Although this isn’t the time of year that I would normally take a warm bath before bedtime, this is something that I made to help me sleep last night. I recently had a steroid IV treatment to hopefully relieve some new MS symptoms and it has left me jittery and sleepless, so this is something that I concocted to help calm things down a little and facilitate sleep.
Lavender essential oil has many uses, including treating migraines, headaches, anxiety, depression, nervous tension and emotional stress, inducing sleep, pain relief, treating respiratory disorders, immunity disorders (which is also a benefit in my case) and apparently even urinary tract problems. And failing any of that, it smells nice and makes you feel good.
I substituted some lavender essential oil and a couple of drops of peppermint oil (also a natural pain reliever) to the basic sore muscle soak that I have made before and added in some milk powder for an extra bit of luxury (it worked for Cleopatra). The milk acids help exfoliate and make your skin softer. So, it smells good, is soothing, reduces muscle aches and makes your skin soft – what’s not to like?
This makes enough for one bath, but feel free to double or triple the amount and store for future use. It would also make a nice gift packaged in a mason jar. And, if you are packaging it as a gift, you could add in a couple of drops of red and blue food colouring, mix it all together to make the salts purple or even add in a bit of dried lavender to make it pretty.
Soothing Lavender Bath Soak
- 1 cup Epsom salts
- 1/4 cup sea salts
- 1/4 cup baking soda
- 1/2 cup powdered milk (or 1 cup whole milk)
- 5-8 drops lavender essential oil (depending on how strong you like the scent)
- 2 drops peppermint essential oil
Combine all ingredients in a small container and stir well. Add to bath under running hot water, and stir it around with your hand to help the salts dissolve before you climb in. Soak for 15-20 minutes.
Enjoy! I recommend a cup of tea, a book and some music to go along with the soak. Then bed.
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lightlycrunchy 
This sounds lovely and it’s a perfect gift for my mother, I think. I hope the treatment is helping and the side effects let you rest soon.
Thanks – actually this or something worked last night and I slept well.
I’m glad to hear it.
It really does sound inviting! Oh, to indulge myself —
Lavender is awesome… I have some planted just outside our entry door.
Homemade is always better but there is a lavender epsom salt soak you can purchase as well. Dr Teals. (For some of us lazy girls) Glad it helped. I have been using lavender oil on some itchy mosquito bites, too.
I didn’t know you could use it on mosquito bites – great, thanks! Now I have something to use on small squeaky kid when she whines about them.
Sounds like a nice recipe – can’t wait for trying it. Tea tree essantial oil is also great for mosquito bites
Lavender oil works well to take the itch out of cat scratches for all of you feline lovers. It works even for the ones that are light, but get raised and itchy.
My niece just went toUganda, and I sent a bottle of lavender oil with her
I like your perscription – and anything that smells nice and makes you feel good is a good thing in my book – (channeling Martha a little here–but your creative blogs do that to me!)
Hope you are feeling better (hugs)
Thanks! And I am probably the anti-Martha myself, but a nice bath is always welcome, eh?
ha ha – I am so far from being Martha that maybe I am Mary Mag (or am I mixed up- sunday school was so long ago and far away….)
Sorry to hear you suffer from MS and the treatment has had a negative effect.
Funnily enough, lavender makes me feel anxious.. it is a shame as I love the smell.
I love homemade bath salts/soaks (especially as gifts) and this one is lovely. Just pinned!
I love the smell of lavender and often end up buying lavender soap, dishwashing liquid, hand wash. The aroma of lavender relaxes me and I love it!
This is such a beautiful idea for a gift.
Thanks, Heidi. My lavender that I harvested this year is hanging upside down in the garage right now! This sounds lovely.
Mine never flowered this year – I don’t know why, but it was in a pot, so that must have had something to do with it.
Wonderful. I just love lavender to pieces, and the addition of milk powder sounds so luxurious. I’ll have to try this out when the weather cools off a bit. I love the idea of giving it as a gift, too!
Hope you’re feeling better.
Looks and sounds gorgeous Heidi – I routinely drop lavender essential oil on my pillow to help me sleep too. Hope it was the relief you needed!
It was! I tried the drop on my pillow trick too, thanks!
Sounds very relaxing..Sorry you’ve had a flare-up of some symptoms of the MS…Where do you buy your ‘essential oils’? I bought some for another reason online but they come from the States and are pretty expensive…Diane
I buy mine from our local health food store. Although they come in tiny bottles, because you use only drops each time, they last and last. Not inexpensive at first, but I use mine quite a lot.
This sounds wonderful, hope you are feeling better soon.
You make me want to have a bath.
[…] far as other homemade products go, I made a lavender bath soak to help me sleep earlier this week. It makes a nice bath, and I’ll be trying it out some […]
This looks really wonderful and I can hardly wait to try it for myself! Where are you getting your recipes for your natural products? Everything I have tried has turned out better than I even hoped! Many many thanks!
Would you believe that I just did a little on-line research into how much of the salts and baking soda to add to a bath to make it therapeutic, then added in other things like milk and essential oils until I had something that I liked. I look up the properties associated with the oils, try to make it a good combination that way and the way they smell together and keep the number of drops of oil to around 8 or less (so they don’t irritate the skin).
Thanks for the feedback – glad you’ve liked it so far.
Ooo I love, love, love, lavender! I will give this a try! 🙂
Thank you!!
You’re welcome, I hope you like it.
I love the smell of lavender! This makes me want to take a bath right now 🙂
I had to come and comment because I tried this soak last night and it was Heavenly! I was sore, cranky, tired and pretty much miserable when I decided that I needed to try this bath soak that I found here yesterday. The scent was so relaxing and the salts really helped with my “sit at a desk all day” neck and shoulders! Thanks for posting this recipe! And, I love your blog!
I’m very glad to hear that – thanks for the kind comment!
This is a great idea for ne after a long day at work or for my Honey when he doesn’t feel 100%!!