The very first post on NaturallyHandcrafted.com is an oatmeal coconut bath bomb recipe. I posted the recipe back in November 2015. As of today, my Oatmeal Coconut Bath Bomb recipe pin has been re-pinned quite a few times on pinterest. Pretty cool. Its popularity has exceeded all my expectations. My very first post has inspired me to create an even easier and simpler recipe for DIY natural bath bombs.
This easier and simpler recipe uses 4 all natural ingredients: (1) baking soda, (2) citric acid, (3) sea salt, and (4) coconut oil. The beauty of these DIY natural bath bombs is that you can customize their scent. Trust me, you will have a ton of fun letting your creativity run wild, mixing essential oil to create the perfectly and naturally scented DIY natural bath bombs. If you are new to essential oil, I offer some fun suggestions on essential oil blends below.
DIY Natural Bath Bombs
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Yields: about 2 DIY natural bath bombs, weighing 3 to 4 oz each. Feel free to make double, triple, or quadruple batches.
Ingredients Used to Make DIY Natural Bath Bombs
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- Baking Soda – 1/2 cup (Arm & Hammer Baking Soda or Bob’s Red Mill Baking Soda)
- Citric Acid – 1/4 cup (Food Grade Non-GMO Citric Acid, Organic Approved Citric Acid, Ball Citric Acid, or Now Foods Citric Acid)
- Sea Salt – 1/4 cup (Celtic Sea Salt, Real Salt Sea Salt, Bob’s Red Mill Sea Salt, or get Sea Salt at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods). You can also use Epsom Salt (White Mountain Epsom Salt, Dr. Teal’s Epsom Salt, or Health Smart Natural Epsom Salt)
- Coconut Oil – 2 tablespoons (Viva Labs Organic Coconut Oil, Nutiva Organic Coconut Oil, Carrington Farms Organic Coconut Oil, or get Organic Virgin Coconut Oil at Trader Joe’s). You should use extra virgin coconut oil, because it’s the best type of coconut oil for your skin.
- Bath Bomb Molds – I use heart shape ornaments here. Other options include other plastic ornaments, bath bomb molds, Norpro Stainless Steel Meat Baller, or Mini Stainless Steel Meatballer.
How to Make DIY Natural Bath Bombs
(1) Mix all the dry ingredients: baking soda, citric acid and sea salt. Use a whisk to mix them well.
(2) Melt Coconut Oil completely either in a microwave or a double-boiler. Here is a quick and easy way to create your own double boiler.
(3) Add Coconut Oil to your dry ingredients.
(4) Mix all ingredients well. You can see from the picture below that the mixture is taking on a consistency similar to that of wet sand.
(5) (Optional) Add essential oil. I used orange essential oil (20 drops) and tea tree essential oil (10 drops) because I wanted my DIY natural bath bombs to create a refreshing and invigorating bath. You can get very creative here. It’s a ton of fun to use pure essential oil to create your own naturally scented DIY natural bath bombs. Some fun essential blends are: lavender and orange essential oil (for a relaxing scent), orange and clove (for an uplifting scent), and rosemary and bergamot essential oil (for a mind clearing scent).
Adding essential oil is totally optional though. Because these DIY natural bath bombs are made with coconut oil, they smell naturally amazing without any added scent.
(6) Mold your bath bombs. For these DIY natural bath bombs, I used plastic heart shape ornaments. You can use other plastic ornaments, bath bomb molds
(7) Unmold your DIY natural bath bombs after 2 to 3 minutes. This is what I do to unmold: Put the mold on one hand. Gently tap the top of the mold with my other hand. The vibration from my tapping loosens the top half of the mold, allowing me to remove the top half of the mold from the bath bomb. Place the half unmolded bath bomb on my free hand, with the unmolded side on the bottom. Gently tap the remaining half of the mold, which is now facing up. Again, the vibration will loosen the mold, releasing my bath bomb from the mold completely.
(8) Allow your DIY natural bath bombs to dry for a day or two. When they first come out of the mold, they are very fragile, they might crumble. It’s best not to move them too much (or at all) for a day or two.
That’s it! This is a super easy way to make your own DIY natural bath bombs. This quick and easy recipe needs 4 all natural ingredients. These DIY natural bath bombs will make any bath extra special because when they hit the warm bath water, they fizz, releasing coconut oil’s nourishing properties into your bath, and coconut oil’s amazing scent into the air. You can even get creative by adding your own special blend of essential oil. So, will you be making these super easy DIY natural bath bombs?? If you like this recipe, remember to pin it or share it! Don’t forget to reach out. I’d love to hear about your bath bomb creations.
Can’t get enough of DIY natural bath bombs?? Here is another recipe.
A bit confused about the ratios– this one uses 1 cup of dry ingredients and 2 Tb coconut oil. The oatmeal one uses TWO cups of dry ingredients PLUS the oatmeal, and still uses just 2 Tb oil?? That doesn’t seem like they would produce the same consistency bath bomb.
I missed the part in the recipe description that talks about the Oatmeal. How did I miss that? I see the 4 ingredients are baking soda, citric acid, sea salt and coconut oil…where’s the oatmeal?
If you’re wanting an oatmeal one, then you’re on the wrong recipe. The link to it is in the post, but here it is for convenience. https://naturallyhandcrafted.com/body-care-product-recipes/easy-homemade-bath-bombs/
My sister and I made these in May of this year and absolutely loved them! I love the natural ingredients and using coconut oil instead of water! I have very dry itchy skin n the wonders coconut oil works for me and my itchy skin is absolutely amazing! With the onset of fall and cool dry weather I’m wanting to make more of these but when I made these the last time they lost all their fizz after two weeks… is that normal? Or what did I do wrong?
Hi Joy, I’m so glad to know that you like this recipe and made awesome bath bombs in May! After your bath bombs are made, be sure to keep them in a dry and cool place. If you keep them in a high moisture place, like a bathroom, the moisture might begin to react with the ingredients, and the bath bombs might lose their fizz. Also, you might try using less liquid in the recipe to maximize fizzing. Hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any more questions. I’ll be happy to answer them. 🙂
I recently started making bath bombs but can’t seem to figure out how keep the round-shaped ones round while they cure. They seem to flatten slightly. Got any suggestions that will keep them completely round?
If your bath bombs flatten during the drying process, then most likely there’s too much liquid in the bath bomb mixture before you mold them. I add coconut oil, and usually not water, to my bath bombs. When I do add water, I use a spray bottle, and add very little water (just a few spritzes). I recommend that you lower the amount of water/liquid when making your bath bombs next time. Please let me know how it goes!
Thanks for this. My six year old son has constant eczema so I was looking for an oatmeal based DIY bath bomb – is it ok to add food coloring? Also
Separately would love to make these for my sisters baby shower… Do you know of any Berry shaped molds that I could use to make these for the party? Either way thanks again for this! Beautiful tutorial and site!
Thank you for reaching out and for your kind words! Some people do add food coloring to their bath bombs. You might want to try an all natural colorant, such as plant-base coloring or mica. I haven’t used any berry shaped molds, but you might be able to find them online. Be sure to use a hard mold, not a silicon one, to make your bath bombs. Keep me posted on how it goes please!
My bath bombs crumbled when I took them out of the mold and picked them up. How can I fix this problem?
What type of mold did you use? Did you use a hard plastic mold or a soft silicone mold? I find that soft silicone molds do not work well. But hard plastic ones, like plastic ornaments or meatball tongs work very well. Also, remember to tap the mold before trying to get the bath bombs out. Let me know if you have any more questions.
I absolutely love the ingredients you have chosen to use! You are one of the very few I have seen on the internet so far with just natural ingredients. I am on the search for different ingredients for my bath bombs and I have seen a lot of corn starch used which is said to lead to yeast issues in people.
Thank you for your kind words! I use only all natural ingredients to make these bath bombs so my little girl can use them too. And she loves them! If you make your own oatmeal bath bombs using this recipe, I’d love to know how it goes and how you like them. Keep me posted please!