Shower Steamers

Shower steamers (or shower bombs) are rapidly gaining popularity in the bath product market due to the appeal for those who want an indulgent sensory experience but aren't partial to taking baths. Very similar in composition to bath bombs, shower steamers sit out of the water and utilize heat and humidity to release essential oils and create an aroma-therapeutic environment. Since they are not touching the skin you can use a very high percentage of fragrance or essential oil and they last for 1-2 showers.

Ingredients:

2 Cups - Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda)

1 Cup - Citric Acid

Witch Hazel in a spritz bottle for wetting the mix

(The alcohol content in the witch hazel will allow the shower steamers to release from the molds more easily - just using water as the moisturizing agent would have the steamers take hours to release from the molds.)

Fragrance Oils or Essential Oils

Optional:

Stained Glass Liquid Colors, Bath Bomb, Neon or Mica Powders for coloring

Salts for decoration

Directions:

1. Mix the sodium bicarb and citric acid in a bowl. The recipe will do 5-6 shower steamers.

2. If desired, add your choice of colorant a litte at a time, to achieve desired color.
Note: Color will darken when witch hazel is added.

3. Add fragrance or essential oil, drops at a time, to achieve desired fragrance level. We used about 60 drops total essential oils for this recipe.

4. Mist the witch hazel over the mixture several times, stirring vigorously with fork or fingers so that any color or fragrance is well mixed.

Mist the witch hazel only as much as needed - the goal is to have the mix lightly moisturized so that it binds together when squeezed, but not so wet that it starts to fizz.

5. When it feels like the mix will clump together, press the mix into the molds very, very firmly. You want the mix to be tightly packed in the mold, so use your fingers. After waiting half an hour to an hour you should be able to flip the mold over and bang it lightly on a flat surface to extract the shower steamer from the mold.

6. After the shower steamer is out of the mold, let it sit undisturbed for a few hours to fully dry. NOTE: due to the high concentration of essential oils used you want to keep your steamers in an air-tight container to avoid loss of scent. Try wrapping them in cling wrap or foil until you use them!

To Use:

Toss your shower steamer at the edge of the tub the next time you take a shower. Keep it out of the shower stream, but ensure it lay comfortably in a small pool of water. Let the aromas invigorate your senses!