Soaking in a luxurious essential oil detox bath can help get rid of unwanted toxins from your body.
Additionally, inhaling the aromas of essential oils during bath time can help alleviate emotional burdens, stress, and anxiety.
All in all, crafting a DIY detox bath using your essential oils is a wonderful thing to do! You can turn your regular bath into an aromatherapy experience in a matter of seconds.
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A detox essential oils bath is a wonderful ritual for your self-care routine. Making your own detox bath salts is easy, and not expensive, either.
I would recommend you treat yourself to a detox bath at least once per month. Enjoy!
What are Toxins?
We are exposed to toxins all day long. Different kinds, of course, but our amazing body is dealing with toxins on an on-going basis.
Environmental toxins can be dust, smoke, or household chemicals. Toxins can also be leftover materials from our body’s internal food processing systems. Think of these as cellular waste products, or ‘residues’ from our systems. Some toxins can build up and our bodies will start showing symptoms internally or externally. Hence, it is important to remove toxins as much and as often as we can.
How to Prepare for your Detox Bath
Giving your body a detox bath isn’t just as simple as hopping into the tub and getting out again after 20 minutes.
To make this a proper cleansing experience, please consider these few things:
- Stay hydrated. A detox bath will draw toxins, and water, out of your body. Drink a tall glass of water before you get in the bath, and again when you get out. This helps your body to stay properly hydrated during the cleansing bath experience.
- Have an empty stomach. Don’t get into your detox bath immediately after dinner time. You don’t want to be starving, but you want to have a reasonably settled stomach before going for your bath. This bath will help your body expel toxins, so you don’t want your systems to be too busy with processing food.
- Make it hot. Draw your bath as hot as you can tolerate. The additional heat will help open up the body’s pores, and will encourage sweating out the toxins in a safe environment.
- Move slowly. Sometimes, a detox bath can cause light-headedness. Be careful when you get up after the bath; move slowly and take your time.
- Hydrate the skin. The heat of the bath, plus some of the harsher ingredients in this detox recipe (such as bentonite clay or baking soda), can leave your skin feeling vulnerable. Have a neutral body cream or body butter ready for when you get out of your bath. Straight up coconut oil will do, too. Pat down your skin gently, then give it some extra love with an after-bath body lotion.
Detox Bath Recipe with Essential Oils
Epsom salts contain the active ingredients of magnesium and sulfate. Magnesium is important for our keeping our circulation, nervous system, and detoxing processes in balance. Sulfates support brain tissue formation, healthy joints, digestive tract function, and detoxification ¹. In a bath, these minerals are easily absorbed through your skin. Hence, Epsom salts are such a popular ingredient for detox bath recipes.
The next ingredient, baking soda, has cleansing properties. It can help purify the body and boost your immune system ².
Bentonite clay will help draw out the toxins from your body, most significantly, from your digestive system ³. Many toxins relate to build-up in the intestinal tract. Weight loss and liver cleansing are popular themes when talking detox; and bentonite clay can help with both.
Essential oils will absorb into your body and act in the respective body systems, such as lymphatic system, endocrine system, or in your intestinal tract. Depending on what your body is currently going through, choose from the 3 recipes below and make your detox bath with those essential oils.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Epsom Salts
- 1/3 cup Baking Soda
- 2 tablespoons Bentonite Clay
- 20 drops of Essential Oils (see recipes below)
Instructions
- Grab an empty glass mason jar.
- Mix Epsom salts, baking soda, and bentonite clay together.
- Add essential oils.
- Stir to combine.
- Use 3 tbsp of your mixture per bath.
- Soak 20-30 minutes in hot water.
Best Essential Oils for a Detox Bath
Essential oils are concentrated extracts from various plants. Depending on the oil you choose, you can address different concerns of health and well-being. Essential oils can tone, stimulate, regulate, or detoxify your body. The oils affect many of our body systems simultaneously.
Use one of the following recipes for your 20 drops of oils in the master recipe above.
Recipe for Weight Loss
- 10 drops Grapefruit
- 8 drops Juniper Berry
- 2 drops Ginger
Looking for substitutes? Here are the 5 best essential oils for weight loss that you could also use.
Plus, according to experts on bath therapy, taking a hot bath can help you burn about 130 calories 4.
Recipe for Better Digestion
- 8 drops Ginger
- 6 drops Lemon
- 4 drops Rosemary
- 2 drops Oregano
Recipe to Regulate Sweating
- 10 drops Geranium
- 5 drops Lavender
- 5 drops Lemon
Don’t have all these oils at home? No problem. Here are more oils you could use to help with excessive body odor.
Recipe for General Body Detox
- 6 drops Lavender
- 5 drops Lemon
- 5 drops Sweet Orange
- 4 drops Lemongrass
BONUS TIP: If you don’t have time for a full body bath, use your DIY detox bath salts in a simple foot bath. Make it as hot as you can tolerate, and use 1 tablespoon only.
References
¹ Healthline.com: What You Need to Know About Epsom Salt Bath Weight Loss
² Healthline.com: What Are the Benefits of a Baking Soda Bath?
³ MedicalNewsToday.com: Bentonite clay: 11 benefits and uses
4 Porch.com: Benefits of Bath Therapy
Renee Wilson
Hello, Emma! Congrats on achieving certification! I am working toward making a more natural lifestyle for myself and others, too! I am currently taking Health Coach courses. I have a few Aromatherapy class certificates, BUT I don’t recall learning about Bentonite! Thank you so much! Your recipes sound heavenly ~ I am going to field test some :)
Myrllei
Dear Emma, I really like your site and thank you for all informations.
I would like to make a suggestion to this ESSENTIAL OIL DETOX BATH RECIPE: Use castella soap or a solubilizer to prevent essential oils from concentrating on water and points of the body and causing any allergies. (I’m Brazilian. I apologize for my bad “English”.
Sally Kaplan
I have greatly enjoyed your newsletter and the wonderful information you pass on. I look forward to trying the detox recipe.
May you have a healthy and happy new year.
yvonne
Thank you for this timely article….I have been having lots of issues with my innards and undergoing a battery of test & bloodwork so have decided to do my own research. I will start with your digestive detox bath tonight! How often should this be done on a weekly basis? I am also going to try rubbing a mixture of peppermint and ginger with grapeseed oil on my tummy. Hopefully I will get some results.
Thank you so much for all you do and share with us
STAY SAFE AND HAVE A HAPPY HEALTHY NEW YEARS