# Foot bath bomb?



## Sanguine (Dec 6, 2011)

Greetings,
I was creating all kind of items for my give away christmas packages. For my aunt there were some bath products, now I hear she doesn't have a bath anymore! (didn't hear her in a while) so there go the bubble baths, bath bombs and bath melts. Sigh... However she does enjoy a nice foot (feet?) bath, so I'm thinking about salt. But instead of giving some colored salt in a tube I'd like to do something special. So here is my question:
I'd like to make a salt bath bomb. Something in the area of 1/3 bicarb, 1/3 citric acid and 1/3 fine table salt. Binding it with cocoa butter (with emulsifying wax, no big fan of that greasy layer). But is this possible? Can you mix salt with citric acid and bicarb without creating any bad reactions that could harm the skin? Does anyone have an idea?

Thanks in advance!


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## Hazel (Dec 6, 2011)

Foot soaks are a great idea! I found out awhile ago that one of my nieces was using the bath bombs I made for foot baths instead of in the bath tub. 

Table salt would be okay but I think Epsom salts would be better. You can get it at almost any store and it isn't expensive. I add Epsom salts to bath bombs all the time and no one has complained.    I make them 50% baking soda, 25% citric acid and 25% Epsom salts.

BTW, I don't recommend dead sea salts if you plan on using oil in a bomb. The colorants discolor and the oil weeps from the bomb. Luckily, I was drying them on a styrofoam egg carton so the oil stayed in the carton. Otherwise, I would have had a mess to clean up.


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## Sanguine (Dec 6, 2011)

Thanks for your very usefull answer!
I can't seem to buy epsom salt in the grocery stores here in belgium (or it must have another name) maybe I can make bath melts (or something else that gives nice soft feet ^^) to if using an oil can give problems. What do you use to bind your bath bombs, witch hazel?


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## Hazel (Dec 6, 2011)

Epsom salts are magnesium sulphate. Try looking for either "Sels anglais" or "Sels d'epsom". 

I used to use witch hazel but switched to using rubbing alcohol. I found the rubbing alcohol works better. It doesn't cause the ingredients to start fizzing. Lately, I haven't been using alcohol. I've just been using oil to bind the ingredients. I add kaolin clay to the bombs and they turn out very hard. I like to add about 10% white kaolin clay because it's inexpensive and helps to bulk up the batch.  :wink:  You don't have to add this much.


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## Sanguine (Dec 6, 2011)

Thanks for the advice!
You may want to know that belgium has a french and a flemish (dutch) side. Let's say my flemish is better then my french


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## Hazel (Dec 6, 2011)

You're welcome.

Many years ago, there was a Belgian transfer student at my school. I remember very little of what she told me about Belgium but I do remember she mentioned Flemish as her language, she spoke French and helped me with my German classes. Her English was excellent and I was amazed by her fluency in multiple languages. Sometimes I struggled just to speak English.   I think it's very impressive that you can speak multiple languages and you communicate well in written English.

I hope you can find the Epsom. If not, you can also use sea salt which really isn't much different from table salt. It just sounds fancier.    Also, just ask if you have any further questions. 

There's been many discussions about bath bombs. If you go to the search page and type "bombs" into the keyword box, then click on "Bath and Body Forum" in the Forum box, you'll bring up a lot of threads which are very informative.

You also migh be interested in trying sugar scrub cubes as another gift idea. Here's a link to a discussion of it. They're wonderful on feet, knees and elbows.

http://soapmakingforum.com/forum/viewto ... crub+cubes


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## Sanguine (Dec 6, 2011)

Thank you for the link and the idea, I never really considered them because I didn't know how to use them   . But I will start to research it!
The local stores don't have epsom salt, but maybe I'll be able to find it at... Hmm not sure about the english word, a store where you can buy medicine and specific body care products, drug store? If they don't have it it will have to come from a B&B supplies webshop but I probably don't get the bath bombs created, tested and recreated by christmas, so maybe table salt or sea salt will be best.

The funny thing about belgium is that only 10.000.000 live here and we have 3 languages... In flanders we get flemish, well, from the beginning. Age of 10 french, age of 13 english and age of 15 german and then we still have the chance to learn latin  
English is probably easiest since english, dutch, german all seem to have a common ancestor. Only 1 thing you have to remember about belgium, we have great chocolate!


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## fiddletree (Dec 6, 2011)

Hardly anyone has a bathtub in Italy (no space in the houses!), and so just about everyone uses bath bombs for foot baths (including me).  I've started putting Himalayan pink salts in them, which looks nice and feels good in the water.  A citric acid bicarb combo won't hurt you- it's what almost all bath bombs are made of.


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## Sanguine (Dec 6, 2011)

I know bicarb and citric acid are skin safe but I never saw a bath bomb with salt and I was worried that it might change the chemistry and it's not nice to give people a christmas in the hospital. Seemed better to ask first... 
A life without a bath tub... it's so great when it's cold outside and amazing to relax with all kinds of products. Don't think I could miss it.


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## Hazel (Dec 6, 2011)

Sanguine said:
			
		

> it's not nice to give people a christmas in the hospital.



That's so sweet of you to not want to send people to the hospital at Christmas.    

You don't have to add the salt. I don't add salt for the bath bombs I make for my youngest niece. She's happy as long as they smell great and fizz for a long, long time.   :wink: 

Do you have shea or cocoa butter? You could whip the butter and scent it with the same fragrance. Then you could give your aunt foot soaks and a complementary butter to massage onto her feet after drying them off. 

You could make shower tablets if you have a silicone mold with small cavities. I use less citric acid for shower tablets so they won't fizz as quickly. I also press them really hard to make them compact. I only make them about 56 g or maybe slightly less in weight so they'll be used up in one shower. Although sometimes they haven't completely dissolved by the time I turn off the shower. I have a silicone mold which has heart, butterfly and flower cavities which is what I use for making the tablets. I also don't use oils for these tablets because I don't want the shower floor to get slippery. I use 91% rubbing alcohol to make the mixture stick together. You don't want these directly under the shower because they'll dissolve too quickly. I set them in a corner so the water kind of seeps up underneath them. I also use a little more FO in them than I do bath bombs since they're so much smaller.

I'd like to get a PVC tube and make the tablets like Nizzy does but I keep forgetting to buy a tube. Here's a link to his tutorial on making tablets. You might find it interesting and helpful.

http://nizzymoulds.com/Bath%20Bomb.htm

Sugar scrub cubes are easy to use. All you have to do is smoosh a cube in dampened hands, add a little more water and then rub your hands to start the lather. Then lightly scrub it over your elbows, knees and feet. They also make your hands very smooth and soft. I have to admit I've had problems getting them to stick together for me. I switched from liquid oil to using coconut oil and that helped to hold them together.


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## ToniD (Dec 6, 2011)

> Sugar scrub cubes are easy to use. All you have to do is smoosh a cube in dampened hands, add a little more water and then rub your hands to start the lather. Then lightly scrub it over your elbows, knees and feet. They also make your hands very smooth and soft. I have to admit I've had problems getting them to stick together for me. I switched from liquid oil to using coconut oil and that helped to hold them together.



I use a little stearic acid to help mine firm up.   Along with firm-at-room-temp oils/butters.


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## Hazel (Dec 6, 2011)

Thanks for the tip, Toni! I'll have to give that a try the next time I make some. How much stearic do you use?

Sorry Sanguine - I just hijacked your thread.


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## Sanguine (Dec 6, 2011)

Hazel said:
			
		

> You don't have to add the salt. I don't add salt for the bath bombs I make for my youngest niece. She's happy as long as they smell great and fizz for a long, long time.   :wink:
> 
> Do you have shea or cocoa butter? You could whip the butter and scent it with the same fragrance. Then you could give your aunt foot soaks and a complementary butter to massage onto her feet after drying them off.



I want to create this product because of the salt. People like to add salt to there footbaths, I don't know why, but it seems to have a nice effect. But a tube with colored salt in it has been done many times, so I want to give it a twist.

I have shea, cocoa, mango and avocado butter... I'm already thinking about a whipped body butter but I want one with emulsifying-thingy, water, preservative,... The very first thing I ever made was a simple body butter (60% butter and 40%oil) and it was soooo horrible! I still have oily stains (? Right word?) in my cloths that wont come out! It was like using fat, and nothing else, on your skin. And the cream I made a while ago didn't cause any problems so maybe the "new" butter wont cause any either...
But on the other hand, if I make the emulsified whipped butter then there won't be enough time to see what's gonna happen between this en 10 weeks. So I'm still not sure... A scrubby foot bar with very nice oils could be possible to. But whatever it will be it must have a good scent!


Today I made a whipped scrub with belgian chocolate fragrance oil and it's seriously divine!). I'm curious about using a pipe (dad has all sizes so that can't be an issue) for making small sized bath bombs, melts, bars,.... Those little discs have a really nice, clean look. But I always worried that a bath bomb will crumble if you cut it, maybe nizzy has some advice! Thank you for the link!


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## Sanguine (Dec 6, 2011)

Hazel said:
			
		

> Thanks for the tip, Toni! I'll have to give that a try the next time I make some. How much stearic do you use?
> 
> Sorry Sanguine - I just hijacked your thread.



Not a problem!
Now I'm learning 2 things in 1 thread! :wink:


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## Hazel (Dec 6, 2011)

Sanguine said:
			
		

> I have shea, cocoa, mango and avocado butter... I'm already thinking about a whipped body butter but I want one with emulsifying-thingy, water, preservative,... The very first thing I ever made was a simple body butter (60% butter and 40%oil) and it was soooo horrible! I still have oily stains (? Right word?) in my cloths that wont come out! It was like using fat, and nothing else, on your skin. And the cream I made a while ago didn't cause any problems so maybe the "new" butter wont cause any either...
> But on the other hand, if I make the emulsified whipped butter then there won't be enough time to see what's gonna happen between this en 10 weeks. So I'm still not sure... A scrubby foot bar with very nice oils could be possible to. But whatever it will be it must have a good scent!
> 
> 
> Today I made a whipped scrub with belgian chocolate fragrance oil and it's seriously divine!). I'm curious about using a pipe (dad has all sizes so that can't be an issue) for making small sized bath bombs, melts, bars,.... Those little discs have a really nice, clean look. But I always worried that a bath bomb will crumble if you cut it, maybe nizzy has some advice! Thank you for the link!



How would you use a pipe? I don't know how you'd be able to get the bomb out of it. 

Do you have a muffin pan? You can put liners in the cups and pack the bath bomb mixture in them. You just pull them out after they harden.

Some links which might help give you some info on an emulsified scrub or butter/cream.

http://soapmakingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19295
http://soapmakingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20662

If you haven't found Susan Barclay-Nichol's site yet, you're going to love all the info on it. As you scroll down the home page, you'll find links on the right side on butters, oils, emulsifiers, preservatives, etc. 

http://www.swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/

Here's the link to her lotion making tutorial.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1020026/introdu ... hingie.pdf


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## Sanguine (Dec 7, 2011)

Oh I know her blog very well, little bit adicted... it's there I got the recipe for an emulsified scrub (the one with the black cocoa butter). 
I had another idea in mind with the pipe. Months ago I saw someone's pictures of a whole pipe-full of bath bombs, which he/she cut into tablets. Never understood how to do that, but didn't give it much thought at the time and lost the website.
I'm gonna try to make my bathbombs with something like this:
https://secure.hobbyhandboek.nl/detail. ... 1&id=00701

I wonder if it will work... (if not, I still have icecube molds) If there's time I might make them today.
Never really saw a muffin pan, I might have it but under another name. Might be nice to make bathcupcakes, but it's hard to find eggwhites powder and icing powder here.


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## Hazel (Dec 7, 2011)

Crap! I just lost everything I had typed.  :x 

I didn't realize when you mentioned pipe that you meant PVC. I need more caffeine to jump start my brain.   

The plastic ornament will work for bath bombs. However, I've heard the plastic becomes pitted over time by the fragrance oils.

You can make frosting for bath cupcakes out of MP. Here's a link if you haven't seen it. I know there are more tutorials about making frosting out of MP but this one was the simpliest I've seen.

http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body- ... d-soapy-2/

Different pictures of muffin pans.

http://www.wilton.com/store/site/department.cfm?dc=2.7


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## Sanguine (Dec 7, 2011)

Ah yes, a muffin pan. I have one like that, although I think there's a lot of dust on it...
I don't really want a MP topping, I want it to melt with the bottom...
But if you think about it, it is a lot of work for something that dissapears in a few minutes...
If the ornaments give problems I'll find something else.


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## Hazel (Dec 7, 2011)

The ornament will work. I just want you to be aware that fragrance oils can damage it over time. I've read a lot of recommendations on how well plastic ornaments work to make bombs.


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## Sunny (Dec 7, 2011)

Hazel said:
			
		

> The ornament will work. I just want you to be aware that fragrance oils can damage it over time. I've read a lot of recommendations on how well plastic ornaments work to make bombs.



any idea where to buy those ornaments? not that I need one, I have a stainless bath bomb maker from BB, just always need an excuse to buy more soap/b&b stuff.  :roll:


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## Hazel (Dec 7, 2011)

Local craft store. You can google plastic ornament balls and it will bring up a lot of places like Amazon, Hobby Lobby, Oriental Trading, etc.


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## ToniD (Dec 9, 2011)

Hazel said:
			
		

> Thanks for the tip, Toni! I'll have to give that a try the next time I make some. How much stearic do you use?
> 
> Sorry Sanguine - I just hijacked your thread.




Sorry Hazel,   I can't find the recipe.....That will teach me to neglect putting it on my computer and relying in keeping the paper copy.    Anyway,   I think it was 10% of the* oil* content. the oils were cocco butter and coconut oil.    The reason I emphasis oil is that I was working on the recipe by just changing the oils around and I  don't remember the % in terms of the whole recipe.   Hope that makes sense.


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## Hazel (Dec 9, 2011)

ToniD said:
			
		

> Sorry Hazel,   I can't find the recipe.....



You little tease.... :x 


 Just kidding!   That's okay. The info helps and I do appreciate the tip. I wouldn't have thought of trying stearic even though I've heard of some people using it in CP.  I'll just play around with it the next time I try the cubes. At least, this last "batch" seems to be holding together well with using coconut instead of a liquid oil. Thanks for letting me know.


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