Ask an Aromatherapist: Should I Add Essential Oils Directly to the Bathtub?
Well this seems like a perfectly safe thing to do. Add a few drops of oil, swish with your hand and enjoy a lovely bath. But as you know oil and water don't mix. So adding essential oils directly to the bath with out a dispersing agent means they will tend to coalesce and attach to skin. The results can be irritating especially so with citrus oils.
So what is the safest way to add essential oils to a bath? One way is to mix them with a vegetable oil and add to the tub. 3-5 drops of essential oils added to a teaspoon or two of jojoba or fractionated coconut oil will help reduce the risk of skin sensitization. You could also use an emulsifying agent such as Solubol to incorporate essential oils into an aqueous solution such as a hydrosol or distilled water and add an amount to yield approximately 3-5 drops of essential oils per bath. Incorporating essential oils into a bath bomb containing a carrier oil is also a great choice.
Although a very popular method of making bath salts is mixing essential oils directly into epsom salts or sea salt they are not dispersing or emulsifying agents. Adding a carrier oil such as jojoba or fractionated coconut oil or an agent such as natrasorb to the bath salt recipe will help reduce the risk of skin sensitization from poorly dispersed oils.
Building a better bath salt:
Oil method:
to a glass or PET plastic 4 oz jar add
4 oz sea salt or epsom salt
2 teaspoons carrier oil (organic jojoba is my choice)
6-10 drops of essential oils.
Mix essential oils into carrier and combine with salts. Spoon into jar. Use 2oz per bath. Since these salts do not contain a preservative be sure to use within a month or so.
If you have aromatherapy questions or would like to set up a consult contact Tricia. Visit the web store for aromatherapy products and our classes page to attend an upcoming class or workshop.
