Learn how to make bath salts with this DIY bath salts recipe. Use simple ingredients like Epsom salt, coarse sea salt, baking soda, and essential oils to create a luxurious bath experience.

DIY bath salts in a small clear jar with a wooden scoop — Image source: The Coconut Mama

Homemade bath salts are perfect if you are looking for easy DIY projects for yourself or to make with kids (my girls love making these and homemade bath bombs).

A warm bath with herbal bath salts is relaxing and the perfect way to end a long stressful day. It’s also a great way to experience the benefits of epsom salts and essential oils. Below I share my favorite bath salts recipe, with variations and a cost breakdown.

How To Make Bath Salts

Ingredients: Make your own bath salts by combining a few cups of salts, baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), your favorite essential oils, and a carrier oil like coconut or sweet almond oil.

In a medium mixing bowl, mix the epsom salt, coarse sea salt, baking soda, and flower petals together.

Then add in the carrier oil (I used coconut oil) and the essential oil of your choice.

Mix the fragrant bath salts well and store them in an airtight container.

How To Use Bath Salts

Scoop one cup of salts into a warm bath. Let the salts dissolve in the warm water and enjoy a good soak.

Ingredients, including epsom salts, coarse salt, and lavender buds. — Image source: The Coconut Mama

Bath Salt Ingredients

Epsom Salts: Epsom salt is made up of magnesium sulfate. Unlike other salts, epsom salt won’t cause dry skin, but instead leaves your skin feeling soft and silky! Adding Epsom salts to your bath water makes for a relaxing experience and helps with achy sore muscles.
Coarse Sea Salt: Sea salt is wonderful for softening rough skin and may help reduce muscle stiffness when soaked with therapeutic essential oils. You can substitute pink Himalayan salt instead of course sea salt in this recipe.
Baking Soda: Baking soda is alkaline and helps to cleanse and detox the body. It’s a great addition when making your own DIY bath salts.
Coconut Oil: Organic coconut oil is unlike any other skin product! Because of its low molecular weight and the method of binding to proteins, coconut oil can penetrate the skin more deeply than other products. (I’ve linked to my favorite coconut oil for this recipe, but you can also read my in-depth explainer on the best coconut oil you can buy)
Flower Petals: Petals and buds add color and texture to this bath soak recipe.
Essential Oils: These plant-based oils are natural and safer than synthetic fragrances. Choose different oils for each batch to create a different scent for each epsom salt bath soak.

Best Essential Oils For Homemade Bath Salts

You can use a variety of different essential oils to create your favorite bath soak! Below are just a few of my favorite oil combinations.

Lavender Bath Salts: Use lavender essential oil and lavender flower buds to create a relaxing bath soak all your family members will love.
Citrus: Use sweet orange oil and lemon oil and use calendula leaves to create this invigorating salt soak that’s great for chilling out and for anyone who loves citrus!
Sore Muscle Bath Salts: Use a mix of eucalyptus and peppermint essential oils to cool and soothe muscle aches. This is my favorite bath soak after a long day.

Supplies & Ingredients

I stock up on glass jars (like these) and make this DIY bath salt recipe for homemade gifts and Christmas gifts. Of course, my whipped body butter and sugar scrub make a great gift too!

My favorite butters and carrier oils can be found here (note: these are affiliate links to products I love and I may earn a small commission if you purchase through the links – at no extra cost to you). You may also find some of these items at your local grocery stores:

DIY Bath Salts Cost Breakdown

These bath salts are inexpensive to make. Below I share the cost breakdown of making a batch.

Epson Salts: $6.69 ($0.07 an ounce) from 365 Whole Foods Market. This recipe will use 16 ounces, but this bag is 96 ounces. You can make 6 batches of salt baths with this bag of epsom salt. $1.12 per batch.
Course Sea Salt: $2.29 ($0.09 an ounce) from 365 Whole Foods Market. This recipe will use 12 ounces, but this bag is 27 ounces. You can make 2 batches of salt baths with this bag of coarse salt. $1.08 per batch.
Baking Soda: $17.76 ($0.09 an ounce) Clabber Girl Baking Soda, 16 Ounces (Pack of 12). This recipe will use 4 ounces of baking soda. $1.08 per batch.
Essential Oils: $8.99 10ml bottle of Lavender Essential Oil. There are 200 drops of essential oils in this bottle, this recipe uses 20 drops. $0.89 per batch.
Lavender Buds: It’s best to buy this in bulk! A large bag will cost $24.53 ($1.53 / Ounce). This bag contains four ounces of lavender flowers. You will use approximately two and half ounces of flower petals in your bath soak. Of course, this ingredient is optional. $3.82 per batch.
Coconut Oil: $12.40 ($0.83 a fluid ounce). This jar has 15 ounces of coconut oil, you will only use .5-1 ounce of coconut oil for this recipe. Approximately $1.66 per batch.

Estimated cost per batch of bath salts: $9.65, or $2.42 per bath.

Gifting & Packaging Suggestions

Homemade bath salts are not only great for yourself, but they also make wonderful gifts! You can make a large batch of these salts and package them in cut jars, containers, or paper bags. Then label them and gift them to friends and family. They make a great gift for Christmas, birthdays, or mother’s day.

DIY bath salts in tiny bottles with a larger container of bath salts behind them — Image source: The Coconut Mama

What kind of salt should I use for this recipe?

You may use different types of salts. I like to use epsom salts (because there are so many benefits of epsom salt), pink salt, and dead sea salt. I don’t recommend using regular table salt for this recipe.

How long should you soak in the bath salts?

Usually, 15-20 minutes, or until the bath water starts to cool off.

Can you add coloring to the bath salts?

You can add food coloring, but I don’t particularly like soaking in coloring, nor do I like cleaning it up! Other ways to color the bath salts would be to add natural food powders like beet juice powder (pink), blue spiraling (blue), or matcha green tea powder (green).

Print Recipe

Take bath time to the next level with this herbal bath salt recipe. Use a combination of Epsom salt, coarse sea salt, coconut oil, and essential oils to create a relaxing bath experience. This recipe makes 4 cups of bath salts.

Author: Tiffany Marie
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
Yield: 4 cups 1x

Ingredients

2 cups of epsom salts
1 1/2 cups coarse sea salt, pink Himalayan sea salt, or dead sea salt
1/2 cup baking soda
20 drops of essential oil
1/3 – 1/2 cup lavender buds, rose petals, or eucalyptus leaves
1–2 tablespoons of coconut oil or carrier oil of choice (optional)
1–2 tablespoons coconut milk powder or milk powder (optional – great option if you want a milk bath)

Instructions

Mix the Epsom salt, sea salts, baking soda, and herbal flowers tighter in a bowl. Add in the melted coconut and essential oils (optional) and mix vigorously until the oils disperse into the salts.
Store the bath salts in an airtight container, glass jar, or mason jars.

My Favorite Bath Salt Recipes:

Lavender Bath Salts: Use 20 drops of lavender essential oil and 1/3 cup of lavender flower buds to create a relaxing bath soak.

Citrus Bath Salts: Combine 10 drops of sweet orange oil, 10 drops of lemon oil, and 1/4 cup citrus rind or calendula leaves to create this invigorating salt soak.

Sore Muscle Bath Salts: Add 10 drops of eucalyptus essential oil, 10 drops of peppermint essential oil and 1/2 cup of eucalyptus leaves to the salt mixture. This is my favorite soak recipe after a long and busy day.

Stress Away Soothing Salts: Add 30 drops of Stress Away essential oil blend to the bath salt mixture.

Notes

How To Use: Scoop one cup of bath salts into a hot bath. Dissolve and enjoy a good soak in this herbal salt bath. This homemade bath salts recipe has a shelf life of 1 year.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1
Calories: 1

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How To Make Bath Salts