Homemade Rose Petal Bath Salts and Foot Soak

Here is a really pretty little homemade gift idea.  Have you made bath salts before?  They are crazy easy to make and you can experiment with colors and fragrances and you won’t believe how cheap!

I probably spent less then $1.00 on the entire jar above and I can’t even tell you how fantastic those salts smell!

I made rose petal bath salts- this is such an easy process I thought it would be fun to actually add in real rose petals.  You can easily do this with lavender or citrus or rosemary or really whatever fragrances you love.

Now this makes a lovely bath soak but if you are not the type to take a bath (I am personally a shower girl myself)- these salts make a wonderful foot soak. You can soak your feet in warm/hot water and add these salts and then after use a pumice stone and you won’t believe how lovely your feet will be. A true at home spa pedicure.

To make the bath salts is very simple:

2 cups Epsom Salts ( I got an entire carton at Target for about $2.00 in the first aid section)
3/4 cup baking soda
1 Rose (dried or fresh)
Rose Essential oil — for the best results try a Therapeutic Grade oil

Add the epsom salts and baking soda to a bowl and mix together. Add about 20 drops of essential oil to the bowl. (use less for a subtle fragrance- 20 drops is a fairly pronounced fragrance).

Stir well as the oils will turn your salts a yellow color- once it is stirred well the color will be a lovely white again.

If you would like to add real rose petals you can either dry them or make them fresh. I used a fresh rose picked off a bush in our yard and spread all the petals on a paper towel in a single layer. I added another paper towel on top of that and zapped for about 30-40 seconds.

The petals come out semi-dried from the microwave but again you can use fresh petals too or better yet treat yourself to a nice flower arrangement and once the flowers start to die you can make your salts :).   Next finely chop the petals or place them in your food processor and blend to get them finely chopped.

Add to the bowl and stir well. You can add any coloring you like at this point. I like the lovely the crisp white of the epsom salts but I added a few drops of pink food coloring just for fun this time around.

Stir well and add to a jar and you are done!

A lovely mason jar is perfect or I found these little jars at Hobby Lobby that come with a cute wooden spoon for something like $.99 after coupon.

And here are a few more details:

Why epsom salts?  They help reduce stress, soften skin, aid with a restful sleep, reduce inflammation, flushes toxins and it helps with magnesium absorption into the skin.  A lot of people are actually deficient in magnesium.  Oh and if you do use a pumice after a soak with epsom be careful because your skin is super soft!  You can take off more skin then you intend on your feet :).

Why baking soda?  It helps soften the skin and can be a little bit of a detox for the body if your diet isn’t perfect or you get a bit too much caffeine etc…

Why rose fragrance? Well I just thought it was nice smelling and pretty to tell you the truth, but rose also helps to keep people calm, soothes and balances the mood.

**For the essential oil, I use Aura Cacia brand.  I buy it at Whole Foods and the prices vary according to what fragrance you choose- these start at around $4 and go up to $30.  You can also get excellent prices from Amazon here.  The oils are the most expensive part of making bath salts and the rose is a higher priced bottle at about $11.  It will last you ages and ages though and there are so many things you can do with it from DIY bath products to homemade cleaners.

Here are a few other DIY products you might enjoy:

Homemade Oatmeal Bath Bombs 

Homemade Lotion Bars 

Homemade Body Butter