Oh man, I used to buy such a lovely milk bath mixture, but then the shop changed their recipe & it was much less lovely. Anyway, I’d sort of forgotten about how enjoyable milk baths were, until I started diving more into this whole DIY bath & beauty using essential oils. There’s lots of great recipes online, as it turns out, but I thought I would post my version to share with you. Tweak it as you like, to get the results & scent you adore.
The focus of my milk bath is soothing dry skin. I always struggle with eczema {even more so after having Sam… not sure if it’s a hormonal thing} and winter time in Alberta is CRAZY dry. Like the other day, we were dryer than the Saharan desert!! Wha?! I kid you not. It was an actual statistic. So, anything to help with dry skin is welcome in our house.
That said, I have to admit, I used some skim powdered milk in my mixture because it was all I could find at the time. I will probably replace this with powered goat milk, which is waaay more moisturizing {and more expensive}. Here is the recipe as it currently is:
Soothing Milk Bath
- 1/2 cup powdered skim milk
- 1/2 cup powdered coconut milk
- 1/4 cup baking soda
- 1/4 cup of ground oats {do not use instant oats, get large flake oats and simply crush with mortar & pestle or food processor, if you have one}
- 4-8 drops of Lavender Essential Oil {to your preference}
- 5 drops of Oatmeal, Milk & Honey Fragrance oil
- 1/3 cup dried Chamomile flowers
- Heat & seal tea bags or small muslin bag or cheesecloth or coffee filters *see notes*
To make your milk bath, stir together skim milk, coconut milk & baking soda. Crush up your oats and stir into mixture. Drop in Lavender and Oatmeal, Milk & Honey oils. Stir mixture, removing clumps. Add dried Chamomile flower and stir until mixed.
Now, I have tried both the cheesecloth and coffee filters to package the milk bath mixture. The cheesecloth is lovely. The coffee filters are ok {had one burst open}. I bought the tea bags for tub teas, but haven’t used them as they were too small a size. I’ll order larger next time. For the coffee filters, I used a #4 cone {because that is what we use in our coffee maker}. No matter what you choose, about a 1/2 cup of milk bath mixture is right for a single bath.
By the way, there’s nothing that says you can’t just scoop the milk bath mixture directly into your bath water. Many online recipes recommend just that. My preference for putting it into something comes simply from want to avoid the cleanup afterward. The chamomile flowers need to be strained out before you drain the water & you’ll need a bit of rinsing off too {Sam & I experienced this when a coffee filter burst during one of our baths}. Skin still came out feeling so soft & moisturized though. I’m daydreaming about how much more moisturizing goats milk powder might be… ultimate indulgence {especially if you add a glass of wine & no children into the mix}.
Combine a couple packages of Soothing Milk Bath with a Bath Salt and the Gingerbread Sugar Scrub and you’ve got a the makings of a lovely spa gift this Christmas!
Happy Making!