How to DIY a Bubble Bath With Simple, Good-for-You Ingredients

Even if you're craft-challenged, it's easy to DIY your own bubble bath solution with just a few household ingredients you probably already have. Yes, DIY is economical, and it's satisfying to make things yourself, but the beauty of creating your own bath bomb or bubble bath solution is knowing exactly what you're putting in your bathtub and on your body. Start with one of our recipes, and then devise your own customized formulas.

Egg White Bubble Bath

What You Need:

• Liquid soap
• Sugar or honey
• Egg white

Instructions

Janice Cox, author of Natural Beauty at Home ($19, amazon.com), recommends this bubble bath recipe: In a clean container, mix ½ cup mild liquid hand or body soap, 1 tablespoon sugar or honey, and one egg white, and then pour the entire mixture under running water as you draw your bath.

Why does this work? Honey is a natural humectant, which attracts and retains moisture in your skin, and the egg white helps create stronger, longer-lasting bubbles for a nice, fluffy bath. For extra-dry skin, consider adding a tablespoon of light oil (such as almond oil) to provide extra nourishment.

Custom Scented Bubble Bath

What You Need:

• Castile liquid soap
• Coconut or almond oil
• Epsom salt
• Essential Oil
  

Instructions

Keep things simple by mixing 1 cup warm water with 1 cup Dr. Bronner's Unscented Pure-Castile liquid soap. Next add 1 tablespoon coconut or almond oil, 1 teaspoon Epsom salt, and 2 to 3 drops of your favorite, non-irritating, essential oil.

Why Epsom salt? This naturally occurring mineral—not meant for consumption—was named after the town of Epsom (near London, England) where it was supposedly discovered 400-some years ago. While studies are not definitive, integrative medical experts commonly recommend an Epsom salt-warm water soak to relieve muscle pain and mental stress. 

Lavender Bubble Bath

What You Need:

• Castile liquid soap
• Lavender essential oil
• Coconut oil
  

Instructions

Lavender is known for its calming effect, while coconut oil moisturizes your skin, so this formula is relaxing and nurturing. Starting with ⅛ cup Dr. Bronner's Unscented Pure-Castile liquid soap, add 2 to 3 drops lavender essential oil. Stir in 1 tablespoon coconut oil until blended, and then dilute the solution with enough water to thin it out. Easy as one, two, three!

Foaming Vanilla Honey Bath

What You Need:

• Light oil
• Honey
• Liquid soap
• Vanilla extract

Instructions

Make your bubble bath extra sweet with this DIY recipe of Cox's: In a clean container, mix 1 cup of light oil (almond, sunflower, or canola), ½ cup honey, ½ cup mild liquid hand or body soap, and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract.

Shake gently and then swirl about ¼ of this solution into your bathtub under running water, allowing the oil to create a silky escape while the honey moisturizes your skin. Use for three more baths and repeat.

Black Sea Salt Bath

What You Need

• Castile liquid soap
• Black sea salt

Instructions

Mix equal parts water and a gentle liquid soap, like Dr. Bronner's Unscented Pure-Castile Soap ($10 for 8 oz, amazon.com), and then add black sea salt to your desired consistency. Pour this mixture into your bath until you start to see bubbles. Use enough solution to give you a fizzy bath, allowing the black sea salt to moisturize dry skin.

Tips for an Ideal DIY Bath Experience

One of the best things you can do for yourself is to indulge in some relaxation. For many of us, a warm bubble bath is the most direct route to stress-relieving bliss. If this sounds like your ideal cozy night in, here's what you need to know to optimize your soak.

Ensure Your Tub Is Clean

If you share your tub with someone, you can't be sure what products were used in it last, which means the tub could be slippery or harbor residue from an irritating product. Before starting your bath, Elizabeth Trattner, a doctor of Chinese and integrative medicine, recommends checking to make sure your tub's sanitary. To prevent stains, she advocates cleaning your tub immediately after using it.

Pick a Scent You Love

Unless you have very sensitive skin, adding a bit of essential oil to your bubble bath solution can increase your relaxation. Essential oils like lavender and chamomile can help you relax after a stressful day, and an oil like sandalwood can help moisturize dry skin.

To prevent skin irritation, be careful with how much essential oil you're using. To play it safe, add no more than a couple of drops to your bubble bath solution, and only use essential oils you know won't irritate your skin. If you're unsure how your sensitive skin will react, Sarah Biggers-Stewart—founder and CEO of the cosmetics brand, Clover—advises avoiding them in your bathwater altogether.

Avoid ​​Sodium Lauryl Sulfate

Any bubble bath aficionado should avoid a prolonged soak in sodium lauryl sulfate, according to Biggers-Stewart, and definitely not use it in any DIY solution. "SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate) is a very common surfactant in products that creates foam and bubbles," she explains, warning it can irritate sensitive skin.

A 2005 study reported how irritating SLS can be to skin, especially in warm water because heat can increase the potency of any product you put in it. Trattner adds that it's bioaccumulative, which means it stays in your body. "Hot water will drive these into the body faster as pores are open, and they can cause dermatitis as well," she explains.

Don't Expect Too Many Bubbles

When it comes to making your own bath solution at home, the lighter materials used in DIY recipes tend to not lather as much as a store-bought solution. "It would be hard to make a super fizzy bubble bath at home," says Biggers-Stewart, "but for a more subtle bubble bath, a combination of castile soap, some essential oils, and a little bit of olive or coconut oil would do the trick."

Forget the Flower Petals

There's something romantic about bathing with floating flower petals, but it's one of those additions that's good in theory and bad in practice. "Flower baths make a mess," Trattner insists. "You can always make a flower tea, but you will have to scrub the tub." Plus, flower petals don't offer any health benefits for your skin, so you may as well leave them out.