How to keep citric acid from reacting?

Deangello · Mar 7, 2021

I am new at making bath bombs and have ready many forum posts and looked at many recipes. I mixed dry ingredients separate from the wet and added the wet a drop or two at a time but it still fizzes up when it plops on the CA. Any suggestions?

Skylantern · Mar 7, 2021

It will always react a little. The real challenge is dealing with the ambient humidity in your home. Especially in FL. That's the real enemy of bath bombs. In CA my girlfriend has no problems putting them out on top shelf under a fan and they're dry in 48hrs. If I did the same thing my bath bomb would crack and fall apart as it sucked up all the moisture in the air. Some things I've heard of people doing that helps are:
- Dedicate a room to your house for crafting and buy a dehumidifier
- Use a stackable dehydrator
- Once completely dry immediately shrink wrap and make sure there are no holes in the wrap

Hope these help. If you want the fizz and ability to form into shapes without the struggles from warts and cracking you can also look into fizzing bath melts. They tend to hold up better in our humidity. Good luck!

violets2217 · Mar 7, 2021

Try adding the citric acid last. It has worked for me. I forget what YouTube video I saw that on, but since I’ve started doing it no fizzing while mixing that I’ve noticed.

msunnerstood · Mar 13, 2021

violets2217 said:
Try adding the citric acid last. It has worked for me. I forget what YouTube video I saw that on, but since I’ve started doing it no fizzing while mixing that I’ve noticed.

This is exactly what I do and have not had a reaction.

AliOop · Mar 14, 2021

I also add the CA last, after all the liquids have been mixed with the other dry ingredients.

You can watch YouTube videos about it from Dean Wilson, and also Emilie Lefler. Bonus is that they also post their recipes.