Shower Steamer Recipe

Make these fun, practical homemade bath products - perfect for gift-giving!

These nifty little shower steamer pucks are super fun bath products to make, and almost as much fun to use! 

They're a great aromatherapy bath recipe to make with your kids or grandkids, and they're perfect for gift-giving because who doesn't shower?

Bath salts and other bath products don't always make the best gifts because not everyone takes long, hot baths, but these fizzy little gems are great for everyone!

You can do minty wake-up shower steamers or make up some eucalyptus ones and use them as handy home remedies for colds. I made up an after-workout blend, plus a relaxing floral blend for those stressful days when you don't have time to take a bath. I hope you have as much fun making them and using them as I did!

Fair warning, shower steamers are one of the trickier recipes to make because the balance of wet to dry ingredients can tip you from success to... well, a crumbly mess with the squirt of a bottle. 


Shower Steamer Recipe

Ingredients

2 cups Baking Soda

1 cup Citric Acid

A spray bottle of Witch Hazel

60 drops of your favorite Essential Oil or one of the blends below

Quick Links -Buy Supplies

Wake Up! Energizing Blend

29 drops Peppermint
29 drops Lemongrass or Lemon
2 drops Geranium, Rosemary or Basil

Buy Peppermint, Lemongrass, Lemon, Geranium, Rosemary, Basil

Open Up Blend for Colds & Congestion

25 drops Eucalyptus
25 drops Peppermint
10 drops Tea Tree or Lemon

Buy Eucalyptus, Peppermint, Tea Tree, Lemon

After Exercise Blend

25 drops Lavender
25 drops Grapefruit or Lemon
10 drops Peppermint

Buy Lavender, Grapefruit, Lemon, Peppermint

Mood Lifting Blend for Depression

30 drops Lemon, Bergamot or Grapefruit
20 drops Lavender
5 drops Frankincense
2 drops Geranium
2 drops Ylang Ylang or Rosemary

Buy Lemon, Bergamot, Grapefruit, Lavender, Frankincense, Geranium, Ylang Ylang, Rosemary

Relaxing Blend for Stress & Sleep

30 drops Lavender
12 drops Sandalwood
12 drops Frankincense
2 drops Geranium
2 drops Vetiver

Buy Lavender, Sandalwood, Frankincense, Geranium, Vetiver

Lavender Spice Blend - Awesome!

35 drops Lavender
20 drops Patchouli
5 drops Clove

Buy Lavender, Patchouli, Clove


Directions

1.

Put your baking soda and citric acid through a fine sieve, pressing out any lumps. (Makes a difference, so don't skip this step!) Stir together the baking soda and citric acid.

2.

Drop the essential oils into the mixture, placing each drop in its own little spot and stirring as you go so it doesn't clump.

3.

Mist the witch hazel over the mixture, stirring vigorously with a fork or your fingers. Mist the witch hazel the minimum amount needed to make the mix just moist enough to bind together when squeezed, but not so wet that it starts to fizz. (This actually turned out take a lot more spraying than I thought it would.) Spray a bit, stir a bunch, squeeze a bit of the mixture together to see if it clumps. When the clump holds its shape, it's ready.

4.

Press the shower steamer mix into molds (like silicone muffin tins or candy molds) very, very firmly. You want the mix to be tightly packed in the mold, so use your fingers. (I used the bottom of a glass to press the mixture down into the muffin cups.)

5.

After half an hour or so, flip the mold over and tap it gently on a flat surface to pop the shower steamers out of the mold. Let them sit undisturbed for a few hours or overnight to dry completely. Cover them lightly with a piece of cling wrap so the scent doesn't dissipate while they're drying.

6.

Wrap the finished shower steamers in cling wrap or parchment paper and store them in an air-tight container to avoid loss of scent.

7.

To use: When you take a shower place a shower steamer puck on the floor in front of you, with you between the puck and the spray. Let the steam do most of the work, but if your shower is fairly cool you can let the spray hit the shower steamer every so often to release a burst of scent.

Customizing Your Shower Steamer Recipes

Use any blend of essential oils you like, sticking with a total of approximately 60 drops per recipe. Some sources suggest using a tablespoon (or more!) of essential oils to really intensify the scent, so you could play around with increasing the number of drops. Just don't use them as bath bombs if you do - they could be too strong on your skin if you're bathing with them.

It might be fun to add a tablespoon or so of dried peppermint leaves or lavender flowers (keep in mind they will go down the drain). Even a few little flecks of color would make them look more interesting. I'm thinking I'll try a touch of cinnamon with the Lavender Spice blend.

You could use powdered cosmetic colorant or natural dye powder to add some color to your creations. I might try some beet root powder to make some pink ones. Maybe spirulina powder for green. There's a bunch more color possibilities at Mountain Rose, so I think I'll have to play with them and see what happens. What fun!

Where to Buy Shower Steamer Supplies

Witch hazel and citric acid are available in the pharmacy section of your local supermarket. Pick up baking soda there too.


My go-to supplier for base aromatherapy recipe ingredients is Mountain Rose Herbs. Their prices are excellent and their quality is good. Here's some quick links for getting your basic supplies and essential oils.

Another supplier I really like is doTerra. They only supply oils though, not the base ingredients.

I switched to doTerra's oils a while ago when I tested them against the other brands in my stockpile. I found I got better results, and I never got headaches or skin irritation, which sometimes happened with other brands.

I was pretty resistant to trying them because their prices are higher than a lot of other brands, but when I saw and felt the difference on my skin, I was won over.

I find that because they're so effective, I can get away with using fewer drops per recipe, which helps even out the cost. So if you want high quality, ultra-effective oils, these guys are for you.

You can buy doTerra's oils at retail prices by clicking the Shop button at the top. Or click Join & Save to become a wholesale customer and get a store-wide 25% discount. Message me if you want more details on the wholesale deal - it's well worth it.


Amazon has epic variety - if you're a browsing kinda person, go nuts! Just remember, you get what you pay for. Please, please don't buy the cheapest oils - I promise you they'll be diluted with synthetic ick you don't want on your skin.

What Next?

Why stop at shower steamers? Try making homemade bath salts, bath and body oils and herbal bath "tea" with green tea or oatmeal. And don't forget the bubble bath! Easy, fun and luxurious! Here's some links for more yummy bath product recipes...

Bath Salt Recipes

Use these sweet aromatherapy bath salt recipes to get the restorative powers of hot mineral springs... right in your very own bathroom.

Homemade Bubble Bath

Making your own homemade bubble bath makes sense if you like to use it a lot or if you want to try a bunch of different scents without spending a ton of money on bath products.

Bath Oil Recipes

There's nothing like some quiet time in a warm bath, softly scented with the perfect aromatherapy bath oil, to work out the kinks.

Herbal Bath Tea Recipes

Give yourself some TLC with the gentle effects of an aromatherapy herbal bath tea recipe. Pretty, fragrant and restorative, essential oils and herbs soothe your nerves, relax your muscles and soften your skin.

Milk Bath Recipe

Milk bath recipes are some of the quickest, easiest homemade bath products you can make.

Aromatherapy Recipes Homepage from Shower Steamer

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