Bath Bombs with Witch Hazel!
Hey reader,
We only talked about bathbombs two weeks ago, but here we are making another batch. As I said before, that is largely because I forgot to write about the 3rd attempt and didn't notice until I sat down to write up this most recent attempt. My sincere apologies for such a grievous error. I am sure you have been chewing your fingernails to nubs wondering if I have figured it out. This time, you will find a horrific story. Mentally brace yourself for the horror show you are about to witness. Not since Texas Chainsaw Massacre has a recipe gone so badly. See that is funny because in that movie they make food out of people. Wow this blog must be really niche if it combines discussion of cannibalism with bath bombs. Whatever.
I have gotten much closer to success, but still I am not making the perfect Lush bombs I want to be making. Each of my attempts has been too powdery or too greasy. My newest suggestion was to try witch hazel. Am I the only person who remembers the Looney Tunes character, Witch Hazel? She was like all the other foils for Bugs Bunny, generally wanting to use him for a potion each week. They all pretty much wanted to eat him. There have got to be easier rabbits to catch, or are they all gender fluid wise cracking rodents?
I also wasn't sure what witch hazel even was. I mentioned it to a female friend who informed me I was stupid and should have asked any woman. Apparently its a beauty regimen thing for your skin. I am still not entirely clear on its use beyond bath bombs, but that is not the point of this post. I can google it later.
I made my normal 2 parts baking soda and 1 part citric acid mix. I decided to go plain white this time and just poured the witch hazel in. I figured that, like my oils from before, the witch hazel wouldn't cause a reaction. This was a major error. It immediately fizzed up. I guess there is more water in witch hazel than in oils. Who knew? Probably a lot of people, and google, but who is keeping track. After stirring as fast as I could to stop the reaction I was left with a great texture for the first half of the batch that went into the molds.
The other half, I wanted to try something new. I added a little bit of liquid soap to the recipe. The idea was that it would fizz and cause a slight bubbling.The problem was that the soap seemed to dry out the mixture and it wasn't clumping right anymore. I added more witch hazel to make it easier to work with. I figured, even if it didn't work, I have my control group so who cares.
In other bath bomb news: I was at a party where everyone got these little light up rings. They were in vacuform plastic packages that would make perfect molds for little bath bombs. Finding molds everywhere I look!
There are still a few of the last batch in this picture, but look how perfectly the new molds work. "I am going to have perfect little bath bombs," I thought. I came back a few hours later to check on what I assumed was the world's best made bath bombs. This is when the horror began.
I returned to my bath bomb making studio (read: my kitchen) to find the scene. Apparently, the second bit of witch hazel I added in batch two was far too much. It caused the baking soda and citric acid to react prematurely. Like a guy on prom night, it made a mess.
The molds exploded as the materials inside expanded. They were totally useless and managed to pretty much ruin the old ones too. That isn't a huge loss, but still, it was a frustrating and macabre scene.
The soap filled batch didn't make any bubbles so I am going to call that a straight loss. The batch that I didn't ruin by trying to reinvent the wheel fared better. They are certainly not oily, but they take a long time to dissolve. That is probably due to the witch hazel reacting more than I thought it would on first pour. I will add it slower next time, but I think the witch hazel might be the winner of the day!
I obviously still have some honing to do on this recipe, but I am that much closer to bath bomb success. I am not deterred! Look how nice the first batch came out!
They look really great! I haven't done attempt 5 yet, but my guess is that if I can add the witch hazel more slowly they fizzing problem will be fixed.
Bath bombs, you are so close that I can almost taste it. Warning, don't taste bath bombs.
Anyway, you should try making cool stuff!
Until next time,
JoshPrime
We only talked about bathbombs two weeks ago, but here we are making another batch. As I said before, that is largely because I forgot to write about the 3rd attempt and didn't notice until I sat down to write up this most recent attempt. My sincere apologies for such a grievous error. I am sure you have been chewing your fingernails to nubs wondering if I have figured it out. This time, you will find a horrific story. Mentally brace yourself for the horror show you are about to witness. Not since Texas Chainsaw Massacre has a recipe gone so badly. See that is funny because in that movie they make food out of people. Wow this blog must be really niche if it combines discussion of cannibalism with bath bombs. Whatever.
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| pictured: not a WB character |
I also wasn't sure what witch hazel even was. I mentioned it to a female friend who informed me I was stupid and should have asked any woman. Apparently its a beauty regimen thing for your skin. I am still not entirely clear on its use beyond bath bombs, but that is not the point of this post. I can google it later.
I made my normal 2 parts baking soda and 1 part citric acid mix. I decided to go plain white this time and just poured the witch hazel in. I figured that, like my oils from before, the witch hazel wouldn't cause a reaction. This was a major error. It immediately fizzed up. I guess there is more water in witch hazel than in oils. Who knew? Probably a lot of people, and google, but who is keeping track. After stirring as fast as I could to stop the reaction I was left with a great texture for the first half of the batch that went into the molds.
The other half, I wanted to try something new. I added a little bit of liquid soap to the recipe. The idea was that it would fizz and cause a slight bubbling.The problem was that the soap seemed to dry out the mixture and it wasn't clumping right anymore. I added more witch hazel to make it easier to work with. I figured, even if it didn't work, I have my control group so who cares.In other bath bomb news: I was at a party where everyone got these little light up rings. They were in vacuform plastic packages that would make perfect molds for little bath bombs. Finding molds everywhere I look!There are still a few of the last batch in this picture, but look how perfectly the new molds work. "I am going to have perfect little bath bombs," I thought. I came back a few hours later to check on what I assumed was the world's best made bath bombs. This is when the horror began.
I returned to my bath bomb making studio (read: my kitchen) to find the scene. Apparently, the second bit of witch hazel I added in batch two was far too much. It caused the baking soda and citric acid to react prematurely. Like a guy on prom night, it made a mess.
The molds exploded as the materials inside expanded. They were totally useless and managed to pretty much ruin the old ones too. That isn't a huge loss, but still, it was a frustrating and macabre scene.The soap filled batch didn't make any bubbles so I am going to call that a straight loss. The batch that I didn't ruin by trying to reinvent the wheel fared better. They are certainly not oily, but they take a long time to dissolve. That is probably due to the witch hazel reacting more than I thought it would on first pour. I will add it slower next time, but I think the witch hazel might be the winner of the day!
I obviously still have some honing to do on this recipe, but I am that much closer to bath bomb success. I am not deterred! Look how nice the first batch came out!
They look really great! I haven't done attempt 5 yet, but my guess is that if I can add the witch hazel more slowly they fizzing problem will be fixed.
Bath bombs, you are so close that I can almost taste it. Warning, don't taste bath bombs.
Anyway, you should try making cool stuff!
Until next time,
JoshPrime
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