I am a big fan of oatmeal products, including drugstore brand Aveeno. Finely ground (a.k.a. colloidal) oatmeal is considered to be gentle and soothing. When I took a peek at the ingredient list (as I always do) on Aveeno's Soothing Bath Treatment, lo and behold, there is only one: colloidal oatmeal, a.k.a. oat flour.

12oz of Aveeno's bath sells for about $6.00. Meanwhile, you can buy 22oz of oat flour (at a natural foods store or online) for less than $3.00!

I enjoy using oat flour alone in a bath. It is very soothing, with a slightly sweet smell, and it makes these little lumps that are fun to squish between your fingers (the oat flour pictured here, Bob's Red Mill, is available online at TrueFoodMarkets.com; 22oz for $2.72.).

Take a look at the ingredient list on many bath and body products, especially natural ones, and you will find several ingredients that are inexpensive and readily available in the grocery or drug store.

For instance: Baking Soda (sodium bicarbonate) helps soften the water and give it that "bath bomb" fizz (find baking soda in the baking aisle).

Epsom Salt (magnesium sulfate), which you'll find in the health/beauty section of your store, is said to reduce muscle aches and pains (according to The Epsom Salt Industry Council, it is also useful for getting rid of raccoons. So, if you're tired of having your bath interrupted by those pesky critters, this may be your solution.).

Finally, Powdered Milk is believed to be soothing and hydrating for dry skin.

Of course, none of the above products will add fragrance to your water. If you'd like to add some, consider mixing in some essential oils and / or fragrance oils.

Sweetcakes.com has some very nice fragrance oils; I like SunRoseAromatics.com for essential oils and Coconut Coast Natural Products for botanical based fragrance oils.

Emboldened by my success with some of the above ingredients, I had another brainstorm: Since honey is reputed to be such a wonderful bath ingredient, why not try honey powder in the tub? Wouldn't it dissolve and form a wonderful, fragrant, moisturizing bath?

Well, in a word, no. I did find some honey powder online, but when I tried it in the bath, it didn't dissolve well, didn't smell great, and felt sort of grainy and yucky. Oh well. You win some, you lose some. I found honey powder at BulkFoods.com; about $10 for a quart (26oz).

A Reader Raves

A reader from Shreveport, Louisiana wrote to say:

"I just wanted to brag on a few of Primal Elements' new Fall/Winter 2002 soaps!! The Chocolate Moose soap is to die for and it actually has a chocolate moose as the design!! How cool is that?! Not to mention, the mellow milk chocolate scent is absolutely divine!!

Next we have the Cocoa Spa soap, which is a dark brown bar with cool shades of light brown and pink colored chunks throughout and it also contains real cocoa powder and shea butter for extra moisturizing. Get this--It smells EXACTLY like a cup of ssweet, hhhhhot, ccccccchocolatey cocoa.

The scent is cocoa and vanilla, but the chocolate scent definitely dominates the bar!!!!! So for those chocolate lovers out there, who love unique and heavenly scented bath & body products, you should definitely give these soaps a try. I LLLLove them!!

Lastly, their new Mulberry soap smells exactly like delicious sweet mulberries with a hint of vanilla & spice (like those berries & spice scented tree air fresheners). Trust me, you won't regret a little splurging on soap once you try these.


In the Works

Coming up soon: Shea Butter Products, upscale Organic Bath & Body lines and Magical Bath Products.


Well, that’s about it for now. As always, please e-mail us with any comments or suggestions.