# How to make bath bombs more hard?



## AmberE97 (Jan 12, 2020)

Hi! I'm fairly new to the bath bomb making and I want.to start shipping them but I'm worried they wont last through a rough shipping adventure.. I thought I finally perfected my recipe, I got it just how I want it, moisturizing and floats. They dont break in my hands by I was testing em out a little and one kinda fell apart dropping it maybe 5 inches above the hard wood floor. What goes into a recipe to make them harder?? In my recipe once they are dry , the outer of my bombs are a little powdery but when I add a little more water they blister

I use :
.5 cup baking soda
.25 cup citric acid
.25 cup epsom salt
.25 cup corn starch
1 tsp coconut oil
Water to make more wet
And then I pack the edges of mold and loosely pack the middle. 

Please any help would be awesome! I'd hate for people to take the shrink wrap off and ot crumble out bc it was bounced around too much


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## Kamahido (Jan 12, 2020)

Drop the water entirely and use Witch Hazel.


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## Misschief (Jan 12, 2020)

The recipe I use (purchased) used cream of tartar; it helps with hardness.


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## Cellador (Jan 12, 2020)

Cream of tartar does help to harden. I believe kaolin clay is supposed to help too. You could also sub coconut oil for a butter.


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## Beth (Jan 12, 2020)

AmberE97 said:


> Hi! I'm fairly new to the bath bomb making and I want.to start shipping them but I'm worried they wont last through a rough shipping adventure.. I thought I finally perfected my recipe, I got it just how I want it, moisturizing and floats. They dont break in my hands by I was testing em out a little and one kinda fell apart dropping it maybe 5 inches above the hard wood floor. What goes into a recipe to make them harder?? In my recipe once they are dry , the outer of my bombs are a little powdery but when I add a little more water they blister
> 
> I use :
> .5 cup baking soda
> ...


@AmberE97  You could add a note saying to be careful when removing the shrink wrap. Also, I use alcohol mixed with water in my bath bombs. If you mix quickly the fuzz goes away quickly. I also use butter instead of oil (higher melting point)


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## shunt2011 (Jan 13, 2020)

I use cocoa butter and add some cream of tartar to mine.  Makes them brick hard.


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## sara.trottier (Jan 19, 2020)

I use isopropyl alcohol 70%  instead of water and my bath bombs are rock hard!


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## Sharon Patterson (Jan 20, 2020)

I use melted coconut oil in them, witch hazel to form and then after they are formed I spray with 91% alcohol and that makes them really hard.  I have even dropped one or two on the floor after they have dried and they were still fine.


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## AmberE97 (Jan 25, 2020)

Sharon Patterson said:


> I use melted coconut oil in them, witch hazel to form and then after they are formed I spray with 91% alcohol and that makes them really hard.  I have even dropped one or two on the floor after they have dried and they were still fine.


So you spray the outside with alcohol after you mold them?

So I'm fairly new to bathbombs, finally got my recipe the way I wanted but then I decided I wanted to find a recipe that is rock hard .. and floats.  I posted on here a few weeks ago and got some great suggestions but now I'm having issues I didnt have with my original recipe. I swapped out cornstarch for kaolin clay, and water for witch hazel. I've done a done of mini recipes playing with the ingredients but I'm so stressed out imma bout to pull my hair out!! With these new ingredients, they now stick in the mold and break in 2 halves when I try to remove them. Most the bomb recipes I've tried just shatter after they re dry when I squeeze them a little, the recipe that was the hardest was way too wet and cracked terribly and couldnt get it to mold without getting it wetter though.  That recipe was 1/2 cup baking soda, 1/4 citric acid, 1/4 kaolin clay, 1/4 epsom salt, 1 tsp melted coconut oil. I saw on youtube that a girl packed tightly the edges of the mold and then loosely put mix in the middle, and I've been trying to do that(I do that in my original recipe and it's what makes mine float) , should I be hard packing them to get them rock hard?... just any help is appreciated thank you.


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## nature coast (Jan 25, 2020)

In my experience bath bombs do need to be packed hard which is what keeps them in tact. I use kaolin clay and cream of tartar to harden up my bath bombs as well. You mentioned replacing the cornstarch with kaolin clay but try only replacing half of the cornstarch with clay. I would think that amount of Kaolin clay in that recipe would prevent the bombs from floating.


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## Sharon Patterson (Jan 25, 2020)

AmberE97 said:


> So you spray the outside with alcohol after you mold them?
> 
> So I'm fairly new to bathbombs, finally got my recipe the way I wanted but then I decided I wanted to find a recipe that is rock hard .. and floats.  I posted on here a few weeks ago and got some great suggestions but now I'm having issues I didnt have with my original recipe. I swapped out cornstarch for kaolin clay, and water for witch hazel. I've done a done of mini recipes playing with the ingredients but I'm so stressed out imma bout to pull my hair out!! With these new ingredients, they now stick in the mold and break in 2 halves when I try to remove them. Most the bomb recipes I've tried just shatter after they re dry when I squeeze them a little, the recipe that was the hardest was way too wet and cracked terribly and couldnt get it to mold without getting it wetter though.  That recipe was 1/2 cup baking soda, 1/4 citric acid, 1/4 kaolin clay, 1/4 epsom salt, 1 tsp melted coconut oil. I saw on youtube that a girl packed tightly the edges of the mold and then loosely put mix in the middle, and I've been trying to do that(I do that in my original recipe and it's what makes mine float) , should I be hard packing them to get them rock hard?... just any help is appreciated thank you.


I usually wait until they are unmolded and dry, then I spray then with alcohol and let them dry again.


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## Amy Stanley (Apr 4, 2020)

AmberE97 said:


> Hi! I'm fairly new to the bath bomb making and I want.to start shipping them but I'm worried they wont last through a rough shipping adventure.. I thought I finally perfected my recipe, I got it just how I want it, moisturizing and floats. They dont break in my hands by I was testing em out a little and one kinda fell apart dropping it maybe 5 inches above the hard wood floor. What goes into a recipe to make them harder?? In my recipe once they are dry , the outer of my bombs are a little powdery but when I add a little more water they blister
> 
> I use :
> .5 cup baking soda
> ...



I would try using 91 or 99% rubbing alcohol instead of the witch hazel. Also try using a tablespoon of kaolin clay if it is available to you. That will help with making your bombs harder as well. The humidity inside and outside always plays a factor in how bath bombs turn out. Hope this helps.


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