For a refreshing day, not everyone wants to spend a lot of money at a spa. It is possible to emulate the exotic experience of visiting a curative bath by making natural bath bombs. These small balls full of fragrances and charm can increase the festivity of any special event or holiday season. That said, do you know how to color bath bombs naturally?
Natural colors can be added to bath bombs in two ways. You can color them either in a liquid or dry state. The liquid state is where the balls are unformed or in the process of being formed. Whereas dry state means the balls have got their rounded shape. Moreover, you can use both oil and water-based colorants to get the desired results.
As soon as we try our luck with these bath bombs, a lot of questions pop into our heads. The most common one among them is what are the simplest ways of adding natural color to bath balls. You might also be considering using food coloring in the process and its eventual staining effect. This blog aims to answer all these queries; stay tuned!
What Can You Use to Color Bath Bombs?
Many natural methods exist for coloring these small bombs. The most common things that yield successful results are oxides, micas, and dyes. There are other things that you can use to create stunning combinations. The best news is neither of those materials is expensive; you can get them for less than $10 from any nearby retail store.
We will get into how to color bath bombs further down the line, but first, let’s briefly introduce what they are and how they work.
What Is a Bath Bomb?
Bath bombs are aromatic DIY bath accessories that enhance the freshness of your bath experience. You can fill your bathtub with a perfect blend of colors and aromas with these bath bombs. You can use various simple ingredients to create balls with a precise amount of foam and fizz.
Ingredients
The following is the list of items you need to have before you start your journey of making these beautiful balls. Once you try them out, you won’t miss a chance to recreate the same experience.
Sodium Bicarbonate or Baking Soda
A typical kitchen item that helps prepare a lot of baking items. This alkaline powder is helpful in the creation of fuzzy foam and heat that is required in optimum mixing of all the ingredients. You can buy it from any retail shop, which costs less than a dollar across many states.
Sulfate
Magnesium sulfate is another critical component of any bath bomb-making process. Your mother may call it Epsom salt because it is the common name for magnesium sulfate. It is a softening agent that moisturizes the skin tissues besides helping in the reduction of stress levels. Additionally, you can use it to adorn the outlook of your balls further.
Citric Acid
Citric acid is another common kitchen item that produces carbon dioxide when paired with magnesium sulfate. The carbon dioxide released in the process enhances the overall bubble-making capacity of bath bombs. It is one of the acids that are produced naturally without involving any harmful substances.
Oils
Oils offer large product varieties, making them a popular choice. You have a tremendous amount of options to choose from. For instance, you can go for castor oil if you face inflammation or excessive exhaustion frequently. Similarly, you can add up the oil of your choice in the recipe for desired effects.
There are other types of oils in the market that are popular for their fragrances and moisturizing effects. You can add up trivial amounts of orange oil if you are having acne or muscle spasms. Orange oil is also famous for its excellent efficacy in boosting blood flow in the body.
Coloring Agents
Coloring agents are the primary aspect of our topic today. There are multiple types and categories of coloring agents you can use for this DIY project. However, we would advise our audience to prefer soap coloring as it is highly efficient in delivering the desired results.
Some people also suggest using food coloring in the process. But we do not want our readers to be involved in tricky things. That is why we usually avoid recommending food coloring, especially to newbies who might stain their towels or bathtubs with this food coloring.
Corn Flour
Corn starch is another beneficial ingredient that helps you in giving proper shape to the balls. Many DIY enthusiasts recognize corn flour as a natural glue when it comes to items such as bath balls. It is famous for its exceptional thickening properties. This corn powder will help you give proper shape to the balls as it thickens the ingredients in the recipe.
It is pertinent to mention that there are many other things that you can use as ingredients in this DIY activity. Use your imagination in this regard to come up with other exciting things that can help you customize your bath bombs according to your needs.
Liquid Vs. Dry Phase Colorants
It’s time to dig deeper into the coloring approach after having discussed the ingredients necessary to make highly efficient bath bombs. It is pertinent to mention that not every technique of coloring bath bombs yields the desired results. That is why selecting appropriate colorants and practice is of utmost importance.
Generally, you can add up colors in two different stages of bath bomb production. The first stage is called the liquid stage, where you add up all the colorants during the production when every ingredient is being mixed. However, the second stage involves the addition of the colors in the dry stage of the mixture.
Let’s discuss these techniques briefly;
Color Addition in the Liquid Phase
The common practice of many bath bomb makers is that they put in the colorants during the liquid stage of the mixture formed by ingredients. The best thing about this method is anyone can use both water-based and dry pigments in this technique regardless of their experience and expertise.
Water solubility is a prerequisite for any colorants you want to use. Avoid using micas or oxides in this method as both of them are not water-soluble. Otherwise, you may not have the desired results.
Avoid mixing fragrance oil in the mixture until you add the water-based colorant to the solution. After mixing these things, combine the wet and dry components of the recipe to obtain the desired results. However, you have to be careful with the quantity of powder when using a dry colorant. Never use anything more significant than half a teaspoon of the color.
Color Addition in the Dry Phase
There are two steps to follow if you want to add colorants during the dry phase. The first step involves mixing the pigment with salt, most commonly Epsom salt. In the second step, you will mix that colorant with the rest of the recipe’s ingredients.
Using this dry-phase technique works best for people looking to obtain a dotted and textured outlook of bath bombs. Mixing Epsom salt and colorant is the first step in the process. You will notice that a small chunk of the salt will dissolve. However, you do not have to worry at all as it is quite natural for the process.
The next step involves the mixing of colored Epsom salt and other dry ingredients. Most parts of Epsom salt will maintain their texture, while some colorants may bleed into the different components of the recipe. The rest of the process remains the same.
How to Color Bath Bombs Naturally?
The fact that color addition occurs in different stages of bath bomb production gives us the perfect opportunity to consider how bath bombs can be colored naturally. The following are some interesting things to consider to color your bath bombs naturally:
Determine the Accurate Mix of Colors
The most common mistake many newbies make in this process is that they try to add too many similar colors that simply do not work. A simple approach in this regard is to understand how different colors behave when you mix them up. Avoid mixing multiple shades of a single color if you are a newbie in the field because you will end up making blurred bath bombs.
You can further follow these tips for a more successful approach:
- Try to use a single color if you are doing it the first time. It will help you understand how things work before incorporating multiple colors into a single ball.
- If you cannot resist using multiple colors, try to use a limited range of shades instead of putting in tens of colors.
- Spectral or chromatic color patterns come in handy in this situation. For instance, you can choose a combination of violet or yellow, red or green, and orange or blue.
Get Some Water-Based Colorants
The most straightforward version of bath bomb making involves using water-based colorants during the liquid phase of the bomb. Water solubility is a prerequisite in this regard. As micas and oxides are not good options for water solubility, you should prefer commonly found dyes for the process.
However, you need to follow these steps if you want to add oxides and micas to obtain your favorite color on bath bombs.
- Generally, you will find oxides in powder form. It would be best if you had an excellent combination of liquid material to mix them well in the liquid phase of the bath bombs. To that end, we would recommend our readers use glycerin to dissolve the powder properly. Try mixing glycerin and oxide in a bowl and insert the mixture into the liquid phase of the bomb after stirring well.
- For mica, follow the same procedure for oxide powder. In this way, the colors in the final mixture maintain proper shape and texture. You will not have any issues of blurred outline in the case of using vegetable glycerin for the efficient mixing of colorants in the liquid phase.
Add It Up
After you have decided on the type of colorant you want to use in the process, it’s time to mix the colorant into the mixture. This is the step where you have to maintain a proper balance of water in the mix. Once you’ve added about a half teaspoon, you can adjust the amount of water according to your needs.
After adding the required quantity of water, try to blend the mixture in the best way possible. Thorough mixing of the colorant with the rest of the materials in the process will result in enhanced sharpness of the colors on the balls.
Time to Add a Few Fragrances
This is the stage where you can customize your bath bombs in the best way possible. After the addition and perfect mixing of colorants and other parts of the liquid bombs, it’s time to introduce some fragrance to the process.
By customization, we mean users have unlimited options of selecting the type and intensity of the perfume for their bomb balls. However, they can only include perfumes in the form of fragrance oils. These types of oils are readily available in many retail shops and online.
Mix Thoroughly
After the addition of fragrance oil to the mixture, it’s time for you to mix the entire contents of the bath bomb ingredients thoroughly. Ensure that the colorant is evenly distributed across the mix by mixing well. The most obvious benefit of using colorant in the liquid phase of the bath bombs is that the color spreads well without any dotted areas.
How to Avoid Tub Stains?
One of the most common problems DIY enthusiasts mention is the staining of bathtubs. It is common for bathtubs to fall prey to nasty stains whenever you add some food coloring to bath bombs. There could be many justifications in support of using this food coloring in the process. However, one thing is evident they are going to stain your bathtub.
Polysorbate 80
That said, there is a scientific hack that you can use in the making process to avoid any potential staining. If you add some quantities of Polysorbate 80 during the liquid phase of bath bombs, you will not notice any bathtub staining.
The first 5 steps were based on using colorants in the liquid phase of the bath bombs. However, the following steps are helpful if you are adding colorants in the dry phase:
Accurate Measurement of Colorants
The accurate measurement of colorants is equally essential in both techniques. You need to maintain a balance in the number of pigments you try with the bath bombs. Since it does not require any complex science, you can measure their quantity with simple kitchen tools.
Use a color that is neither too dark nor too light. Using massive amounts of dark colors eliminates the natural grace of the experience. That is why try to be normal and use colors in a balanced way.
Color Addition
The next step after measuring the required quantities of colorants involves adding colorants in the dry ingredients of the bath balls. The entire process of adding colors and then getting the desired output is a bit complex. That is why we usually advise newbies to try the first method on a priority basis.
However, the complexity of the method does not decrease its efficiency. If you are looking to use this technique, you will probably have more stunning bath bombs with textured and speckled outlook if everything is done correctly.
It’s Time to Add Some Mica or Oxide
Oxide and mica are excellent colorants that enhance the thickness besides doing their typical job of adding top-notch shades. We recommend our audience use these in the dry phase as they also come in powdered form. That is why the best time for the addition of oxide and mica is during the dry phase of the bath bombs.
Mix Liquid Colorants With Epsom Salt
As soon as you have added oxide or mica to the dry phase, put the bath bomb ingredients aside. Use a separate container to mix the liquid colorants with the Epsom salt.
Bring Everything Together!
After mixing Epsom salt and liquid colorants well, combine the ingredients of both containers. Due to the large size of salt rocks, Epsom salt maintains an excellent texture with a speckled outlook of colors.
After stirring the container’s components together, you can quickly make a bath bomb of any size that matches your taste. You’re now ready to enjoy your bath bombs!
Can You Add Food Coloring to Bath Bombs?
Adding food coloring to bath bombs is possible. You can add a few drops of food colors to the rest of the bath bombs ingredients to obtain the desired shape and texture. There are, however, some staining issues with the bathtubs. That is why try to avoid using them in the first place, as many other things also work fine.
Does Food Coloring in Bath Bombs Stain the Tub?
Using food colors in bath bombs ingredients will undoubtedly result in staining of the bathtubs. However, you can use Polysorbate 80 to avoid these issues to some extent.
Conclusion
Making bath bombs colorful is easier than you think. It all depends on the mixing technique of the ingredients. If you are looking for successful results, follow the guidelines above to avoid any potential messes.
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