Bath Bombs Are Just Toys For Adults
Hey Reader,
I have a bone to pick with you. Have you ever used a bath bomb? See, I am not traditionally that into face masks, facial scrubs or other such bath time products. I looked upon bath bombs with a sense of disdain that should be quite familiar to most folks from New Jersey - we have it about pretty much everything.
After being convinced to finally try a bath bomb, I prepared my snarky comments and trademark New Jersey acerbic replies. Then I experienced a bath bomb first hand. It was one of the most magical experiences I have ever had. I was left with a seething rage. These things might seem like they are not reasonable to experience together.
Lets start with the magic: my tub turned an amazing green color. We aren't talking a little pale green. No, my tub was straight up Ecto Cooler. I felt like I was swimming in a glass of Hi-C when I was 7. Further, the ball itself fizzed and spun around in the tub, all while making a satisfying hissing noise. It was amazing. I was playing with a toy in the tub.
That's where the rage set in. Dear reader, why do adults feel it necessary to pretend they don't play with toys. You don't have to hide behind fancy nonsense words like "moisturizing," "relaxing," or "self care." Just call the damn things toys. There is no reason to hide in the bathroom to play with toys. Well, in this case there is - as you are unlikely to have a bathtub in any other room of your house -but you get the idea. If we could all just admit we sometimes like silly things, we would all be happier.
I was further annoyed when there was no toy hidden inside the center of my bath bomb. I have seen bath bombs that leave behind toys - a doughnut key-chain perhaps. You know what was in the center of mine? A rock. Literally there was a lump of coal in the middle of my toy. Was I naughty, Santa? Check your list again.
Point is, I decided I would learn the secret art of bath bomb creation. I set out to purchase bath bombing supplies.
They are:
molds
citric acid (from the canning section)
baking soda
corn starch
salt
food coloring
fragrance/oils (which I already had from my soap making experiments).
You might have noticed I bought a lot. That is because this process is pretty delicate. The basic idea is that you want 2 parts baking soda to one part citric acid. Those two ingredients are responsible for the fizzing action as they are reactive when water is added. The corn starch and the salt help to create that silky feeling after you get out of the tub. The oils and fragrances give it the moisturizing and relaxing elements, and the food coloring provides the wrinkle reduction - just kidding, it provides the color.
This post will be focusing on my first and second attempts at making bath bombs. In attempt 1, I got cocky and decided I didn't want to use any oil. I figured it would make the tub too slick, and I really only wanted the fizzing action anyway. I mixed my dry ingredients (baking soda, citric acid, salt and corn starch) in a bowl and then in a small cup I mixed a very small amount of water, food coloring and fragrant oils.
Wet ingredients must be added very slowly. If you read carefully above, you would have heard that water causes the chemical reaction that we are looking for. This is fortunate since we are going to put it in our bathtub, but unfortunate because we need to add wet ingredients to our bath bombs.
Adding wet ingredients drops at a time - some sites I read recommended using a spray bottle to really disperse the liquid and prevent fizzing - and stirring immediately helped to avoid causing the reaction. You need enough water to make the mixture feel like sand-castle-building sand. Then it can be pressed into whatever mold you like. Above, you will see I pressed it into an ice cream cone mold, but I also did a few traditional circle molds.
For the circle molds I got fancy. I used plain white "sand" to line the inside of my molds, and then used some I had dyed to make the inside. I even set in little toys.
From the outside, it looks like a plain white ball, but once it touches water it begins to fizz. The white fizzes away and suddenly the water starts to turn purple!
The big problem with these bath bombs is that I skipped the primary oil step. I didn't think it was that big of a deal, but without oil, there wasn't enough other material to protect the reaction and the fizzing was incredibly brief. The whole thing was done in under a minute or two. It was nothing like the longer fizzing you get from a real bath bombs.
Having read my blog for 35 weeks now, you might recall that I don't typically talk about two attempts at something in a single post. I am breaking from that norm on this post because the second attempt failed in a completely different way that can serve as a warning to bath bomb enthusiasts. That warning is simple: be careful how much water to add. I added my water (and oils this time) to my mixture. I let it get wetter than before. Keep in mind that the amount of water you are adding is going to feel like not enough. The recipe I linked above only calls for a teaspoon of water and that is probably still too much. You might not think it is that big of a deal, but as your bath bomb dries out (which is how it solidifies into the bomb and isn't just a pile of sand) the water is still able to react with your ingredients. If you have too much water, this happens:
That is clearly not ideal. There was too much water in my mixture and so my bath bomb slowly exploded out of it's mold. Now it will not come out and will pretty much have to be thrown in the tub just like that. It will still work - it didn't fully react - but it is definitely less pretty.
I am going to continue honing my bath bomb skills until I am really good at it, but for now, I have two moderately successful attempts under my belt and will continue doing my best!
Always try new things!
Keep making cool stuff,
Until next time,
JoshPrime
I have a bone to pick with you. Have you ever used a bath bomb? See, I am not traditionally that into face masks, facial scrubs or other such bath time products. I looked upon bath bombs with a sense of disdain that should be quite familiar to most folks from New Jersey - we have it about pretty much everything.
After being convinced to finally try a bath bomb, I prepared my snarky comments and trademark New Jersey acerbic replies. Then I experienced a bath bomb first hand. It was one of the most magical experiences I have ever had. I was left with a seething rage. These things might seem like they are not reasonable to experience together.
Lets start with the magic: my tub turned an amazing green color. We aren't talking a little pale green. No, my tub was straight up Ecto Cooler. I felt like I was swimming in a glass of Hi-C when I was 7. Further, the ball itself fizzed and spun around in the tub, all while making a satisfying hissing noise. It was amazing. I was playing with a toy in the tub.
That's where the rage set in. Dear reader, why do adults feel it necessary to pretend they don't play with toys. You don't have to hide behind fancy nonsense words like "moisturizing," "relaxing," or "self care." Just call the damn things toys. There is no reason to hide in the bathroom to play with toys. Well, in this case there is - as you are unlikely to have a bathtub in any other room of your house -but you get the idea. If we could all just admit we sometimes like silly things, we would all be happier.
I was further annoyed when there was no toy hidden inside the center of my bath bomb. I have seen bath bombs that leave behind toys - a doughnut key-chain perhaps. You know what was in the center of mine? A rock. Literally there was a lump of coal in the middle of my toy. Was I naughty, Santa? Check your list again.
Point is, I decided I would learn the secret art of bath bomb creation. I set out to purchase bath bombing supplies.They are:
molds
citric acid (from the canning section)
baking soda
corn starch
salt
food coloring
fragrance/oils (which I already had from my soap making experiments).
You might have noticed I bought a lot. That is because this process is pretty delicate. The basic idea is that you want 2 parts baking soda to one part citric acid. Those two ingredients are responsible for the fizzing action as they are reactive when water is added. The corn starch and the salt help to create that silky feeling after you get out of the tub. The oils and fragrances give it the moisturizing and relaxing elements, and the food coloring provides the wrinkle reduction - just kidding, it provides the color.
This post will be focusing on my first and second attempts at making bath bombs. In attempt 1, I got cocky and decided I didn't want to use any oil. I figured it would make the tub too slick, and I really only wanted the fizzing action anyway. I mixed my dry ingredients (baking soda, citric acid, salt and corn starch) in a bowl and then in a small cup I mixed a very small amount of water, food coloring and fragrant oils.Wet ingredients must be added very slowly. If you read carefully above, you would have heard that water causes the chemical reaction that we are looking for. This is fortunate since we are going to put it in our bathtub, but unfortunate because we need to add wet ingredients to our bath bombs.
Adding wet ingredients drops at a time - some sites I read recommended using a spray bottle to really disperse the liquid and prevent fizzing - and stirring immediately helped to avoid causing the reaction. You need enough water to make the mixture feel like sand-castle-building sand. Then it can be pressed into whatever mold you like. Above, you will see I pressed it into an ice cream cone mold, but I also did a few traditional circle molds.
For the circle molds I got fancy. I used plain white "sand" to line the inside of my molds, and then used some I had dyed to make the inside. I even set in little toys.From the outside, it looks like a plain white ball, but once it touches water it begins to fizz. The white fizzes away and suddenly the water starts to turn purple!
The big problem with these bath bombs is that I skipped the primary oil step. I didn't think it was that big of a deal, but without oil, there wasn't enough other material to protect the reaction and the fizzing was incredibly brief. The whole thing was done in under a minute or two. It was nothing like the longer fizzing you get from a real bath bombs.
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| pictured: a problem |
That is clearly not ideal. There was too much water in my mixture and so my bath bomb slowly exploded out of it's mold. Now it will not come out and will pretty much have to be thrown in the tub just like that. It will still work - it didn't fully react - but it is definitely less pretty.
I am going to continue honing my bath bomb skills until I am really good at it, but for now, I have two moderately successful attempts under my belt and will continue doing my best!
Always try new things!
Keep making cool stuff,
Until next time,
JoshPrime
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