Bath Teas
Contributed by: Crystal Miller
Using bath teas are gaining popularity as a new enjoyable bathing experience! The idea behind them is to combine certain herbs that can be simmered and steeped for about 15 minutes and then add these to your bath water. The herbs can be combined for better relaxation, or revitalization, or even calming herbs, depending on what your goal is.
After you mix your herbs together you put them in a small
bag, made from cheesecloth and put them in a pan with a few
cups of water. Boil them for about 15 minutes, then cover
them and let them steep for awhile. This is then added to
your bath water.
To simplify you could also add the herb mixture right to the
pan of water and strain them through cheesecloth or a dish
towel. If you don't want to spend the time boiling,
straining, waiting you can also put the herbs in a coffee
filter in your coffee maker and run water through them. They
don't get quite the steeping time but the aromatic effects
would be very useful as well.
Here are some recipes for bath teas that you can prepare and
store in a container to use as often as you would like a
nice refreshing bath. You can look for the dry herbs at
health food stores or search for on-line sources.
Herb Tea for Relaxation
- 1 cup rosemary
- 1 cups lavender
- 1 cups rose petals
- 1 cup mint
Mix these ingredients together and store in a container.
When you want to use them, measure out 1/2 cup of them and
bring to a boil in 1 to 2 cups water. Turn off heat and
allow to sit and steep for about 15 minutes. Strain and add
to your bath water.
Here is another combination that will also provide
ingredients for skin softening.
Soft and Relaxing Bath Tea Mix
- 1/2 cup dried mint
- 1/2 cup dried chamomile
- 1/2 cup dried lavender
- 1/2 cup dried rosemary
- 1/2 cup dried rose petals
- 1/2 cup ground oatmeal (you can easily grind this up in your blender)
- 1/2 cup powdered milk
This recipe also easily doubles or triples. Combine the
above ingredients and store in a container. When you want to
use them, simply put 1/2 to 1 cup in a pan and bring to a boil
with 1 to 2 cups of water. Turn off heat, cover and let sit
for 15 minutes to steep. Strain and add to your bath water.
Copyright: Crystal Miller, 2004
About the Author:
Crystal Miller ( mailto:crystal@thefamilyhomestead.com ) is
a mother of 8 children and enjoys her God given role as
wife, homemaker and mother! She has a homemaking and
country living web site called The Family Homestead
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com and has a free monthly
newsletter called Homestead Happenings. You will find
sign up information on her website.
