Make Lavender Bath Bombs with Essential Oil and Lavender Buds
Simple recipe and instructions for how to make lavender bath bombs. You’ll need just a few ingredients, including lavender essential oil, and you can use either purchased or homegrown lavender buds to decorate.
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Bath bombs, also called bath fizzies, are not only fun to use but simple to make. They literally take about 10-20 minutes and afterward need a day to harden up. After that time they can be used and gifted immediately. The ingredients are inexpensive and accessible and you could even use lavender buds grown from your own garden.
Lavender bath bombs are made primarily with bicarbonate of soda, also called baking soda, mixed with citric acid (also used in food recipes), along with moisturizing and scented natural oils. They fizz naturally in contact with water, releasing the scent and oils. Good bath bomb recipes will create fizzies that do not alter the pH of your bath water — they will be neutral. That means that they’re safe for skin and delicate regions.
Make Lavender Bath Bombs
One of the trickiest parts of making bath bombs is using the molds. They usually come in two pieces and are either plastic or metal. If your bath bomb consistency is too wet or too dry you’ll have a lot of trouble using them. It’s happened to me on many occasions. Mixture that sticks inside, doesn’t stick to the mix in the second mold, bubbles out, or doesn’t come out at all.
I’ve made enough bath bombs to know exactly what the mix should feel like when it’s ready. You might not though. That’s why I’d like to recommend using a multi-cavity silicone mold to make these fizzies. You literally squish the mixture in and pop them out the next day. Zero fuss and stress.
Lavender Bath Bombs Recipe + Instructions
Equipment
- Bowl
Ingredients
To decorate
- Lavender buds and/or stems
For the Bath Bomb Mix
- 2 cups Baking soda (also called Bicarbonate of soda) (556 g)
- 1 cup Citric acid (235 g)
- 1 Tbsp Sweet almond oil (13 g)
- 25 drops Lavender essential oil (1/4 tsp)
- 1/2 tsp Lavender buds
- Witch hazel (in a small spray bottle)
Instructions
- Sprinkle the decorative lavender buds and stems into the bottom of each cavity of the silicone mold. Less is more. If you're planning on using homegrown lavender buds, here's instructions on harvesting and drying them.
- Place all the ingredients except the witch hazel and second lot of lavender buds in a bowl. Use your finger tips to mix thoroughly, breaking up any lumps and fully incorporating the essential oil and liquid oil into the dry ingredients.
- Spray with a few mists of witch hazel and continue mixing with your hand. Add a few more sprays and mix. Keep repeating until you can squeeze a handful of the mixture and it holds its form. You do not want the mix to be sopping wet so spray just a little at a time.
- Pack the bath bomb mixture into each of the cavities of the mold. Press down firmly, and leave to harden overnight.
- Push the now hardened bath bombs out of each of the cavities. You can use them right away and they will keep for at least six months if stored in an air-tight container.
Lavender Skincare & Beauty Recipes
Lovely Greens shares many soap making, bath, and beauty recipes. The emphasis for all the recipes you’ll find here is to use pure and natural ingredients, including ones that you can grow and forage yourself. You’ll also find ideas for how to grow lavender and using your harvest in food, soap, and crafts. Here are even more ideas to check out:
- Natural Lavender Body Balm Recipe
- Simple Lavender Soap Recipe
- Lavender & Honey Cookie Recipe (so good!)
- More bath bomb recipes
I tried this recipe today. I like how it comes together with witch hazel. About two hours after finishing I noticed that the mix expanded out of the molds! Was this supposed to happen?
Hi Dotty, this can happen if you use too much witch hazel. You learn how much is enough with experience :) Don’t worry too much about the expansion, though, since the bath bombs will still be perfectly good to use!
Hi Tanya,
you’ve been an amazing inspiration for me to start a natural cosmetics business.
I have a question about the Witch Hazel in this recipe. I have looked everywhere trying to find Organic Witch Hazel, I also tried the one that you’ve hyperlinked to this article, the only problem – is they don’t deliver to the UK. So, I was wondering exactly is the role of Witch Hazel is in this recipe, and can I substitute it with something else?
Thank you so much for providing us with all these resources,
Ralitsa
Hi Ralitsa, many organic witch hazel products will not have the alcohol content that is needed for making bath bombs. That’s because true witch hazel is a distilled product (water-based hydrosol) from a shrubby tree and the witch hazel product that most of us know is that original product mixed with alcohol. If you use the hydrosol, the water content in it may cause the bath bomb mixture to fizz! I use this witch hazel from Naissance, but if you’d prefer, you can also use rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol).