Benefits of Epsom Salts

You’ve had a long, hard day at work. Exhaustion has been creeping in steadily, all day long and you just can’t wait to be back home. How does a nice, relaxing bath sound? Heavenly, right? Oh yes!  The next time this happens to you, try an Epsom salts bath. It will calm your nerves down, no doubt, but it will also do a whole lot of other great things. Like what, you ask? Well, here are a few facts about the goodness and benefits of Epsom salts – 

• To start with, they relax all those tense and sore muscles. Toxins build up in our system with stress and body fatigue and these salts work their way to drain out all those tension creating toxins. That’s how you get that ‘oh-so-heavenly’ feeling when you’re in a warm bath with Epsom salts.
  
• An Epsom salt bath benefits you if you have been long suffering from arthritis, back pain or muscle spasms. It helps the body calm down and soothes those tense knots.
  
• If you’ve always longed for that radiant glow to your skin, Epsom salts may be the solution. Regular baths with these wondrous salts will help draw out all the unwanted oils, allowing the skin to maintain its natural, balanced chemical properties. Say ‘hello’ to fresher, more radiant skin.
  
• Do you hide your feet in covered shoes because you don’t want the world to see those horrid calluses and corn? Well, you don’t have to anymore. Epsom salts, with their two way action, gently exfoliate the skin and soften as well. (Now where are those pretty strappy shoes? Bring them on!)
  
• They work wonders in providing relief for skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis and dry itchy skin. They are also great for insect bites and other minor skin irritations.

Life today is stressful. We’re working longer hours, we’re dealing with so much pressure and we all want to prove ourselves by staying ahead in the run. It’s only fair that we give our over worked bodies the much needed chance to wind down. While a relaxing day in a beautiful spa by the beach sounds wonderful, it may not always be possible.  But with a little bit of effort, you can create something special right at home.  


Get yourself some Epsom salts, draw a nice warm bath, add in a few drops of your favourite scent and you’ll be transported to relaxation paradise! The natural property of these salts is to increase the buoyancy of your body in the water and that’s how you get that wonderful feeling of floating on a bed of clouds. Sounds tempting, doesn’t it? So what are you waiting for? Try the benefits of an Epsom salts bath tonight. Light a few candles put on some nice music and unwind after a long day’s work.

Bath Salts Soak - Relax and Unwind After a Long Day

Meetings, reports, sales calls, deadlines, assignments, paper work – the list could go on and on. All this in a day’s work! Every day the human body is pushed more and more beyond what it can comfortably handle. Adrenalin keeps you going during the day. (Okay, maybe those quick gossip sessions at lunch or that much needed cup of hot coffee helps you stay sane too) Somehow you manage to make it to the end of the day. That glorious moment when the clock strikes five and when you can call it a day and head to the comfort of your home.

Wouldn’t it be just the perfect thing if there was someplace you could escape to, that would automatically calm you down, help you unwind and bring your body back to its natural harmony? Think Avatar style glass domed stations. Get in, shut this world out and get transported to paradise. Oh well, one can dream, can’t they? But the pace at which the world is moving today, that may just be possible very soon.

But for now, let’s live in the present. So, we were saying, a long day at work. You step inside your house and slip those shoes off, drop that bag/briefcase on the floor and plonk yourself on the couch. Ah! Close your eyes and you can almost feel bliss! Still thinking of that Avatar idea? Well, you bet! Tell you what, maybe, just maybe, you could give yourself that magical experience. Actually, you could escape to your happy place every day if you wanted to. How? You are forgetting one of life’s simple pleasures called a bath.

A bath. Yes, a bath. A nice, warm, delightful bath. You may just scoff at the oh-so-ordinary suggestion, but don’t underestimate the therapeutical goodness of the good old relaxing bath. You want to make it extra special? Of course, you deserve more than the ordinary, right? Plus there’s this Avatar thing we’ve been talking about all along. Consider a bath salts soak. Your ticket to a deeply relaxing, spa-like experience, right in the comfort of your own home.

Easy as 1-2-3. Simply run a warm bath, add your favourite bath salts, and sink in with all abandon. Bath salts come in a variety of textures, blends, colours and fragrances. Choose one that appeals to you most. Lavender, for example is known for its relaxing and calming properties. Or if you prefer the all natural, fragrance free kind then go for plain Epsom salts. Whatever you choose, you are guaranteed to have a very deep relaxing experience. Bath salts soaks have a wonderful quality of increasing your buoyancy in water and you get an amazing feeling of being light and floating. So peaceful and soothing! Why not take it up a notch? Light some of your favourite scented candles, play some soft music and simply relax in your soaking salts. Close your eyes, breathe deeply and you’ll be in your happy place in an instant.

There’s a plethora of bath and body stores that offer a whole wide range of bath salts for soaking. It’s wonderful to see/feel the different textures, colours and fragrances and pick something special for yourself. You can make your own bath salts too, if you wish! It’s simple and easy to put together. You can customise your bath salts recipe to suit your preference – like adding your favourite scent or keeping it fragrance free. There are so many possibilities plus it’s fun too!

Whether you plan to make some yourself or choose to buy, bath salts are a simple addition to your regular bath that can take your senses to new heights and help you wind down after a long, hard day. Enjoy!

Homemade Bath Salts Recipe - Lemon Meringue Bath Salts

I was going through the eBook "The Comprehensive Guide to Handcrafted Bath Salts" and I came across this recipe that I thought I would share. It's called "Lemon Meringue Aromatherapy Bath Salts".

Here is what your homemade bath salts recipe is going to look like once we're done!

Lets get started. First of all, lets take a look at the recipe:

Ingredients for Bath Salts:

• - 1 cup of fine grain Sea Salt
• - 1 cup of Epsom Salt
• - 3 tablespoons of dendritic salt
• - 1/2 teaspoon of lemon essential oil
• - 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• - 7 drops of Yellow 5 liquid dye (Note: I highly recommend using TKB Trading's dyes - I haven't found anything like them yet!)
• - Packaging - you can use a lot of things, check out your local supplier. I thought a pillow pack would look good for these. Click here to view my packaging choice, or else go here for more bath salts packaging options.

You can click on each ingredient to find suppliers I usually deal with - though feel free to use your own. Often you can find better deals if you shop locally - even bulk bins in the supermarket can have salts.

Hopefully you can get your supplies fairly easily - once you have them, here is where the fun begins.

Lemon Meringue Pie Homemade Bath Salts Recipe Instructions

1. Get yourself some stainless steel mixing bowls. Plastic bowls can sometimes absorb essential oils, so it's never a good idea to use them. Glass bowls also work well.
2. Measure the Epsom Salt and Fine Grain Sea Salt into your large mixing bowl and set aside,
3. Measure the dendritic salt into a smaller separate mixing bowl, and add the lemon essential oil and  vanilla extract to the dendritic salt. Mix it very thoroughly. After the aromatic oils have been mixed with the dendritic salt, add the salt/scent mixture to the salts in the large mixing bowl, and mix well.
4. Add 7 drops of the yellow dye to the salt mixture, mixing thoroughly, until the color is uniform throughout.
5. Use immediately or package in a pillow pack and tie with ribbon - or any other method!

Safety Notes:

If you visit From Nature With Love: Lemon Essential Oil - you will notice there that Lemon Essential Oil is a photo-sensitizer. That means it can react negatively with sunlight. As such, do NOT use these bath salts if you are:

a) about to go tanning
b) going outside in the next 4 hours
c) sitting on a beach in Mexico

In other words, it's for a romantic night, not an invigorating morning :-)

Also, essential oils do have a shelf life, and you should use them up within 6 months.

That said, I really enjoyed this recipe, and it looks great sitting on your bathroom counter! If you try out this recipe, let me know how you found it. Any feedback is great!

Epsom Salt Bath Benefits

A lot of people believe that relaxation is the only benefit of an Epsom salt bath, but this is not the case. While the calming effects of an Epsom salts bath do undisputed, there are many more health benefits that you will want to consider the next time you decide to fill up the bath tub.

When you’re under a lot of stress—both physical and mental—your body’s muscles can tense up and create painful or restricted movement. This can lead to injuries as well as overall body fatigue. To combat this, an Epsom salts bath can be utilized. These salts help to drain out the toxins that are built up by this tension and help to release the overall soreness. Those that suffer from muscle spasms, arthritis and back pain can all benefit from an Epsom salt bath.

Because of this removal of toxins, there are other benefits to be had from an Epsom salts bath. The overall appearance of the skin can be greatly enhanced by regular baths using this kind of salt. By drawing out the unnecessary oils and allowing the skin’s chemical properties to come back into balance, the skin can look fresher than before. Some users of an Epsom salt bath have noted that they aren’t getting calluses and corns on their feet as often, nor are they susceptible to athlete’s foot as much. Other healthful properties that have been suggested include the prevention of eczema, psoriasis, minor skin irritations, itching, insect bite pain, burning sensations, and dry skin.

What’s great about an Epsom salt bath is that it can work in two ways for your skin: exfoliation or keeping the skin supple. The natural properties of an Epsom salts bath allow the skin to remain clear and supple with regular bathing, while the coarse texture of the salt can be used as an exfoliant on dry skin. You get two great qualities in one bath salt product.

We live in a society that does most of its work sitting down, hunched over a desk. But this is not what the body was meant to do, thereby; we are seeing more and more occupational injuries and work-related disorders. One of the ways to combat these stresses is an Epsom salts bath. With this kind of bath, the body learns to relax again at the end of a hard day and readjust to a more normal position. Combining warm water with an Epsom salt bath is the perfect way to end a hard day at the office.

One of the natural properties of an Epsom salts bath is that it increases the overall buoyancy of the body in the bath. This allows you to feel more relaxed than in a traditional bath where the body sinks against the water. In many ways, the Epsom salt bath allows the body to be cushioned in the bath and provides a more relaxing experience.

And it has already been mentioned several times that an Epsom salt bath is the perfect way to relax a mind and body. By adding a few drops of a favorite scent, you can instantly be taken to another place and away from your stress. Turn on some soft music and let your mind and body sink into the tub, freeing itself of soreness, tension, and stress.

While it may not be a surprise how good an Epsom salts bath is for you, all of these reasons may have been more than you expected—and that’s just all the more reason to give an Epsom salt bath a try.

Learn how to get started making bath salts by visiting MakeBathSalts.com and signing up for their free newsletter giving you expert tips and advice plus one recipe to get you going immediately.

Aromatherapy Bath Salts - Heighten Your Relaxation and Health

Aromatherapy bath salt is an excellent tool for helping to relax and rejuvenate the body. With just the simple addition of scent to ordinary salt, the bath time experience can go from ordinary to extraordinary, becoming a way to eliminate stress and fatigue that has accumulated in the body.

The reason why aromatherapy bath salt works so well is that it incorporates the use of aromatherapy. This is the use of scents in order to evoke certain feelings or emotions. For example, when you think of roses, so you think of love? When you smell cookies baking in the oven, so you feel hungry? Simply by using particular herbs and flower, aromatherapy works to change the overall mood of the one who smells the scent.

By combining a bath with aromatherapy bath salt, the overall effect of the scents is heightened. But there are many different aromatherapy bath salt combinations that can be made or purchased. And while it might seem good to have a little of each on hand, you may want to start off with an aromatherapy bath salt that focuses on your basic troubles or needs.

For the person that is struggling with stress, an aromatherapy bath salt that is made to create feelings of relaxation is the most effective... Click to continue reading about aromatherapy bath salts...

Mistakes in Bath Salts Recipes

One question many people have about bath salts recipes is what is the difference between a good recipe and a not-so-good recipe. The answer is not simple. There are many recipes that would be considered 'good', so the easiest way to deal with this question is to determine what is 'bad' in a bath salts recipe. Here are some more common mistakes...

• Using liquid glycerin in bath salts - this ingredient is frequently included in many recipes (just search online - you'll find them), yet it is one ingredient that we would definitely NOT recommend. One of the many properties of glycerin is moisture-absorbing. While this can be useful when making lotions and lip balms, it is definitely a no-no when making bath salts. The end result is the glycerin drawing moisture from the environment into the bath salts and causing them to clump, leaving you with salts that would be more useful in a bowling alley than a bath tub!
• Using food colorings in your salts - while this may work at first, you'll find that food colorings are definitely not the best when coloring bath salts. The colorant tends not to disperse evenly around the bath tub, and leaves you with nothing but wisps of dye instead of the aqua blue or a nice pink coloring the water. We recommend using proper colorants that are considered cosmetics safe.

You can learn more common mistakes by reading this article "The 7 Most Common Mistakes of Making Bath Salts"

Reasons to Give Homemade Bath Salt

Homemade Bath Salt are the perfect gift for many occasions -- they are inexpensive and easy to make, while always being appreciated as a considerate gift.

Homemade bath salts is also a great way to personalize a gift. Because you're choosing the various ingredients as well as the presentation, you can create a gift that shows how much you care without it being a lot of work. The health benefits are also considerable since you can choose exactly which ingredients, salts and moisturizers you want to include in your bath salts, and you can customize the homemade bath salts to suit the individual person.

Read more about why giving your own homemade bath salt may be the perfect gift for that hard-to-please person during any occasion! Click here to read the full article.