Herbalism Inspired // Herbal Bath Milks for Winter
This post is sponsored by Mountain Rose Herbs.
Hello my friends! Today I’m sharing an herbalism-inspired recipe for vegan bath milk, one of my new favorite DIY’s. I’m all about potions in the kitchen, but over the last month I’ve become equally passionate about potions for the bath tub! Bath teas, bath bombs, bath infusions. I’m all over it. I’ve been using simple epsom salt baths for stress relief and muscle relaxation for years. But recently I stumbled on a few herbal bath milk recipes via Pinterest, and I knew I had to try making some vibey versions of my own.
Bath milk recipes usually include milk powder. But seeing that I’m allergic to cow milk (it makes me itch all over) I knew I wanted to make my own dairy-free version that would be equally nourishing for the skin and luscious feeling in the tub. In the end I found that finely powdered oats make a great substitute for milk powder, creating a luxurious, skin-softening and calming bath. Perfect!
I have three versions of my vegan bath milk for y’all today: Rose Chamomile Sandalwood, Lavender Mint Lemon Balm and Ginger Rosemary Cardamom.
Each bath milk is built from:
Powdered Rolled Oats — moisturizing, soothing, nourishing.
Epsom Salt — stress-relieving and great for soothing sore muscles.
Powdered Dried Herbs — the herbs I’ve chosen are either soothing, uplifting or gently stimulating.
Rhassoul Red Clay OR French Green Clay — red clay is moisturizing, skin-softening and green clay is detoxifying, toning.
Jojoba Oil — moisturizing without adding heaviness, and great for all skin types.
Essential Oils — various benefits, but the suggested essential oils are uplifting, relaxing, grounding and/or sensual.
Combining these simple ingredients makes for bath milk potions that are equal parts moisturizing, nourishing, relaxing and toning.
If you prefer you can easily sub out epsom salt for other salts like himalayan pink sea salt, dead sea salt or any unique mineral rich salt you prefer. You can also sub jojoba out for another carrier oil, like grapeseed, almond, rosehip, sesame or apricot seed oil.
Uplifting Bath Milk // Rose Chamomile Sandalwood
Ingredients:
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup dried calendula
1/2 cup dried chamomile
1/2 cup dried rose petals
1 cup epsom salts
1/2 cup Rhassoul red clay
1 teaspoon jojoba oil
5 drops rose essential oil
5 drops sandalwood essential oil
Method:
Place the oats, calendula, chamomile, and rose in the bowl of a high powered blender. Blend on high until you have a fine powder. Add the powder to a bowl, then stir in the epsom salts, red clay, jojoba oil, 5 drops rose essential oil and 5 drops sandalwood essential oil. To store, place in a jar with a tightly fitted lid and stow in a cool dark place.
This Uplifting Bath Milk is perfect for folks with dry, easily aggravated skin. Rose petals and rose essential oil combat redness (and smell like heaven). Sandalwood essential oil is grounding and musky. Calendula and chamomile both sooth irritated, dry and sensitive skin. Rhassoul red clay — which contains silica and magnesium — conditions and moisturizes the skin. It’s the most beautiful, floral combination of scents. It’s my favorite of the three! This combo has helped a lot with my own dry skin issues, and is overall very soothing to my over-active nervous system.
Note: Mountain Rose Herb’s Facial Steam has all of these herbs in it plus comfrey and sweet orange essential oil. I usually just use that blend in this bath milk potion as it’s very affordable per ounce and Organic rose petals can be hard to find.
Soothing Bath Milk // Lavender Mint Lemon Balm
Ingredients:
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup lavender flower buds
1/2 cup dried peppermint leaves
1/2 cup dried lemon balm leaves
Optional: 5 whole cardamom pods
1 cup epsom salts
1/2 cup Rhassoul red clay
1 teaspoon jojoba oil
5 drops lavender essential oil
5 drops peppermint essential oil
Method:
Place the oats, lavender, mint, lemon balm and (optional) cardamom pods in the bowl of a high powered blender. Blend on high until you have a fine powder. Add the powder to a bowl, then stir in the epsom salts, red clay, jojoba oil, 5 drops lavender essential oil and 5 drops mint essential oil. To store, place in a jar with a tightly fitted lid and stow in a cool dark place.
This lavender bath milk is great for folks who overheat easily, tend towards redness and/or have difficulty relaxing. Lavender is gently sedative, while mint and lemon balm are cooling and nourishing for the skin. Cardamom is cooling and just smells lovely. Red clay provides moisture and minerals to condition the skin. Lavender essential oil is soothing and relaxing. Mint essential oil is soothing to muscles, helping to relieve painful tension (it’s mother nature’s “Icy Hot”). This blend is my go-to for when I need deep relaxation (pretty much the whole Holiday season!).
Invigorating Bath Milk // Ginger Cardamom
Ingredients:
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup dried chamomile flower buds
1/2 cup dried rosemary leaves
1/4 cup dried ginger root
1 cup epsom salts
1/2 cup French green clay
1 teaspoon jojoba oil
5 drops ginger essential oil
5 drops cardamom essential oil
Optional: 1-2 drops cinnamon essential oil
Method:
Place the oats, chamomile, rosemary and ginger in the bowl of a high powered blender. Blend on high until you have a fine powder. Add the powder to a bowl, then stir in the epsom salts, green clay, jojoba oil, 5 drops ginger essential oil, 5 drops cardamom essential oil and (optional) 1-2 drops cinnamon essential oil. To store, place in a jar with a tightly fitted lid and stow in a cool dark place.
This ginger-y bath milk is best suited to oily and combination skin types, although it’s also wonderful if you’ve been feeling blue or you’ve been sleeping too much. It’s gently stimulating and detoxifying, perfect for those bone-chilling Winter days that really bring you down. Chamomile soothes and relaxes. Rosemary improves circulation, tones the skin and is beloved as an aid for raising low spirits. Ginger root and essential oil are warming, stimulate circulation and help to relieve aches and pains, especially from arthritis. Cardamom essential oil is great for relieving digestive cramping or discomfort as cardamom is antispasmodic.
To use these bath milks, scoop out up to 6 tablespoons of your bath milk into your hot bath water. Feel free to add more epsom salt to the bath as well (I often do). The clay content will turn the bath a murky color, that’s perfectly normal. Make sure to rinse your body off well at the end of the bath, and rinse all of the sediment down the drain. If you don’t grind your herbs / oats finely enough, you may end up with more sediment in your drained bathtub than you like so keep that in mind. And if your tub piping is sensitive, consider putting a mesh strainer (like this one) over your bath drain to catch sediment.
These bath milks are great to keep handy in your bathroom and equally great for gifting! I usually just jar them up in a tall Ball asparagus jar and pop a ribbon on there. I wrote the labels on the jars pictured with a white sharpie paint pen.
These teas can last upwards of six months because there’s no water content in them. If they start to smell “off” or rancid, discard immediately. Please be cautious with using any herbs if you’re pregnant or nursing, and consult a clinical herbalist if you have personalized questions. I’m not a professional herbalist, simply a dabbling herbal-curious being. If you’re concerned about using any of these ingredients please consult your physician. These bath milks are all very gentle and should not be problematic for most anyone, but always err on the side of caution!
So, what do you think? Would you try a bath milk at home? How would you vary these recipes to make them your own? Leave a note in the comments, and I’ll catch you all next time! xo — Renee
This post is sponsored by Mountain Rose Herbs. All content, words and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that support this site!