Remineralizing Aromatic Spa Bath made with Dead Sea salt, essential oils, lavender buds, and lime peels. Photo © Karen Peltier
With all the winter storms and cool arctic air hitting the country recently, no doubt you wish you could escape to an exotic spa with hot mineral pools. (That’s my dream at least!) Well, I’ve got the next best solution — a remineralizing at-home spa bath.
This therapeutic Dead Sea salt bath will warm you up, revitalize your senses, and provide the essential minerals your body needs to function at its best. By the way, it’s especially fantastic to do in the evening with lavender essential oil as it will help you get a good night’s sleep. So, give this recipe a try and don’t forget to hang the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the bathroom door.
Ingredients
1 cup of Dead Sea salts
12 drops essential oil (see suggestions below)
1 tsp. dried herbs or small handful of fresh cut herbs (see suggestions below)
Directions
1. Choose essential oils. First decide what your body and mind needs — e.g., to relax or revitalize. Sometimes you will find that you need to do both, in which case you may find yourself choosing essential oils with different functions. For example, if you’re feeling a little down and tired, sweet orange and lavender essential oil might be the perfect combination for you. So, use the essential oil suggestions below as guidelines only and don’t be afraid to mix and match.
Essential Oil Suggestions
Relaxing – lavender, bergamot, neroli, chamomile
Revitalizing – rosemary, peppermint, spearmint
Uplifting – lemon, sweet orange, peppermint
By the way, if you don’t want to create a blend, simply start with one oil. Or, buy a premixed blend from a natural products market, such as Whole Foods Market. Stores often have testers set out, so you can have fun smelling the different blends and choose something that resonates with you.
2. Add the oils to the salt. In a bowl, add the essential oil drops to the salt dispersing them throughout the mixture evenly. Then, using the back of spoon, break up any clumps formed. Mix thoroughly.
3. Mix in the herbs. Herbs release essential oils into your bath, plus they make the whole experience luxurious. One of my favorite way of adding herbs to the bath, if I don’t have any fresh herbs on hand, is to snip open an herbal tea bag, such as chamomile or peppermint, and mix that into the salt blend. Adding fresh citrus peels is nice, too.
Herb Suggestions
Relaxing – lavender, chamomile
Revitalizing – rosemary, peppermint, spearmint
Uplifting – lemon peels, sweet orange peels, peppermint
4. Run the water. Add the above mixture to warm, running bath water. Then relax and enjoy the spa experience at home!
Tip: One of my favorite ways to decide which oils to combine, is to simply take the tops off the essential oil bottles I’m considering, then hold them together and wave them back and forth about 6-12 inches below my nose to get an idea of how they would smell together. This allows you to be creative and mix together oils that you may not normally, such as lemon and lavender.
Note: When adding fresh herbs or citrus peels, I make them large enough, so that they are easy to retrieve from the tub when the bath water is drained.
Other DIY Spa Baths You May Be Interested In:
- Decadent Rose Milk Bath
- DIY Detoxifying Mustard Bath: Soothe Muscles, Fight Colds & Flus, & More
- DIY Warming Winter Ginger Bath: Sleep Better & Fight Off Colds
- Revitalizing Himalayan Pink Salt Rose Bath
Other Articles about Natural Spa & Beauty Treatments You May Enjoy:
- 5 Ways to Brighten Your Beauty Care Routine with Lemons
- Natural Pumpkin Spa Treatments You Can Make
- DIY Organic Lavender Body Scrub
- How to do Abhyanga: A Daily Self-Massage Full of Health Benefits
- How to Dry Skin Brush: An Easy DIY Spa That Reduces Cellulite & More
Copyright © Karen Peltier and Well Gal, 2012-2014. All rights reserved.
Photo © Karen Peltier and Well Gal, 2012-2014.