Struggling with bath bombs

Although I have a foolproof formulation for bath bombs, it is not always "foolproof". It turns out that the humidity plays a huge role in making bath bombs.

Tips

• During a training session, the room was cold and we had the heater on which affected the outcome of the bath bombs. The bath bomb bombs started swelling, We quickly placed it back in the mold and left it for 24 hours, and the bath bomb was good to go. Essentially heaters cause much lower levels of relative humidity.

  
  

• One of my batches was too soft, If I touched the bath bombs it crumbled. I sieved bombs to a fine powder & re-wet the mixture, and molded and it worked. I added more water to the formulation.

• Low humidity 50% and lower. High Humidity 50% and higher. For high humidity invest in a dehumidifier or play around with your recipe until you get the right one for high humidity. For low humidity invest in a humidifier or play around with your formula to get to the correct one.

  
  

• If you're having issues, it's normal & it's not your fault. Several factors play into this.

• Bath bombs are tricky. A recipe that worked fine 1 day may not work the next.

1.1   Equipment

·         You will need a fizz ball mold

·         Wisk

·         Bowls for mixing

1.2   Ingredients

Dry ingredients:

·         2 cups Bicarbonate soda

·         1 cup citric acid

·         Bath salt dye to color

·         Dried botanicals for added texture

Wet ingredients:

·         15 ml Sweet almond oil/grape seed oil

·         15 ml Water

·         5 mL Polysorbate 80

·         2.5 ml Fragrance oil or essential oil

1.3   Method

• Combine the dry ingredients.

• Put the dry ingredients in the microwave for 3 seconds to warm them slightly before spritzing them.

• Combine the wet ingredients. Add the fragrance oil to the polysorbate, then add the mixture to the water.

• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix. The texture should be like wet sand.

• Pack the mixture tightly into the mold on both sides, leaving some on the rim of the moulid to act as the glue to hold the two sides together.

• Then gently remove the ball from the mold. Use a knife to neaten the ball. Set the fizz ball on a bubble wrap or cloth or back into the mold to dry out for 24 hours.  Wrap or put in an airtight container after 24 hours.