For an inexpensive bubble bath, you can use bath gel in place of more expensive bubble bath products. Bath gels contain ingredients that will foam up just like a bubble bath product but for a fraction of the cost. My health food store sells its own brand of bath and shower gel for under $3 for a 12 ounce bottle. You may get six to eight baths with this, compared to many bubble bath products that cost ten times as much. However, I do have an array of actual bubble products; each one with different scents and actions. I’ll use bath gel in a pinch or if I’m traveling without a true bubble bath product.
If you find you’re sensitive to foaming bath products, get one made for young children. Why? Because the ingredients in these infant bath products should be more gentle for more sensitive baby skin. Try one and see if you have a better tolerance to this gentler product so you can relax and enjoy a bubbly bath.
I
never use bubble bath products that are alkaline—and neither should
you. Here is another good use for your pH test papers. Many bubble bath
products have alkaline ingredients in them; these ingredients help
produce the foaming action, similar to bar soap. Some of these
ingredients include sodium laureth-13 carboxylate and disodium laureth sulfosuccinate.
If your bath water becomes alkaline, this not only will cause your
body’s skin to get dry and flaky (just like your facial skin will with
alkaline soap), but women have the added worry of developing urinary
tract infections (UTIs) from sitting in an alkaline bubble bath.
I can remember as a kid loving my Mr. Bubble® baths. Even now when I see the box at the store, it triggers
happy memories for me. But I also remember having chronic UTIs, no doubt caused at least in part from my wonderful Mr.
Bubble. I tested Mr. Bubble and a few other commonly found bubble bath
products. The results were as I expected: they all turned the pH
papers dark purple. In other words, the test showed they were alkaline.
The
above mentioned shower gel I have used as bubble bath is acidic. I checked
the label, and it has few ingredients (that’s a good sign) and although
it contains sodium laureth sulfate, which is a very common soap-like
ingredient derived from coconut, it did not contain either of the
alkaline ingredients listed above. Test your bath products to ensure the
skin over your entire body is being pampered with the proper products.
Then draw a bath and relax!
Aveeno® has two bath products for dry skin. One is called “Daily Moisturizing Bath with 43% Natural Colloidal Oatmeal.” (Colloidal
means crushed.) It is meant to help give soothing relief for dry, itchy
skin. It is also fragrance-free. The second product is “Soothing Bath
Treatment with 100% Natural Colloidal Oatmeal” (there are no other
ingredients). Oatmeal helps relieve itchy, irritated skin due to poison ivy,
poison oak, poison sumac rashes, insect bites, eczema, prickly heat,
chicken pox, hives, and sunburn. Both products are powders and come in
individual packets. The average cost is close to one dollar
per bath, and eight packets come in each box.
In
the winter I use these products a lot. The oatmeal really helps to
moisturize the skin, thus taking the itch of dry, winter skin away. Be
sure to clean the tub after the water has drained out. These as well as
most bath products leave a slippery substance in the tub, so be careful!
Why
is it beneficial to soak in Epson salts? Is there anything else that is
good to put in my bath that is relaxing and will help sore muscles?
Epson
salts are high in magnesium. This mineral is a well-known muscle
relaxer. Adding these mineral salts to your bath can really help relieve
sore, aching muscles. Even if you are just tired after a long day,
soaking in a hot (not too hot) salt bath can help to revive your body
and relax your mind.
Many
companies make mineral salt bath products. Many of them are
predominately Epson salts along with other ingredients. You can get
plain Epson salt very inexpensively at the grocery or drug store, then
add some essential oils to your bath. This will give you the benefits of
the salts and the essential oils, which are therapeutic and wonderfully
aromatic, without spending a lot of money.
Adding essential oils to
your bath can have a wonderful effect not only on your body but on your
psyche as well. Lavender is relaxing; birch and juniper are both good
for soothing aching muscles; and any of the mints (wintergreen,
peppermint, spearmint) are invigorating and energizing. Usually, 10-15
drops of assorted oils is what you would add to your bath water.
Note:
Essential oils are lighter than water, so they may float on the surface
of your bath water. When you are soaking in the tub, wherever your skin
meets the water you may get a concentration of essential oils. I
recommend once you have stepped into the tub to then splash the water
around, helping to disperse the oils. If you are using strong oils like
birch or peppermint, you really need to use this splashing technique or
you may end up causing skin irritation. I usually add the drops as I’m
filling the tub. This seems to disperse the oils. Even using 15 drops of
peppermint hasn’t irritated my skin.
Even if you don’t consider yourself a “bath person,” try a relaxing soak now and then. Perhaps you will become a convert! For a great (and my favorite) bath product plus a few more helpful articles, see:
Even if you don’t consider yourself a “bath person,” try a relaxing soak now and then. Perhaps you will become a convert! For a great (and my favorite) bath product plus a few more helpful articles, see:
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| This is my kind of bubble bath! |