Bath bomb recipe help

[Cirafly24]

I've had several batches turn out great, but the past few have been crumbly/won't stay together. In fact, I just picked up a bomb I made about 16 hours ago (drying in a cool dry area), and it exploded in my hand. Here is my recipe:

1 cup baking soda
1/2 cup citric acid
1/2 cup kaolin clay
2tsp fragrance
2T grapeseed oil
1/4 cup Epsom salts
1tsp polysorbate 80
2T slsa
Mica
Witch hazel to moisten

Should I switch the clay out for corn starch? Add a butter or hard oil?

 

[Nevada]

try this
Baking soda
Citric acid
corn starch
Fractionated Coconut oil
Red turkey oil
Fragrance

 

[Cirafly24]

Thank you, but I'm just looking to tweak my own recipe rather than replacing it entirely. By the way, what in the world is red turkey oil?

 

[lsg]

I like melted cocoa butter in my bath bombs. I don't use Epsom salts.

 

[Cirafly24]

I like melted cocoa butter in my bath bombs. I don't use Epsom salts.

Do you think the cocoa butter holds everything together better?

 

[Heika]

I've had several batches turn out great, but the past few have been crumbly/won't stay together. In fact, I just picked up a bomb I made about 16 hours ago (drying in a cool dry area), and it exploded in my hand. Here is my recipe:

1 cup baking soda
1/2 cup citric acid
1/2 cup kaolin clay
2tsp fragrance
2T grapeseed oil
1/4 cup Epsom salts
1tsp polysorbate 80
2T slsa
Mica
Witch hazel to moisten

Should I switch the clay out for corn starch? Add a butter or hard oil?

I use a recipe for bath bombs that is somewhat similar to yours, but I use arrowroot powder in addition to clay, and I use distilled water and alcohol in the wet part of my recipe. This recipe is my modified version of one that is available on the web. I have never had a batch fail. My proportions are quite a bit different than yours, so I am listing my recipe for you to compare to yours. Maybe it will help.

Dry Ingredients:
3 cups of baking soda
1 ½ cups of citric acid
1 ½ cups of arrowroot powder or cornstarch. (I use arrowroot.)
½ cup clay of your choice (Kaolin, Fuller's Earth, etc.)
1/8 cup sodium cocoyl
Mica if you are using it

Wet Ingredients:
½ cup of Epsom Salts
.25 oz. distilled water
.50 oz. of 91% rubbing alcohol
2 tablespoons of fragrance/essential oil
2 oz. grapeseed oil, sweet almond oil, or light oil of choice. (I use sweet almond oil)
½ ounce Polysorbate 80 if you are using mica

Weigh and measure your wet ingredients and your Epsom Salts. Mix them together.

Weigh and measure your dry ingredients and whisk them together.

Slowly add the Epsom Salts mixture into your dry ingredients. Use your gloved hands to fully incorporate the mixture.

I have this recipe written down with the weights instead of cup measures, and if you want that, let me know. I hate working a recipe by cup measurement rather than weight. It just isn't as easy to get the same results each time as it is by weighing the ingredients.

 

[Cirafly24]

Thank you! I would love the weight measurements. I hate measuring in cups too.

 

[Heika]

Thank you! I would love the weight measurements. I hate measuring in cups too.

Here are the weight measurements for that recipe. I got the weight measurements by actually weighing the amounts as I measured them by cup, so the specific gravity weight measurements may not match the cup measurements completely. I use these weight measurements every time I make bath bombs, though, and it works well for me.

Dry ingredients:

Baking soda - 30 oz
Citric acid - 13 oz
Arrow root powder - 8 oz
Clay of your choice - 1.5 oz
Sodium Cocoyl - 1 oz
Mica - No weight measure, I just add until it looks like I want it to look.

Wet ingredients:

Epsom Salt - 4.5 oz
Distilled water - .25 oz
91% rubbing alcohol - .5 oz
Fragrance/essential oil - 1 oz
Sweet almond oil - 2 oz
Polysorbate 80 if you are using mica - .5 ounce

Notes on this recipe:

I use pretty small amounts of mica in my bombs. If you are using larger amounts, or darker colors, you might need more Polysorbate.

I don't use SLSA. You can purchase SCI from Nature's Garden for about the best price I have seen anywhere. Not using SLSA does impact how the bath bomb performs. SCI is more of a "bubble bath" type bubble, rather than the lengthened fizzy of SLSA.

These bath bombs will not win a competition for floating and spewing lots of pretty colors. They do an excellent job of creating a bath that moisturizes the skin, though. And, they smell great. I add other ingredients to these bombs, depending on "flavor". I use cranberry fibers in one, honey in another, etc. I do not alter the recipe at all when I use additives, and they still come out really nice.

By customer request, I make bombs in 3 sizes. I make a 4 oz, a 7 oz and a 10 oz. They start out heavier as you mold them, of course, and the weight of the largest ones as they dry sometimes cracks them. They don't crack apart, tho. I dry mine on bubble wrap to help prevent that. It doesn't always work, but my customers who like those enormous bombs don't care if they have cracks.

 

[Cirafly24]

Thank you!

 

[lsg]

Do you think the cocoa butter holds everything together better?

Yes, I definitely works for me. It makes a hard bath bomb.

 

[alex777]

Here are the bath bombs I love making
Ingredients:
1/2 cup baking soda
1/4 cup citric acid
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons sweet almond oil
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon fragrance oil or essential oil
1/8 teaspoon borax
Instructions:
Mix the first 3 ingredients in a mixing bowl. Combine oil, water, fragrance and borax in jar and coloring, if desired. Shake jar vigorously to mix. Add liquid to dry ingredients a bit at a time and quickly mix with a pastry blender. Press into molds or roll into balls and let sit overnight to dry, store in a glass jar.

But very often I buy ready-made bath bombs like https://www.theolive.com/reviews/best-bath-bombs/