Bath Bombs for DAYS!!!
Sunday Soap Case: Bath Bombs.
Greetings and Salutations! I hope everyone’s May has been amazing. Here at Soap & Clay, we have hit the busy season for vendor events and booth exhibits (and by we, I mean myself and my super helpful booth designer, Mr. Soap & Clay). I’ve done a number of shows over the past few weeks, and I have noticed a new trend in visitor questions. Customers have been asking me about my soaping process; what I put into soap recipes and why, the color and design selection, and the overall inspiration behind my product lines. While this may have something to do with my newly released Game of Soaps line, answering questions about the method to my madness (there is one, I promise) has been so much fun! So, I decided to start a new weekly series, showcasing products and/or lines and my creation process. The idea to make this a weekly series comes from one of my favorite entrepreneur/blogger/soaper/kick-ass women on the planet, Anne Marie Faiola. Do check her out, she has a wealth of knowledge. But then make sure to come right back and read Sunday Soap Case: Bath Bombs to learn some cool things about my fizzy favorite!
Bath Bombs – A Basic Primer
I may have exaggerated a bit when I said “favorite.” Bath bombs and I have a dysfunctional relationship. I love using them, I love smelling them, I love designing them. When it comes to making them? We tend to butt heads. There are too many uncontrollable variables in a bath bomb recipe. With a soap recipe, I know that if I use the proper percentage of certain oils, soap at a certain temperature, and use the proper amount of scents and additives it will yield a successful batch of soap with exceptional lathering, cleansing, and moisturizing properties. It’s not so with bath bombs; they are finicky.
This may have something to do with the extras I put into my bath bombs, however. A basic bath bomb can be made with baking soda and citric acid. But I’ve never been one for “basic” anything. So I try to throw a ton of skin loving ingredients into each bomb so they’ll be both fun AND beneficial. Some of the extras I put in my bath bombs include:
Cornstarch 
From balancing skin’s pH, soothing red, inflamed, or sunburned skin to treating diaper rash, cornstarch is pretty amazing stuff. It’s a natural cleansing agent, helps with conditions such as athlete’s foot, and is an excellent odor eliminator – cornstarch does it all. As such, I throw some into every batch of bombs I make.
Epsom Salt
Epsom salts soothe sore muscles, help detoxify the body, and can ease the pain of arthritis and fibromyalgia! Pretty cool, right? I thought so, too. So Epsom salts also find their way into my bombs.
Extracts
Avocado, chamomile, primrose, carrot, buckthorn (an actual thing) – there are loads of extracts available that help with a slew of skin ailments. When used topically (like in a bath) some soften skin, others help with the pains of eczema, psoriasis, PMS, and others tone the skin and assist in achieving a healthy glow. While I don’t use these in my kid’s bombs, I do add extracts to my adult bath bombs quite regularly.
Oils
With all of these dry ingredients, it makes sense to add a skin loving oil to the mix. I tend to favor sunflower oil for its high content of linoleic fatty acid chains. This means sunflower oil is lightweight, ultra-hydrating and anti-inflammatory, all good things when dealing with the skin.
Melts & Botanicals, Soap & Sparkles
Making all of the above ingredients play nice is difficult enough, so of COURSE I have to play with inserting bath melts and botanicals into my bombs. Bath melts are great as they add a bit of cocoa or mango butter to the bath, thus extending your tub time. Botanicals such as rose petals or lavender buds are said to have therapeutic properties, but I add them because they’re pretty and make me feel like royalty as I’m lounging in the tub with my candles and book of the week.
Whipped soap tops and sparkly surprises are just the epitome of bathtime fun. I often experiment with both to add a little something special to my bombs. Necessary? No. Fun? You bet your booty.
Soap & Clay’s Bath Bomb Line
Outside of holiday specific gift sets and custom orders, I have been dragging my feet in regards to putting bath bombs on the site. I’ve had a tough time deciding which bombs should make the lineup. I finally decided that the best way to solve this dilemma is to change the line when the mood strikes. As such, the new line will basically always be a new line, so make sure to check back regularly!
Oh, and one last thing for those diligent Sudsers that have managed to make it this far. A coupon code. For a free bath bomb. Consider it a reward for reading (hooray, literacy!). Enter coupon code BOMBSFORDAYS to get a bath bomb on the house. Offer is good on all orders placed between today and June 5th (next Sunday).
Really, all of my soaps are formulated to be very mild while still delivering an exceptional cleansing experience. I can say that I have not had any issues whatsoever with any of the soaps that I’ve made and added to the Soap & Clay line. If I had to pick the most mild bar, though, I would pick two. Because I don’t like odd numbers. 
For your part, a proper draining dish to keep the soap out of standing water will extend the life of the bar. My customers have told me that Soap & Clay soaps outlast commercial bars and body washes. Before falling into the artisan soap world, I went through a bottle of body wash every two weeks. My soap bars last around four weeks, on average.
I love me some oatmeal. Love, love, LOVE me some oatmeal. While rolled oats are a great exfoliant for total body care, I prefer to stick to the colloidal variety for face products. Colloidal oatmeal is finely ground rolled oats, which makes it an ideal additive for soap as it can be evenly dispersed throughout a batch. The benefits of oatmeal in skincare are numerous, but it makes a particularly effective face exfoliant because of its mild properties. Gentle enough to use every day, colloidal oatmeal sloughs off dead skin while adding moisture and normalizing the skin’s pH. Additionally, oatmeal can lighten acne and blemish scars with regular use.
