# How much Oils and EOs for bath bomb?



## lra (Nov 30, 2013)

I recently bought and tried 2.5 oz bath bomb from Wholefood. It packed with lots of oils and EOs. It was nice but my tub is so slippery and the smell linger on my skins for a the whole night.

I used 1-1/2 tablespoon of oils and 1 teaspoon of EOs per pound of dry ingredients. My bath bombs did not make my tub slippery or the smell linger on my skin. 

Did I put to little oils and EOs? Please advice.

Thanks.


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## Hazel (Nov 30, 2013)

If you're happy with it, then it's the correct amount. There isn't a right or wrong amount - it's all personal preference. However, I would suggest you weigh out the amounts you use for more accuracy when you want to make a recipe again.


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## Rayan (Dec 13, 2013)

The most basic formula is 


2 parts Baking Soda
1 part Citric Acid
1 part other (salts, corn starch or oils) 
small amounts of other ingredients such as color and fragrances
Determining  how much a "part" is depends on how big a batch of bath bombs you are  trying to make.  If you are just trying a simple test for yourself, a  part might only be 1/2 Cup.  It's a good idea to make a very small batch  and try it yourself before you invest in large amounts of ingredients  or try and make a lot of something to give away to your friends.


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## lsg (Dec 13, 2013)

Here is a recipe from the Soap Queen, you might compare your recipe with this one.

To Make this Bath Bomb recipe you will need:

1 cup Citric Acid
2 cups Baking Soda
2 Tablespoons melted Cocoa Butter
4 Tablespoons Kaolin Clay
1/2 oz Fragrance or Essential Oil
Optional: Witch Hazel
http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/bath-fizzies/how-to-use-our-bath-bomb-maker/


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## steliyana (Nov 26, 2014)

forgive me the ignorance, but if you just put dry stuff what holds the bomb together, if there is no oil???


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## Hazel (Nov 26, 2014)

You don't have to say excuse my ignorance because we all had to learn, too. I use 91% rubbing alcohol to spritz until the mix feels damp and then I use a lot of pressure to pack the bombs. Normally, this works well for me. I used to use witch hazel and a lot of people have mentioned they use it. However, I sometimes had the mix start to fizz while I was using witch hazel which is why I switched to rubbing alcohol. HTH :grin:


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## steliyana (Dec 2, 2014)

I am now reading on the web that many people sprits with water a continue mixing to stop the reaction??? Very strange. I used only oil in mine and in the second batch glycerine and they were pretty hard when thy dried. But the ones that had sea salt were harder than the ones without. Do you put any oil hazel or you avoid it for specific reason?


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## steliyana (Dec 2, 2014)

What about natural colorants like turmeric and paprika? Wonder if they will stain the bath???


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## Hazel (Dec 2, 2014)

Years ago, I tried water and it fizzed worse than witch hazel. All I can say about water is to give it a try because it might work for you. I remember seeing a video where a lady was making bath bombs with oils and she said not to spritz with water because the combination of oil and water would cause bacteria to grow. I wondered about that but don't have any way to dispute or confirm her claim. So, I play it safe and don't use anything but oils and butters to hold a bomb together if I am adding them.

I use oil in the mix that I want for cavity molds. They seem to come out better than without oil. I have made some round bombs with oil and they came out nice but normally I just use rubbing alcohol to hold round ones together. 

I don't know about turmeric or paprika since I've never used them for bombs. My first reaction was to think that because they are water soluble and very little is needed for color there wouldn't be enough to create an issue. But I don't know for sure. If no one has an answer, you'll have to experiment and let us know. :grin:


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## steliyana (Dec 2, 2014)

Just made a batch with turmeric. Will wait for them to dry and will try them!


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## Hazel (Dec 2, 2014)

Thanks! I'm interested in hearing about it.


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## steliyana (Dec 3, 2014)

Here is a picture of the bath roses I made. The one if front- a beautiful pale yellow, in daylight looks even better, it is dark where I live now, it has turmeric. Both have also kaolin clay( apart from soda bicarbonate, citric acid and sea salt). The kaolin clay also gives a off white color. Unfortunately the turmeric stained my skin( luckily I tried it in a bowl only on my hands) and the towel I used to dry my hands. So no good for baths it is a shame, such a nice color.


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## steliyana (Dec 3, 2014)

Also the sea salt made made them really dry and solid. The ones without crumbled, but those were solid as rocks and had lovely bubbles.


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## Hazel (Dec 3, 2014)

Thanks for letting me know about the turmeric. I've only used FDC colors or clay and I thought it might be fun to try some herbal powders. Oh well...

Just in case you decide to try colored clays - French green clay turns gray in bath bombs. I'm wondering if yellow clay might work in bombs.


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## steliyana (Dec 4, 2014)

Well the clay I used is yellow-ish but more like ivory, do you get something yellower than that? Shame about the green clay. There is red clay, as well, worth trying. Maybe the bombs with turmeric can be recommended for athlete foot, used in a small tub with a warning, as turmeric has such great antiseptic qualities.


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## steliyana (Dec 4, 2014)

This is my clay.


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## steliyana (Dec 4, 2014)

The rose at the back was made with it. The one in front with turmeric.


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## steliyana (Dec 4, 2014)

And do you find oil good or bad when using the bomb. I kind of like it when I can rub it in my skin. But some people don't like it as they have to scrub their bath, but I think with hot water oil comes of very easy.


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## Hazel (Dec 4, 2014)

I'm not sure if you could find a really yellow clay. I was just wondering if it would be possible. Maybe someone who knows will see this and give an answer. 

I don't know about your country but here we couldn't recommend turmeric for athlete's foot. This would place the bomb in the drug category and FDA frowns on medical claims made for bath products. 

I had complaints about the tub being too slippery. So, I experimented and melted ewax into the oil/butter so it would be water soluble. This worked out much better since the oil/butter just drained out with the water. I used 10% ewax with the oils. People have recommended Polysorbate 80 for oils but I didn't have any which is why I tried the ewax.


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## steliyana (Dec 5, 2014)

So if the oil becomes water soluble, does it still make your skin soft? What is the purpose of putting it in? Sorry for all the questions and thanks for your answers.


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## Hazel (Dec 5, 2014)

The oil does leave some emolliency on the skin. It feels like I've applied a light lotion. It's not greasy feeling but this also might have something to do with the oils and butters I use. This is my theory - ewax is used to emulsify oil and water to make lotion. By adding ewax to the oil, it will emulsify the oil as it disperses through the water - at least a little bit.  The oil is rinses out of the tub more easily so it is less slippery. Someone else wrote about using ewax for the oil in bombs before I did my experiments. I think it was in a topic about using polysorbates. If I could remember who it was, I would try to find the link for you. I don't think she used as much ewax as I do. I'm sorry but it's been several years since I read her post. I'd actually forgotten about her post. Then after I experimented with the ewax, I searched for more info and stumbled it. I read the post and thought "This sounds familiar". 

My purpose for adding oils/butters is just to make the bath more luxurious as compared to a regular bath bomb. If there is any oil left over, I pour it off into small cavity molds and call them bath melts.

Don't be sorry for asking questions. I know how it is when you're trying to find more information. You're welcome to what I can tell you but I haven't experimented any further. I liked how the 10% ewax into oils turned out and I received good feedback so I haven't changed it.


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## steliyana (Dec 6, 2014)

Thanks a lot hazel


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## godschild (Dec 6, 2014)

Dearest Hazel,  how much poly 80 would you add to the Soap Queen's recipe?


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## Hazel (Dec 6, 2014)

I'm sorry but I don't know because I've never used Polysorbate 80 (which is why I tried ewax  ). Also, I've never used any of Soap Queen's bath bomb recipes. However, I looked on BB's site and it gave a usage amount so I *thought *it would be better to go with what they recommend.  

Here's the link and I also quoted the pertinent info which was given for bath bombs. 

http://www.brambleberry.com/Polysorbate-80-P4438.aspx


> Finally, in bath bombs, you can add up to 6% as a wetting agent (rather  than a traditional witch hazel or liquid oil) to help prolong fizzing in  the tub.


However, I did more searching and found a tip from Jan Pace to use Polysorbate 80 at 20% in the comment section about bath truffles. Here's the link and you have to scroll down through other comments to find hers. She posted it Oct 25, 2012 which might help you find it more easily if you want to read it. http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/bath-fizzies/making-bath-truffles-on-soap-queen-tv/

You're probably going to have to experiment with different amounts to find what is best. I'd be interested in hearing how well the Polysorbate 80 works if you make some bombs. 

*@ steliyana -* 

You're most welcome! I hope it works for you. If you have time, please let me know how you like the bath bombs. :grin:


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## godschild (Dec 6, 2014)

If I can ever get around to making them, I surely will post about it and share pics and recipe.  Hope yall have a wonderful evening!  Thanks Hazel.


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## Hazel (Dec 6, 2014)

You're welcome and you have a great evening, too! This has actually been a good discussion for me because now I'm motivated to make some bath bombs tomorrow. Although, I'm not going to use oils. I just want to make some regular with Epsom salts and I might make some with SLSA. I don't know. I want to make soap so I'll have to see how much time I have before people start staggering through the kitchen and fainting from hunger.


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## steliyana (Dec 11, 2014)

Did you make some baths bombs Hazel?  I have had a negative thought concerning citric acid lingering in my head. Not sure how good it is for one's skin. I mean apart from making your bomb fizz, does it have any other good qualities? I powdered very finely all my ingredients as I wanted a very smooth bomb and some citric acid dust fell onto my skin... Ouch! I understand that it is pure powder but still. Not to mention if one has a little wound.. Saying that salt has the same effect, on wounds. I made some ... Well they won't be bombs any more without citric acid... to check the difference. I just had the feeling that something in those bombs is drying my skin, instead of softening it.. Citric acid usually is a synthetically made product. The original one was a product made  from grapes.


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## Hazel (Dec 11, 2014)

No, I didn't make them. I got busy with other things and forgot I had intended to make a few. 

I don't know about citric acid from grapes. I checked because I wasn't sure and found the percentage of citric acid is minimal in grapes. Perhaps you're thinking of grapefruit? Citric acid used to be produced from citrus fruits but I think most is now synthetic. You could try to find a supplier who carries citric acid which was produced from fruit. 

Normally, citric acid is beneficial for skin since it's an alpha hydroxy acid. Also, citric acid is astringent so it's possible it is what is causing dryness. How much citric acid are you using? You could try reducing the citric acid to see if that helps. I bet getting some powder on your skin would sting. Have you ever eaten an orange or a grapefruit and some of the juice squirted into your eye? Believe it or not, it did happen to me. Not a pleasant sensation.


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## steliyana (Dec 12, 2014)

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartaric_acid

This is where I got my info. Tartaric acid is just another name.


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## steliyana (Dec 12, 2014)

But now reading it I wad maybe wrong... because they do mention citric acid further down. But this one is also said to react with soda bicarbonate. I am confused a bit. Furthermore maybe what you get there in the US is citric acid and what we buy here is this other one, as the name in Bulgarian doesn't help me to know which is which... Haha


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## Hazel (Dec 12, 2014)

steliyana said:


> Tartaric acid is just another name.



Cream of tartar is derived from tartaric acid. I didn't know it would react with baking soda. I've only used it in bubble bars which also has baking soda and citric acid. I'll have to experiment with it and baking soda.


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## steliyana (Dec 15, 2014)

Does the citric acid( in my case maybe tartaric) keeps the bath bomb together? The ones that I made just with soda bicarbonate, Himalayan salt and clay, essential oils and a bit olive, crumbled down to dust as I  unmolded them. The other ones same ingredients but with acid- hard as rock  ????


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## steliyana (Dec 15, 2014)

I think I have to stop making bath bombs looking for the perfect recipe and switch to something else


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## Hazel (Dec 15, 2014)

I never thought of citric acid being needed for stability. It does sound like it's necessary since yours crumbled. 

If you'd prefer not to use citric acid, why not make bath bags? Images

You could make a tub teas, milk baths, herbal soaks, etc. There are many recipes on the Internet. Below is a link to Majestic Mountain Sage's Bath recipes. It might help you get started or give you ideas. 

https://www.thesage.com/recipes/recipe-exec/.State/ListRecipes/cat/Misc/


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## steliyana (Dec 16, 2014)

Look at those proportions for tartaric acid to substitute citric. 
Maybe I should use less.

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071029092008AAVdhMo


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## steliyana (Dec 16, 2014)

Thank you for your suggestion. Those are great!!!


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## steliyana (Dec 16, 2014)

Hey... in first recipe for tub tea, it says lavender- Bulgarian. Got that


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## Hazel (Dec 17, 2014)

You're welcome! That's great that you have the lavender! You also might consider making tub truffles or bath melts.

As for the tartaric acid, I don't know what to recommend. You'll have to experiment with different percentages to see which fizz the best.


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