ounce bath bomb. They are usually wrapped in colored foil, rather like a Valentine’s Day chocolate, with a sticker holding it together.

As the shower steamers contain essential oils, they need to be stored in an airtight environment. The foil must provide a good air block, but I don’t see why the right clear bag would do the trick as well. I suspect the foil is also to distinguish it from a normal bath bomb, if the sellers provide both products.

To find the foil, search google for “confectionery foil,” or start here at Sugarcraft, where there are all kinds of good things for the creative bath bomber.

As a marketer, I do not like the look of many of these shower steamers because of the confusion with candy. For bath bombs, it makes sense — it’s bath candy — but the cognitive dissonance of cheap candy packaging + semi-poisonous essential oils + luxury spa experience? Not so good, in my opinion. I’d prefer a more natural look to go with the aromatherapy angle.

Cautions
I do not recommend using corn starch. It will make the steamer softer and possibly provide food for mold. People will leave the shower steamer out, and heat + moisture + air = uninvited growths. The chemical salts may help deter spores, but don’t count on it… there are some very hardy strains of mold out there. It’s their job.

I also do not recommend using clay, since it will leave a slushy residue as the steamer melts down. Not that there’s any reason to use clay, but since some people do use it in bath bombs, I thought I’d mention it.

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Even organic essential oils have an impact.

How can they not?  They’re still grown on farms.  Any human activity on the planet will have some kind of effect, and thinking that using organic and natural products don’t have an impact is not realistic.  It will still have an impact, but one that may not be as harmful.  “Wild crafted” essential oils are those made from non-farmed natural sources, but there are concerns that this practice will endanger plants, as no cultivation efforts will replace them.

I’m not an expert on aromatherapy or essential oils, other than using them for their scent properties, but here is a more in-depth look at this issue from someone more knowledgeable.

Synthetic musks.

One of the biggest questions is the effect of synthetic musks.  Natural musks, which have to be cruelly harvested from animals, have been banned since the 60′s, so the only other alternatives are expensive musk-like plants, which can get close but lack that animal quality, or lab-made fragrance.

Musks are used in just about everything scented, and there are a lot of synthetic musks in drinking water, lakes and streams, fish, human blood, breast milk, and other disquieting places.  No one knows if musks are carcinogenic in humans or not, or if they are a real threat to the environment, but it is well worth thinking about.

http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/Synthetic-Musk-Risks24mar99.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_musk

Phthalates & Children

One of the recent concerns is children’s exposure to phthalates — present not just in fragrance, but many other products.  Children absorb more than adults, and the potential consequences are disturbind.  Phthalates may disrupt endocrine function, especially in boys, and lead to lower fertility in adulthood.  Phthalates in fragrance is the tip of the iceberg, but many baby products, such as powders, lotions, and shampoos, do contain it.

I have never advocated the use of any of these products, and when people ask me how to make them, I say, “Don’t.”  Scented products are fun to use, but you just never know when it comes to children.  Use plain, unscented products with minimal preservatives and no fragrance in leave-on products such as baby powder and lotion — not even essential oils.

http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/phthalates-47020418

http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/NEWSCIENCE/oncompounds/phthalates/phthalates.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phthalate#Health_effects

I have a son (now 2) and, while I do take potential risks seriously, I cannot stand articles such as, “What’s Turning Our Boys Into Girls?”  Such pieces of “journalism” only make the problem seem ridiculous because of the unsoundness of the writing!  Please beware of people looking to turn this into sensational news pieces, but do look for reasonable information to help you make up your own mind.

Plus, plastic is not excellent!  Who likes to use cheap, disposable junk?  Most of the plastic I have is either recycled or vintage, like my son’s toys.

What threat do you pose as an individual “manufacturer?”

The worst offenders aren’t scented bath and body product and perfume, but the more common stuff used in greater quantities — laundry detergent, especially dryer sheets, cleaning products, hair care products, dish detergent, and things like that.  Those are always heavily scented, often to cover up the bad odors of other ingredients.

If you’re concerned about the environmental and health effects of making personal care products, but you don’t want to completely stop your hobby, consider changing to all-unscented household products, such as your kitchen and bathroom sprays, laundry products, and dish soaps.

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But the recipes are the least part of the book. The real excitement comes from creatively designing and customizing your products beyond the basic. For example, I give you ideas for:

* Adding advanced ingredients, such as silk and shimmer
* Packing your products with super moisturizing power
* Designing your own fragrance blends with a beginner-friendly blending technique
* Recreating discontinued Bath and Body Works and Victoria’s Secret products
* Getting started with natural essential oils and aromatherapy with a few simple blending recipes

But I want to stress that I don’t do the thinking for you. Instead, I help you design your own recipes by helping you build on the basics. That’s much more fun.
The best quality of daily-use products possible

I truly believe that using my technique will give you the best quality of daily-use products possible. I cannot teach you anything that borders on dermatology; I am not a doctor, just a hobbyist.

But the products you use every day, such as shower gel, lotion, and shampoo, will come out so high in quality, you will never set foot in another Bath and Body Works again.

You can also make great gifts.

But you knew that, right? It’s really fun to present your friends and family with custom-scented stuff — I made a laundry-based toiletries set for my sister, who loves to clean and loves the scent of cleaning products. She did like the products, but also loved the fact that I designed it for her, using a trait of her personality that she is most proud of. You can easily do the same thing.

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The Body Shop charges $12 for 8.4 ounces of Satsuma lotion. To be fair, their lotion is pretty decent, a step above drugstore quality. But expensive! At this price, it would cost $182.86 for a gallon of Satsuma lotion.

One of my most expensive and highest-quality suppliers charges $35 for a gallon of their lotion, and the quality is incredible! The first four ingredients are:

* Water
* Shea butter
* Meadowfoam seed oil
* Avocado oil

Well, let’s take shipping into account – $14.98 for UPS Ground. And let’s add in some Satsuma fragrance ($15.00) and silk proteins ($5.00) to make it extra luxurious.

We’re still at $69.98 for an entire gallon of spa-quality Satsuma lotion. I don’t think you can get any better than this stuff, and it is almost 1/3 the cost of The Body Shop’s average quality.

Let’s Make Ginger Scrub!

Origins charges a staggering $25 for 8 ounces of ginger body scrub. It is very luxurious and excellent, but… have you seen what’s in it?

Salt. Sugar. Olive oil. Fragrance. That’s about it. In fact…

Here, I’m making the exact same stuff for $4.

All right, one more… Bath and Body Works’ Aromatherapy Sleep Shower Gel

Vanilla and lavender is such a winning combination, but can you believe that they charge $13 for only 10 ounces of body wash? That would mean that a gallon costs $166.40.

Let’s make it ourselves, and we’re going to use real essential oils of lavender and vanilla.

This is probably overkill, but the essential oils together cost $17.80 – one ounce of lavender, and half ounce of vanilla.

A gallon of high-quality shower gel base – containing aloe juice and extracts of witch hazel, horse chestnut seed, ivy and arnica montana – costs $33.22, including shipping. All together, we made a gallon of real aromatherapy shower gel for only $51.02. This is higher quality than Bath and Body Works’ gel, uses real essential oils, and costs 1/3 what you would pay at Bath and Body Works.

As you can see, making your own products gives you a higher quality for lower cost, one of the major benefits of “making stuff.” Even better is that once you have all the ingredients, whipping up a batch only takes about 5 minutes.

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Using product bases is a fairly new method that wasn’t available until a few years ago. It ensures that you get professional, usable products on the very first attempt. The bases I recommend are absolutely wonderful in terms of natural, high-quality ingredients. One supplier has shea butter as the second ingredient!

For most people, the main reasons for making products “from scratch” are:
1) The ability to use high quality natural ingredients but still have a reasonable cost.
If you see “shea butter lotion” in Whole Foods or Origins, it costs an arm and a leg, and there’s not much shea butter in it. In the past, making shea butter lotion from scratch was the only way you could get real shea butter lotion at an affordable price.

But now, many spa suppliers have opened up their unscented base catalogs for crafters like us. You don’t have to make your own basic shea butter lotion if you don’t want to spend the time – you can just buy the base and add your own cool ingredients to it.
2) Getting products in your favorite scents.
Using bases is perfect for this! You can cut straight to the fun part, scenting your toiletries with your signature scents. Some fragrances are so hard to find, especially old-fashioned florals like lilac and honeysuckle, that the only thing to do is make them yourself!

I have an entire section devoted to helping you choose, find, and make your own fragrances. It was so much fun to write, and I think it will help you find the perfect fragrances for your bath and body products!
3) Using your creativity
For me, this is the main reason to “make stuff.” Creativity! It wakes up the brain. But making products from scratch is often a chore that gets in the way of creativity, at least for me. I have to go through the motions of making a basic lotion or gel before I can add my “mad science” ingredients (silk, weird botanical extracts, whatever!)

In fact, for me, making bases is a boring task that I hate. It’s a lot like stretching and gesso-ing canvases before you can paint on them! (I went to art and design school.) By using bases, I don’t have to worry if my products will turn out (or worry that my expensive extra ingredients will be wasted.)
Want to experience a pioneer activity or lifestyle
The bases method is admittedly modern. If what you’re after is to experience the romance of using historical methods, then you should make everything from raw materials! It can be incredibly fun, it just takes practice. Many people do it, though, and if you persevere, you will get good at it.

One thing, though… if you want to get started making products from scratch, do not learn from websites. You’ll spend more time researching and trying to cobble together enough information to hack it. Some of these sites are from amateur enthusiasts who don’t know how to teach that well, and they may promote wrong information about ingredients and safety practices.

Instead, go to Borders or Amazon and buy some real, published books with photos. Read the reviews or do your own flip-through. This alone will save you a lot of frustration.

If you just want to make good, basic products, try my method. By using bases, you save a lot of time and gruntwork. Your products will be ready to use or give in about 5 minutes (unless you do something experimental.)

Ready to get started? Buy “How To Make Popular Bath and Body Products” in combination with the Perfume Fast Guide for only $27.

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Is your method less creative than making products from scratch?

Absolutely not! In fact, I think this method makes you more creative; that is why I teach it. You can find out more about my philosophy in the free sample, but I compare it to being a master chef.

The master chef designs the menu – the creative part – but doesn’t work on the line, chopping veggies or making a basic white sauce. The chef just adds the spices and invents the dishes – just like you will do with bath and body products.

Have you written any other instructional bath and body books?

Yes. My first book, the popular “Fast Guide to Making Your Own Bath Bombs & Fizzies,” has been dowloaded over 10,000 times this year. I’ve helped a lot of people make perfect, rock-hard bath bombs!

My second book is being revised, and it’s about how to get started making your own perfume. I hope to complete that by the end of the year, but it takes as long as it takes.

I am interested in making products – especially lotion – from scratch.

I don’t teach that in this book, but the information is still useful. It’s what you will do after you make a basic lotion or shower gel – customizing it with your own unique ingredients.

If you’re a total beginner, I recommend that you start with my method first. Yes, it is self-serving, but it’s also completely sincere. I have seen too many people get frustrated when their lotions or liquid soaps don’t turn out right, and they give up on the hobby altogether.

I don’t live in the US. Can I still use this book?

Well, you can, but I can’t honestly recommend it to you. You will still learn the method, but you will have to find your own suppliers. In addition, most of the suppliers are in the US – the US has the biggest health and beauty market in the world.

I am a complete, total beginner to this stuff. Are you sure I can make bath and body products?

My book was written for “complete, total beginners.” If you can’t cook at all, then I don’t recommend it. But if you can handle making tea or Top Ramen, you should be all good.

Where do you get the professional cosmetic bases?

I give you a great list in my book. If you want to start with one supplier and see how you like this method, request the free sample pages and recipe.

How does the cost of my products compare to buying them at The Body Shop or Bath and Body Works?

Your savings will average around 25% – 50% of what you would pay at stores, and it’s all higher quality. I give you some ingredient and cost comparisons – read those!

You are a complete stranger to me, and I’m nervous about giving you my credit card number. How do I know I can trust you?

I use PayPal, which gives you additional protection on top of what you get from your credit card.  I don’t store or even see your credit card number — only PayPal sees it.  If you’re really nervous, you can use a personal check.  Just email me for my address.

Also, just send me an email and say hi, or if you have comments and questions! You can find my email here.

You can also browse the rest of this website’s articles on making stuff, and my values of creativity, frugality, and landfill-friendliness.

You can even visit my Etsy shop where I occasionally sell scented soy candles.

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Adding fragrance to scrub.

“How To Make Popular Scented Bath & Body Products” is my ebook with instructions on making several daily-use toiletries. The book shows how to make the most popular bath and body products — shower gel, Origins-style classic body scrub, basic salon-style shampoo and conditioner, Bath and Body Works type body lotions, and more.

Frugal, landfill-friendly, and high quality products.

With detailed instructions and step-by-step photos, I teach you how to make these products your favorite scents – even Bath and Body Works own fragrances, but without the mineral oil. The products you make will usually be higher quality than the standard mall chains, but lower in cost and much lower in packaging waste! Since you’re not paying for that fancy and wasteful packaging, retail mark-up, and elaborate advertising, the cost of your products is at least 50% less than Bath and Body Works (as a reference).

Instead of water and mineral oil, you can use aloe juice and shea butter. You can experiment with exotic extracts and proteins in your daily-use shampoo and get something better than the salons! (And most of the time, the amount of active or functional ingredients in commercial products is so small, it doesn’t make a difference.)

Beginner-friendly method.
Unlike other books in this area, I use an intuitive and beginner-friendly method that even kids can do. (Actually, many of my students are preteens and teens.) My focus is on getting high-quality, usable products without needing a lot of messy raw materials, storage space, or technical skill — just common sense.

Fun and creative.

Once you master the basics, though, you can easily experiment with more advanced ingredients, such as botanical extracts, cosmetic ingredients such as mica powder for shimmer, and anti-aging additives, such as cranberry and evening primrose oils. If you’ve visited my site before, you know that one of my values is helping people be more creative.

The book teaches you to customize cosmetic bases, not make them from raw materials. By doing this, you will be able to do the fun, creative part — designing your product line — right at the start. It’s not foolproof, and you will make mistakes, but starting “from scratch” can take months, and often years, to master. While this can be rewarding, it’s definitely not the most encouraging path to beginning hobbyists who just want a good basic product! Most people who go this route end up with a garage full of abandoned ingredients.

The Popular Bath & Body book is not for everyone.
I wrote it for people who aren’t necessarily “do it yourselfers,” but those who just want their favorite scented products at the best possible price. Experienced crafters, or even journeyman crafters, may find my instructions too basic. The five returns I’ve had in my four years of selling this book have been for that reason.

How to get this ebook.

I used to sell this ebook separately, and it stood well on its own.  My students quickly told me, though, that the combination of the Perfume Fast Guide and Popular Bath & Body was a way better value.  So, I made “The Perfume Book Bundle,” which is the two books at a discount, along with a companion chapter on making creative bath recipes.  You can read about it here.

Get the free sample chapter!

This 8-page PDF is an introductory chapter that explains more about exactly what information you will learn in my book. It tells you:

• More about the method, which is based on leverage, not “reinventing the wheel” as they say
• A sample recipe for recreating Moonlight Path lotion!
• A link to one of the best suppliers so you can try it for yourself

Since it’s as e-book and you can’t give it a flip through, it’s only fair to request more info, right?

Just fill out the simple web form below. You will need to confirm your request for spam protection, then you will immediately be sent the sample download link.

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Although most commercial body mists and room sprays use alcohol, many people with dry skin don’t like alcohol’s drying effects. You can make stable room and body sprays with the use of an emulsifier called Polysorbate 20. Here is a quick overview of this useful home bath and body ingredient.

What Is Polysorbate 20 (Poly 20)?

Poly 20 is a thick liquid that will make oil and water mix. It’s an emulsifier; that’s its job. It basically acts as a kind of glue between the water and your fragrance or essential oils so that they don’t separate.

How much do you need?

Start with as much Polysorbate 20 as fragrance oil or essential oil. If you have one teaspoon of essential oil, you’ll probably need at least a teaspoon of Poly20. It’s not unusual to need 3-4 times as much Poly 20 as fragrance. As you probably know, different fragrance oils have different densities, so the heavier ones, like patchouli or vetiver, may require more Poly 20.

How do you use the Polysorbate 20?

It’s easy! Mix the Poly 20 and fragrance oil together first, then add your water.

Does the mixing order matter?

I wondered this myself, so in the name of science, I did everything exactly wrong. I filled my bottle with water, then glopped in some dense essential oil. The oil sunk to the bottom, of course, and I shook it to temporary emulsion. Then, I squirted in some Poly 20, guessing at the amount, and shook it up. The result was cloudy, but stable. The spray did not separate at all.

Will my room or body spray still be cloudy?

Yes. Emulsions are always cloudy, just like milk, salad dressing and mayonnaise. If that bothers you, you can try adding some ethyl alcohol to clarify your spray. In my experience, however, the only way to get a truly clear body spray is to use alcohol to dissolve the fragrance oil, and distilled water.

Making Gardenia scented water spray from the Bath and Body Book.

You can also just put your sprays in a brushed aluminum bottle, like Burt’s Bees.

Poly 20 and fragrance oil will make your spray thicker, but if you figure 5% fragrance and 10% Poly 20, 85% will still be water. So it will only be a little thicker than normal water, and you probably won’t notice.

Is Polysorbate 20 natural? Toxic in any way?

Well… Poly 20 is derived from coconut oil, but I wouldn’t call it straight from the earth! It takes a lot of processing to get from coconut oil to Poly 20.

That doesn’t mean it’s harsh or harmful. It’s used in all kinds of personal care products. If you, like, rub it into your eyes, it will probably irritate them. So I don’t recommend doing that!

Is Poly 20 called anything else?

Yes. It’s also called Polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate, Liposorb, and Tween 20.

Will I need Poly20 with other water-based products?

You may, depending on the water content. In general, bath and body products use .5% to 5% fragrance, which is not a lot. You might be able to get away with not using Poly20. If you’re making a liquid soap or surfactant-based product (like shower gel or shampoo), you probably won’t need it. The soap and surfactants will emulsify the fragrance or essential oil on their own.

But always test first. Let your products stand 24 – 48 hours and check for separation. If you see any layers, chances are that your oil has separated. Repeat your test batch with Poly 20 added.

What is Dead Sea salt, anyway?

As you probably know, Dead Sea salt comes from the Dead Sea in Israel, and the Dead Sea has been a therapeutic site for thousands of years. Pliny the Elder, in the first century A.D., wrote about the healing waters of the Dead Sea.

So, Dead Sea salt is what is left after the water evaporates, and it is a highly potent combination of minerals. It usually is coarser than table salt and not perfectly white (if it is perfectly white, then it’s been refined, and you don’t want that!) With Dead Sea salt, you can recreate the healing waters in your own bathtub.

High mineral content of salt may have health benefits.

What does Dead Sea salt do that other bath salts don’t? It has many more minerals than Epsom salt or regular sea salt, though those are mineral-rich as well. In addition to sodium chloride, Dead Sea salt contains magnesium chloride, potassium chloride, calcium chloride, and bromium, which are said to promote tissue healing, relieve muscle cramps, balance body fluid levels, and increase circulation.

Dead Sea salt may help with many skin problems.

There have been a few clinical studies (you know, the scientific method with controls and variables) that showed that Dead Sea salt helps certain skin conditions, such as psoriasis. All I know is that my own skin got really soft and didn’t dry out as a result of many Dead Sea salt baths. And it certainly helped my muscles recover from hard workout sessions! It has been recommended by doctors for eczema, psoriasis, and other skin disorders; whether or not it really works for those is another story. Your best bet is to get a small amount and see if Dead Sea salt works for you.

Ideal temperature for your mineral bath

By the way, don’t make the bath water too hot! It should be tepid, otherwise your pores will close off and you won’t be able to absorb the minerals. The best bath temperature for Dead Sea salt is only a few degrees above body temperature. It should feel warm, but not hot.

Where to find Dead Sea Salt.

Unless you live near a spa supplier, your best bet is to buy Dead Sea salt online, in bulk, even though the shipping will cost some. You can buy it from Whole Paycheck Foods, but it is really expensive, like $6 per pound, when in bulk it’s $2 – $3 per pound. Since you need 1 or 2 cups of Dead Sea salt to make a good bath, it’s totally worth it to buy 5 – 50 pounds at a time. I recommend a company called Saltworks; they have a lot of good information and a great sales staff who really know their stuff!