Have you heard of bath bombs? If you spend any time on Pinterest or Instagram, you’re sure to come across gorgeous pictures of “bath bombs,” made with essential oils and a few other ingredients. They’re designed to “explode” when exposed to water, sending a soothing, healing aroma throughout your bath or shower.

Bath bombs can also be turned into “toilet bombs,” which fizz when you drop them into the bowl.

Anyway, bath bombs are easy to make. Plus, they provide a way to use up your soon-to-be-expired essential oils. (Aromatics don’t last indefinitely. So don’t be afraid to use them. If you save them too long they’ll go bad. Your nose will tell you when it’s time to toss them out.)

Easy Bath Bomb Recipe Without Citric Acid

(This post contains affiliate links, and if you purchase a product I receive a commission, at no extra cost to you.)

I have some lemongrass essential oil in my house. It’s still good. But I don’t know if it will be much longer. I’ve had it in my house for at least a year. The bottle is still 3/4 full. I don’t want it to go to waste. So I’m using some of it for bath bombs.

Lemongrass has a clean, fresh scent. It’s also believed to contain natural antibacterial compounds. Also, lemongrass is considered a good aromatic for helping to mold. (So it’s perfect for the shower.)

Bath Bomb Recipe With Essential Oils

It’s really easy to make your own bath bombs. These are also known as shower melts. The recipe below, because it doesn’t contain citric acid, is probably more like a melt.

You can store your bath bomb/melts in a covered glass jar, and use them as needed. Just drop one or two into your shower or bath. You can also put them in a Mason jar with a rustic gift tag if you want to give them away as gifts. I’m sure the recipient would greatly appreciate something handmade, which doesn’t contain parabens or any of the other potential hormone disrupting chemicals you may find in commercial bath products.

A growing number of people appear to be ditching their potentially toxic personal care items. A few years ago, I did an overhaul of my cosmetics, switching out chemicals for plant-based substitutes.

Easy Recipe For Bath Bombs

So, anyway, it’s really easy to make bath bombs. I wanted to keep it simple, using ingredients I had on hand, as well as an antique mold I already owned. You can get really fancy with bath bombs. Using special plastic molds, you can make them into perfect little balls. Today, though, I decided not to do that. I just want to use up my essential oils and share a quick, easy DIY tip with my readers.

If you own your own essential oils, you probably have everything you need to make your own bath bombs. If not, on the right is the brand of lemongrass essential oil I used for this recipe. On the left is another version of lemongrass oil, sold by a company I often recommend on this site. I like to give my readers choices, and here are two good ones. They are not multilevel marketing products. (I rarely buy MLM oils because I don’t need to, when so many good products exist outside these networks.)

Plant Therapy Lemongrass OilAura Cacia Lemongrass Oil

Easy Bath Bomb Recipe Without Citric Acid

Many of the bath bomb recipes I found online called for citric acid or cream of tartar. However, I didn’t have either of these ingredients in the house, and I didn’t feel like running to the store to buy them. My motto is, “There’s always another way.”

Anyway, I did see a plastic bottle of lemon juice in the back of my kitchen cabinet. I didn’t know it was in the house. My daughter told me my son bought it a long time ago. Since he probably will never use it, I decided it would supply the fizz the bath bomb needed. (I did see several online recipes calling for lemon juice, instead of citric acid.)

Easy Bath Bombs Recipe

So here is my really easy bath bombs recipe. This doesn’t necessarily have to be made with lemongrass oil. You can get creative, or you can just use the aromatics you have on hand. You could also add a few drops of geranium essential oil to the mix. This oil blends well with lemongrass. (Lavender oil would also be a good choice.)

How To Make Your Own Bath Bombs Without Citric Acid

• 1/2 cup of baking soda
• 1/2 cup of Epsom salt
• 10 drops of lemongrass oil
• Bottled lemon juice with an equal amount of water.
• Empty plastic spray bottle (This is needed to add the water and lemon juice mixture slowly, so it doesn’t fizz until it’s dropped into a bath or toilet.)
• Bath bomb mold (I used an antique decorative deviled egg tray that used to be long to my grandmother.)
• Lemon zest (This is entirely optional, but would make a nice touch if you plan to give this as a gift. I had half of an organic lemon in my refrigerator, so I grated some zest.

Combine the baking soda and Epsom salt in a glass bowl. In a separate container, mix the lemon juice with the water. Gently add a drop of this to the mixture and then stir thoroughly. Keep adding the water/lemon juice until you have a consistency that can easily be put into a mold. It should look something like this.

Just before you set it in the mold, add 20 drops of lemongrass essential oil to the mix and stir thoroughly. Let the molds sit at room temperature for a day, or maybe even a little longer, depending upon the weather. I put my mold on our back deck, so it would dry in the sun. Enjoy your bath bombs. They are not really that “fizzy,” because they’re not made with citric acid, and it may take them a little while to break down in water. But they’ll smell wonderful as they dissolve. If you use one of these melts in your toilet, you should put it in the tank instead of the bowl.

Disclaimer

These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Women who are pregnant or nursing should not use essential oils unless directed to do so by a healthcare professional.

You Also Might Like

Shea Butter Recipes With Essential Oils

How To Make Body Butter With Shea Butter