Creating luxurious Milk Baths

When was the last time you took a milk bath? A milk bath is a bath that has milk as its main ingredient. Other ingredients typically include honey, essential oils, or herbs. Lactic acid, a component of milk helps exfoliate and promote cell turnover. Milk moisturizes dry skin, soothes sunburn, and is very relaxing.

People have been indulging in milk baths since ancient times as they are luxurious and skin nourishing. Cleopatra was known for loving milk baths as it helped maintain her beauty and keep her skin soft. According to a legend, she bathed in donkey’s milk, honey, and almond oil. Greeks and Romans also enjoyed milk baths because they believed that milk could soothe and heal the skin and help with its texture.

In this issue:

🥛Milks

🪨Clays

🌿Other Ingredients

🌹Flowers

🍃Recipes

Photo by Juliana Araujo the artist on Unsplash

Milks

Milk baths can make your skin feel soft and smooth. It will be gently exfoliated. They smell nice and feel luxurious and help us to relax.  There are different types of milk of course.   Their benefits will differ. You can use cow’s milk powder which is readily available in your local grocery store.  You can also use goat's milk powder. It has a higher percentage of butter fat so it will feel creamier and more luxurious.  You can also use nut milks if you are a vegan.  I like to use coconut milk powder.  It has a lovely smell and feels so nice.  It is moisturizing and nourishing and can help prevent dryness and wrinkles.

Clays

Clay is the most used ingredient in a detox bath as it is great in drawing toxins out of the body.  Bentonite clay is the most used for baths but there are many different ones. There was a study done at Arizona State University in which it was concluded that bentonite clay could kill Staphylococcus, MRSA, E. coli and other pathogens. Clay can also help with digestive issues, skin allergies, sinus problems, headaches, and helps you recover from diarrhea and vomiting.

Photo by Carrie Scharf

Other Ingredients

Citrus 

Slice up any citrus fruit in thick slices and toss in the bath. The vitamin C and citric acid in citrus fruits help circulation and shrink pores.

Photo by Carrie Scharf

Oatmeal

Soothing, moisturizing and anti-inflammatory.  Is great for soothing itchy and sensitive skin.

Vinegar

Helps kill bacterial infections, helps get rid of body odor,  is good for hair and skin health and foot issues such as athlete’s foot, foot odor, and warts according to Medical News Today. 

Aloe Vera

Can be used as a carrier for essential oils.  Is great for auburn, eczema and other skin irritations.

Rice Powder

Helps absorb excess oil, helps shed dead skin cells, is anti-aging, helps treat acne, is antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial.

Baking soda

Baking soda is amazing for cleansing and detoxifying your whole body, boosting your immune system and eliminating any toxin build-up.  It helps soothe eczema, works with Epsom salts to help sore muscles and helps to eliminate odor.

Flowers and Herbs

When using flowers and herbs in the bath, you can use them fresh and put them directly in the bath or you can use them dried and either put them directly in the bath or make a tea out of them first and pour it in the bathtub.  To make tea with them, boil them in 8 cups of water, reduce heat and simmer until half the water has evaporated, strain the water and add to your bath. 

Photo by Carrie Scharf

Lavender

Lavender is great soother for skin, eczema, bug bites, anti-inflammatory, sedative and relaxing.

Dandelion

Dandelion is a good cleanser and moisturizer, great for eczema.

Photo by Carrie Scharf

Rose

Roses are moisturizing, relaxing, toning. They are great for sensitive, weak and mature skin.

Calendula

Calendula is good for reducing redness, itching and topical inflammation. Calendula helps to soothe and repair the skin and reduces injury recovery time.

Chamomile

Chamomile is soothing and calming.  Good for skin irritations like itchy skin, bites, eczema, makes hair shiny.

Spearmint

Spearmint is soothing and refreshing, it helps alleviate and calm skin problems. 

Comfrey

It’s useful for hemorrhoids, postpartum tears, inflammations, and other pains in your personal areas.

Wild Violet

Wild violet is gentle on the skin and helps with many different skin conditions like acne, eczema and dry skin.

Photo by Carrie Scharf

Sage

Sage is traditionally used for relief of minor skin inflammations and bacterial skin infections.

Lemon Balm

Lemon balm is good at cleansing the skin.  It is anti-inflammatory and antibacterial and good for acne prone, oily and sensitive skin.

Rosemary

Rosemary is recommended for oily, blemish prone, mature or stressed skin.

Milk Bath

Ingredients:

1 cup powdered milk of your choice

¼ cup cornstarch

¼ cup baking soda

10 drops essential oils

Directions: Mix dry ingredients, add essential oils and stir well.  Store in an airtight jar.

Use 2 to 4 tbsp per bath.

Milk Bath 2

Ingredients:

2 cups milk powder

1 cup oat flour or ¼ cup rice powder

Up to ½ cup honey powder, kaolin clay or cornstarch

2 tbsp herbs or flowers dried

¼ cup Salt or baking soda

Essential oils

Directions: Mix dry ingredients, add essential oils and stir well.  Store in an airtight jar.

Use 2 to 4 tbsp per bath.