Recent content by icg

I used to use bentonite clay, but switched to kaolin for 2 reasons. 1. It made the colors a bit gray and drab. 2. Its lead levels are "considered toxic" and there are people who avoid even touching it. Personally, I feel like this is unreasonable as you don't even drink the bath water and...

Oh whoops, typo, I mean "I never used SLSA". I've tried bath bombs with it though, and there was barely any difference. I buy my epsom salts extra fine. There are places online, saltworks to name one, that sell different epsom salt sizes. They are great for epsom baths too. I'm pretty sure...

I've had 0 adverse reactions with epsom salts, but I do keep them at pretty low percentages. Kaolin clay is definitely something you can add. One tbsp or so per bath bomb would be enough. My problem with kaolin clay is that my mini bath bombs got so hard that it won't melt in the water, but...

Ya, good luck, think the amount of liquid in your recipe may be causing it

I don't keep them in my molds because I only have like 5. I just pop them out, set it on a paper towel, and wait. Adding a lot of liquids and should help them bind together well. I've seen some recipes with a very dry mixture but perfect molding, doesn't work for me here. Not sure but I use 7-8%...

You should wait at least 3 days to see if it gets harder. I only add oil or polysorbate 80, and occasionally a bit of rubbing alcohol. Haven't had problems. When they don't mold properly or I think it's gonna break, I add a bit more oil. Did you melt your shea butter before adding it? My...

They look amazing! Mine take around 2-5 days to dry but I can use it right away.

Yeah, the base recipe seems fine. But maybe as the water evaporates and the heat makes the bath bombs expand a little, the cracks formed by the water expands as well? I don't use any water in mine and only use oils and some rubbing alcohol. I've had mine melt before because I added too much...

Don't use anything thick, hard, solid, that could possibly flatten the bath bombs. Layers are always nice I sometimes like to use 5 clean plastic bags and lay a paper towel on top of it. Sometimes, a pile of tissues works but that's not economical (unless you want to keep reusing them). Maybe...

Definitely try charcoal. A lot of people say it's really messy, but I usually see micas staining worse, even with 7% polysorbate 80. Just make sure to add the charcoal into the polysorbate 80 before you add the other dry ingredients. Many of my favorite bath bomb recipes are colored with...

Alcohol does perform well, and I use it if I added to little oil (which is 90% of the time). However, I've found that overtime, the bath bombs with rubbing alcohol discolors juuuust a bit. It started out darker than the 100% oil to begin with, but over time it became lighter-toned. If you use a...

This may or may not have been asked here: Do you add cornstarch in your bath bombs? If you do, why? If you don't, do you have a specific reason you don't? I heard that it may cause infections, make bath bombs soft, but I also heard it can help dry/harden bath bombs, keep fragrance longer, and...

Thanks everyone! I'll look into getting a proper respirator/mask soon for bath bombs and anything else I'll make in the future.

I don't think citric acid baking soda and that stuff is causing the dust, probably the corn starch 0_0 but then I saw an article online about the dangers of citric acid dust? Really not sure. Sometimes tea tree oil gives me a bit of a headache because it's really strong for me, but constant...

I wanted to know in depth of the dangers of making bath bombs. Some possible hazards I noticed were dusts (from citric acid, baking soda, cornstarch, slsa, etc), heat from mixing activated charcoal, and constant smelling of EOs and FOs. Also physically handling a bath bomb without gloves on...