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One of the weird side effects of being really busy and totally stressed out is discovering the importance of self-care. Last year I was working two jobs, often putting in 55 hours a week, often working 21 days or more without a single day off. I finally quit my second job in October, and Dan proposed! Which was great, obviously, but my free time was suddenly devoted to planning a wedding, a honeymoon, three receptions, and a move from Columbus to Findlay, all in five months. But if the last year and a half has taught me anything, it’s the importance of finding the time for myself. Self-care can be reading a few chapters of a new book, or baking just because, or getting a mani-pedi, or however you choose to relax and focus on you. For me, self-care usually looks like a hot bath with lavender bath salts, a few lit candles, sparkling wine or hot tea, relaxing music, and a good book. Now that I live with Dan, I usually practice self-care when he travels for work.
I prefer to use homemade lavender bath salts because they’re easy and inexpensive to make. Plus I know exactly which ingredients are used! The Internet provides about a million different recipes to make your own lavender bath salts. I referenced two recipes (found here and here) to make my own, but I also like the four options found here.
This recipe can easily be adapted to make more or less bath salts, based on the size of your storage container or the quantity of materials you have available.
Ingredients for Lavender Bath Salts
- 1/3 cup epsom salts
- 1/3 cup table salts or sea salts
- 1/3 cup baking soda
- 5 drops lavender essential oil
- a few pinches of sprinkles (optional)
- storage container
Note: I use two different kinds of salts just to have two different kinds of texture. The sprinkles are just to make the salts in the jar look prettier.
Step One: Combine all dry ingredients in a glass bowl.
Step Two: Stir mixture with a wooden spoon until well-combined.
Step Three: Add lavender essential oil.
Step Four: Stir mixture until no clumps remain.
Step Five: Transfer lavender bath salts to jar or other storage container.
While some people choose to use 1-2 cups of bath salts per bath, I only use a few spoonfuls. (Plus, the recommendations I found online that insisted a 1-2 cups is necessary were all from retailers selling epsom salts and bath salts). A cup of lavender bath salts like I made recently will last me approximately six baths.
What’s your favorite way to relax? Do you create any of your own at-home spa recipes?
