scientific culture...and leslie

Since my sister Kate is hurriedly doing her “I swore it wouldn’t happen but then it did” last minute prep for the Fabulous Finds show, I offered to write a blog post for her to take some of the pressure off. I recently made the Peppermint Bath Soak according to the instructions Kate blogged about here. The instructions were beyond simple, and I do love a good soak in the tub, so I set out to my local health food store to stock up on the supplies.

As it turns out, even in Northen BC there are tonnes of different essential oils available for purchase, so instead of sticking to just plain peppermint, I ended up buying lemongrass, spearmint, wintergreen, eucalyptus and rosemary as well! So many exciting choices! I also bought a bag of super potent organic peppermint leaf tea, the remains of which will make it into the teapot instead of the bath.


With my ingredients assembled, I dove right into production. The instructions from the spotted fox basically say, “Mix everything together,” so the only thing I really had to worry about was the proportion of Epsom salts to essential oil. After pouring, dripping, stirring, de-clumping and adding more oil, I settled upon a mixture that looked and smelled just right. On a side note, if you don’t want your house to smell like peppermint for a few days, you might want to skip this project. Finally I added the tea leaves and poured some into a cute little jar. Take a look at the super easy process:


Adorable! Who wouldn’t want something like this as a gift? Spice it up with a decorative lid, and you’re good to go! Since I intend to use all these salts for myself, I ended up pouring the whole bowl back into the Epsom salts bag. It may be less adorable, but it’s living under the counter in my bathroom, so I don’t mind!

The different essential oils added an element of creativity and really inspired me to look at how scents can affect us. The peppermint/spearmint blend is energizing and perfect for after a workout. The lemongrass reminds me of mosquito repellant, so maybe I’ll try it before I venture out onto the trails near my home during bug season. The best for us this week has been the wintergreen blend, with a hint of eucalyptus and rosemary. We’ve been fighting colds, and this delicious scent aids decongestion while helping your aching muscles. I even put some of the same oil blend into an aromatherapy candle diffuser and scented the whole house. So clean and refreshing! And reminiscent of Wint-O-Green lifesavers… Mom’s favourite flavour, second only to Clove. Yum!

All in all, this project was easy and fun. If you’ve got 10 minutes to spare, you can save yourself some money by making your own bath salts instead of buying them, and wrap up some cute presents for a friend or two while you’re at it!