by: Abigail Beal

Indulge yourself and make your own bubble bath. Wouldn’t it be nice to relax into a bubble bath that you’d created? Making bubble bath is simple & fun. They can also make wonderful gifts for friends and loved ones for the holidays or other special occasions.

The ingredients used to make bubble bath can be found in most large grocery stores or health food stores. You can also find all of the ingredients online. They are inexpensive.

One of the benefits of making your own bubble bath is that you know exactly what is in it. If you are allergic to anything, you can be certain it is not in your bubble bath.

Another benefit to making your own bubble bath is that you know all of the ingredients are fresh and natural. There is no concern about a product that was left on the shelf for months. Another benefit is that you can be certain that your product is environmentally conscious and that it does not promote animal testing.

Bubble bath is a wonderful inexpensive way to treat yourself. Supplies are easy to find and you can create a bubble bath suited exactly to your personal tastes and needs.

An important ingredient in bubble bath is essential oil. Essential oils add the scent to your bubble bath. Use these sparingly, as you only need to use several drops to get a pleasant effect. Many essential oils should not be ingested orally, so be sure to read the directions. There are also some essential oils such as marjoram that should never be used by pregnant women. You can research any essential oil at the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy www.naha.org. Also look in aromatherapy books and ask questions at the health food store when buying essential oils.

Some essential oils are known to be relaxing and soothing. The most popular include lavender, sandalwood, marjoram, frankincense, myrrh, rosewood and chamomile. These essential oils will calm you down, relax you and help you go to sleep.

Other essential oils will uplift and energize you. Peppermint, spearmint, eucalyptus and lemon oil are all oils that will brighten your day and are good to use during the day. Eucalyptus oil is especially good if you have a cold because it will break up your cold’s congestion.

To soften your skin, consider adding either coconut or almond oil to your bubble bath concoctions. Coconut oil has a wonderful nutty and floral fragrance to it. Almond oil is virtually unscented. Adding a half a cup of either almond oil or coconut oil to your bubble bath will soften your skin tremendously. This is a great addition for your bubble baths for the winter months.

Store your bubble baths in a nonbreakable container. The materials you use to make bubble baths can “keep” for awhile. You can store your bubble bath on a shelf in your bathroom or bedroom for easy access.

Personalized bubble baths make an excellent gift. You can find many decorative plastic containers at your local art store. For decorative effect you can add either marbles or seashells to the bottom of the container. If you are giving bubble bath to a child or teenager, consider adding a small amount of glitter. Do not add food coloring because it can stain people temporarily. Tie your container with a pretty bow or even a piece of tulle.

When giving bubble bath as a gift, consider adding some other bath related items. Give bath mitts or a big yellow rubber duck. Your friend or loved one will appreciate such a thoughtful and personalized gift.

Whether you are making your bubble bath for yourself or for someone special – your bubble bath is really a treat to enjoy. Here are some recipes for bubble baths to inspire you and to get your started:

Sweet Dreams Bubble Bath

This bubble bath has lavender and patchouli oils to relax you before bedtime. Use soft music and lighted candles in your bathroom for a soothing effect.

• 6 drops of lavender oil
• 3 drops of patchouli oil
• 1 quart of distilled water
• 1 bar of castille soap. (4 oz. Bar)
• 4 ounces liquid glycerin

Directions: mix the water, soap and glycerin together and stir. Now add your essential oils to the mixture.

Cold Season Bubble Bath

This bubble bath will help you breathe easier, with eucalyptus oil to ease the cold congestion. This is perfect for the cold season.

• 6 drops of eucalyptus oil
• 3 drops of spearmint oil
• 3 drops of peppermint oil
• 1 quart of distilled water
• 1 bar of castille soap. (4 oz. Bar)
• 4 ounces liquid glycerin

Directions: mix the water, soap and glycerin together and stir. Now add your essential oils to the mixture.

Pure Sunshine Bubble Bath

This citrusy bubble bath will cheer you up and energize you. Perfect for a morning bath or use after exercising.

• 6 drops of orange oil
• 4 drops of grapefruit oil
• 3 drops of lemon oil
• 1 quart of distilled water
• 1 bar of castille soap. (4 oz. Bar)
• 4 ounces liquid glycerin

Directions: mix the water, soap and glycerin together and stir. Now add your essential oils to the mixture.

Love Potion Bubble Bath

This bubble bath will put you in a romantic mood. All of the ingredients are considered known aphrodisiac – so look out!

• 6 drops jasmine oil
• 3 drops rose oil
• 3 drops vanilla oil
• 6 drops ylang ylang oil
• 1 quart of distilled water
• 1 bar of castille soap. (4 oz. Bar)
• 4 ounces liquid glycerin

Directions: mix the water, soap and glycerin together and stir. Now add your essential oils to the mixture.

About The Author

Abigail Beal a.k.a. “the Gift-wrap Goddess” teaches gift wrap in suburban New York. She is the author of 2 ezines: GiftWrapGoddessWraps and CreativeCraftsTeachers.

by: Nick A. James

Oats (botanical name Avena sativa)

An oat is a grass that produces a fibrous root and a hollow jointed stem with narrow, flat, pale-green leaves. Oats are native to southern Europe and eastern Asia. They are widely cultivated as a food.

An oat is an edible cereal grain produced by the cereal grass of the same name. They are light colored and have a nutty flavor and a chewy texture.

Usually we think of them as breakfast food but oatmeal has long been known for its skin-soothing properties. Many skin lotions and ointments are formulated with oats for it’s skin healing properties.

As a nutritious breakfast food oats provide a healthy addition to your diet in that there is 140 calories per 1/2 cup serving. They also provide 4g of dietary fiber, of which 2g of this is soluble fiber and 2g is insoluble. Insoluble fibers are those that cannot be dissolved in water. And soluble fibers can be dissolved in water. They provide 10% of your daily iron needs. Also of this 1/2 cup serving, there is 26g of carbohydrate and 2.5g of fat, which is considered lowfat.

Three grams of soluble fiber from oatmeal daily, in a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease. Besides all this, this nourishing cereal also contains, vitamins, starches, minerals and 5g of protein. Clinical trials have been done, and they have shown that regular consumption of oat bran reduces blood cholesterol levels in just one month. High-fiber diets may also reduce the risk of colon and rectal cancers.

Oats contain the alkaloid, gramine, which has been credited with mild sedative properties.

There are several forms of oats on the market and the following lists the most popular kinds. Whole oats without the hulls are groats.

Rolled: Oat groats that have been steamed then flattened into flakes. Also, known by the more common name of old-fashioned.

Quick-cooking: Oat groats that are cut into several pieces before rolling to shorten the cooking time.

Instant oatmeal: Oat groats that are cut into very small pieces and processed so that they need no cooking, just add boiling water.

Steel-cut: Oat groats that have been cut by steel blades. Often called Irish or Scottish oatmeal.

Oat flour: The finely ground grain.

Oat bran: The ground outer layer of the oat. Used as a hot cooked breakfast cereal and is a good source of fiber.

Other uses for Oats Are in Skin and Bath Products.

Oatmeal is found in many bath products and skin and body products. Oatmeal baths are wonderful for soothing dry, flaking skin, and poison ivy and dermatoses. It alleviates itching from poison oak and chicken pox. It has long been used in facial scrub products and is a very natural product.

Oat straw contains high levels of silicic acid, which makes it an effective treatment for many skin diseases, especially those associated with the nervous system. Try using an external oat-straw preparation to relieve shingles and herpes.

Besides eating them in the form we are most familiar with, the box of oats that we purchase in the supermarket, oat products can be purchased in commercial form as capsules, extracts, and tinctures.

One expert lists the primary functions of oats as: If eaten, a supportive, nurturing tonic for the nervous system, If eaten, it can be used to alleviate digestive problems associated with stress and tension, If applied externally, it can relieve skin diseases especially those with a nervous basis.

About The Author

Nick A. James offers informative tips and information on nutrition, health and working from home. His many years of Internet Marketing expertise puts him in unique position to help others starting a home business (http://www.health-goji-juice.com/home-business.html).

by: Nathan Kontny

I imagine you can tell me at length about how tired your feet and legs get after your busy day. When’s the last time you got to treat yourself to a day at the spa? Even if you had the time, it’s not too often you can afford the $100 cost of a simple, relaxing, foot soak.

Doesn’t that sound nice? A relaxing foot soak at a spa. So I put together this simple recipe so you can have that soothing soak with ingredients you probably already have at home, and can whip up immediately.

***

Step 1. Create this wonderful foaming honey foot bath at home.

Here’s what you need:

• 1 tablespoon Honey
• 1 tablespoon Liquid Soap (I used dish soap)
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 2 tablespoons Sweet Almond Oil

The almond oil was the only things that sounded like it was tough to find, but my wife and I found it at the chain drugstore at the corner of our street. Just take a look in the beauty/cosmetic aisle.

Mix all these ingredients together in a bowl and its ready for your foot bath. Note: If you want to make this stuff in a large quantity to save for later, you can bump up all the ingredients to something like this:

• ½ cup Honey
• ½ cup Liquid Soap (I used dish soap)
• 1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 cup Sweet Almond Oil

Now you can save this in a bottle and save some time for next time.

Step 2. Find yourself a foot bath

These days you can get a fancy, space-age, foot bath for about $20. They promise they do all sorts of things like vibration, bubbles, and heat. I haven’t tried one myself, but for $20 that probably isn’t a bad experiment.

My wife however didn’t need one as she had me volunteer to provide all the scrubbing and massaging for her.

Wait! Hon, I don’t recall you ever offering me a foot bath?

So anything around the house that can submerse your feet just above the ankle is going to work here. We ended up using a disposable aluminum roasting pan.

Yes it was brand new and didn’t have roasted meat in it!

Step 3. Fill up your foot bath

Put your mixed up concoction from Step 1 into your foot bath and fill with warm water.

Please be real careful with the water temperature. Do this by triple checking the temperature of the water with your hands when it’s done. And if you are doing this for a spouse make sure you understand their taste in temperature.

I speak from experience here. I got a little lazy, and didn’t judge the hotness of the water. Although my wife was a trooper and tried to go along anyways. I could tell from her grimace and refusal to dip more than like a toe into the water, that I made it too hot.

Step 4. Soak for 10 minutes

After I got the temperature of the water right, we soaked her feet for 10 minutes. There is all sorts of good stuff going on now during this soak.

The soap is obviously cleaning all sorts of impurities from your feet. I can’t even explain how many things the honey is doing. Here is a short list:

1) Apparently honey forms hydrogen peroxide which is a great anti bacterial agent. So there is goes cleansing your feet some more.

2) Honey contains antioxidants. Health news constantly revolves around us getting more antioxidants. So without me getting all biologist on us, I’ll just confirm that getting more antioxidants on our skin and in our diet is really super great!

3) Honey is also a terrific humectant. All that means is it makes a great moisturizer.

***

Just knowing about this foot bath, you can get started on your at-home foot spa. So take 15 minutes tonight and pamper yourself. Those feet are going to feel so soft, especially in a comfy pair of flip flops.

About The Author

Nathan Kontny

Another great way for women readers to treat their feet is to slide them into a pair of ultra-comfortable flip flops. Get a pair at http://www.yourflipflops.com.

by: Sherry Frewerd

I don’t know about you, but I’m as hooked on bath and body products as I’m going to get! I can’t pass the aisle at Wal-Mart without taking a look. Trips to the mall have become half hour events in the Bath and Body store. Gift buying for female friends and family is now a much anticipated outing because I can wander over to the bubble bath and lotion and pick up a little something extra for myself while I’m buying their present!

Now that there are private label bath and body product businesses online, the adventure never ends. I have found some of the most wonderful products from small, online specialty shops that can’t be found in stores or malls. Many of these darling businesses, such as ‘Marlo Quinn’ and others like it, hand-make and design their own soaps, lotions, bubble baths and other personal care products, most using all-natural, or mostly natural ingredients.

Ever wonder if you could make some of your own bath and body products at home? I know, most of you will audibly laugh at the idea of even having the time to take a bubble bath, much less actually making something you’d want to put in your bath water and sit in! Ok, I get it. You’re busy. But just imagine that you have a few minutes one weekend and get the ingredients together to make your own deliciously scented, natural spa products. Wouldn’t that leave you with a warm sense of accomplishment and ultimately a warm, frothy bubble bath or scrubby facial mask?

Let’s assume you go with option number two, and make a date with yourself to create something wonderful. Hey, you could even go as far as getting together some like-minded (bath product enthusiasts) friends, chill some good wine and make a party out of it! Everyone can take home their creations and report back later as to the overall effect and results. I can make a party out of just about anything these days.

So, here is an easy and yummy smelling home-made soap recipe to get you started and in the mood for more. You’ll want to gather your ingredients a few days in advance. Have fun!

‘A’ is for Apple Soap
4oz. clear, unscented glycerine soap
1 Tablespoon liquid soap
1 teaspoon liquid glycerine
1/2 teaspoon Apple Fragrance Oil
2 drops Red Food Color
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Melt soap in small pan over low heat. Add Liquid soap and glycerine and stir well gently Add fragrance, color and cinnamon. Stir and let stand a couple minutes, until you see it start to thicken and the cinnamon is mixed evenly. Pour into molds such as muffin tins or character candy or soap molds. Allow to set completely and store in zip lock storage bags.

When the soaps are all set, they make great little gifts for special occasions. How cute would they be as a ‘Teacher Gift’ at Christmas time, especially if you use ‘apple’ molds. There are more home-made recipes and ideas at ‘Natural You Mineral Makeup and Skincare.com.’

About The Author

Sherry Frewerd publishes websites on various subjects from crock pot recipes to mineral makeup to toddler learning. Take a moment to visit http://naturalyoumineralmakeup.com for some helpful and fun natural remedies, tips and product suggestions. Forget the Botox, talk to Mother Nature today!

by: Eve Gray

My niece gave me some bath bombs as a gift. I loved them and decided to learn how to make them. Once I learned how to make them, some people wanted to order them so I decided to open a small home-based business.
This is the process that I used:

1. Find your passion.
I loved the way the bath bombs made my skin feel. I loved the pampering, relaxing, and good for the soul type feeling I got when I experienced my luxury bath.

 
2. Read everything you can.
I went to a lot of bookstores and bought many books on the subject. I visited the library and borrowed books. I read eBooks, browsed websites, looked at online databases, and anything else pertaining to my subject that I could find from authoritative resources.

3. Use the Internet and online databases that are available to you.
I used the Internet not only to learn how to make bath bombs but also studied many companies. I especially learned from soap supply and fragrance oil sites. Many sites list their recipes online for you. I visited other bath bombs sites to see how they operated. I reviewed the credentials of some of the people and realized there are plenty of online folks willing to help.

4. Get yourself a mentor and track your successes.
I was lucky, my niece taught me many things about oils, properties of ingredients, labeling, packaging, reputable companies, and marketing ideas. Many sites have FAQ or a contact us section that you could use if you don’t have a mentor. Keep notes and track your successes so you remember what works for you.

5. Refine your skill and test your product.
My family and friends agreed to use my product. I wanted feedback to know that
I was making a quality product and that no one had any trouble with the ingredients irritating their skin. I tried and adapted many recipes until I perfected a process that worked for me. I used many bath uglies before I finally learned but thank goodness they still worked the same as the pretty ones. I practiced shipping and packaging to distant relatives and friends and made sure that a quality product survived the shipping process.
Even with some breakage, the quality was still there.

6. Local county and State assistance.
I went to the local Chamber of Commerce and had a class there. I studied information
and decided to apply for a Doing Business As (D.B.A.) at our local courthouse. I applied as a Domestic Limited Liability Company through Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Growth and for a Sales Tax License through the Michigan Department of Treasury.

7. Store and organize your websites.
Backflip is the site that I use to store and organize my websites. I set up categories for companies, ingredients, colorants, mentor tips, practice ideas, recipes, and wiki.

8. Use friends, family, and templates to set up your business keeping records.
Free templates were used to create invoices. I adjusted mine to collect for Michigan taxes and add the shipping costs. My friend helped me set up some spreadsheets for orders, expenses, and charts. I created folders as documents for lists, line fragrances, retired fragrances, fragrances to be considered, labels, etc. My daughter designed packing slips for me and helped me select fragrances and names for the bath bombs. I keep these documents in a 3 ring binder with plastic pocket protectors for collecting invoices and receipts. I printed my own business cards with Avery stock and my computer.

9. Register for a domain name, build a website, and consider a wiki.
I used Yahoo to register for a domain name and make a starter webpage. I used geocities and my email provider to create more elaborate websites. All sites have my email as the way to contact me for orders or inquiries. The template provided for the website worked fine for me. It listed my mission, information, product, news, and related links. Customers order through email, I email them an invoice, they pay with a check (no charge cards), the check clears, and the bath bomb order is shipped using flat rate USPS boxes. I recently created a wiki and am learning how to use that.

10. Enjoy.
I have enjoyed creating BBE. I am still learning but thought I would share the process this far in case someone could benefit with turning their own hobby into a passion. I learned from so many people and wanted to pass it on to others.

About The Author

Eve Gray is a School Library Media Specialist that resides and works in Michigan. She created Bath Bombs by Eve LLC as a home-based business for homemade bath bombs.
http://home.comcast.net/~bathbombsbyeve/BBE.HTML

by: Katherine Durkes

If you think about making your own spa products - such as lotions, body washes, and exfoliating scrubs - you probably think it sounds difficult. It probably brings to mind lots of weird ingredients, chemicals, and slaving away over a hot vat of goo for hours.
After this article, you’ll know that nothing could be further from the truth! In fact, using my method (which I call The Easy Way), making your own bath and body products takes less time than going to the mall, and you get twice the quality of skin care.

The Two Ways Of Making Products - Hard and Easy
There are two ways to make your own bath and body products - The Hard Way, and The Easy Way. The Hard Way means investing a lot of time in books and trial-and-error in your kitchen, and a lot of money in ingredients. Often, you need patience and perseverance as you attempt to make a basic lotion or liquid soap, but it doesn’t come out as well as you’d hoped. Heck, you didn’t even get to the fun part, which adding the scent and color!

The Hard Way Takes Time and Practice
The Hard Way is what is taught in soapmaking classes, websites, and books. It can be fun and rewarding because of the natural ingredients and the high-quality products that result. Shea butter lotions… aloe body washes… If you are prepared to invest the time and money, and you have a lot of patience, The Hard Way does pay off. You get wonderfully moisturizing products in your favorite fragrances - even hard to find ones - that are much better than Bath and Body Works.
The problem is, The Hard Way is often incredibly discouraging to beginners. As they pour their failed body wash down the bathtub drain, most beginners start to wonder if it’s really worth the trouble. Sooner or later, they go back to the mall and pay too much for what is essentially drugstore-quality products in fancy bottles and scents.

Beginners Can Master The Easy Way
The Easy Way of making bath and body products is, well, easy! With The Easy Way, you get all the benefits - the natural ingredients, the high-quality skin care products, and your favorite scents - for only 10% the work. The Hard Way is like baking a fancy Julia Child cake recipe, but The Easy Way is more like making a cake mix.
The Easy Way uses professional unscented product bases (also called "cosmetic bases") that are specially manufactured for this purpose. These bases are made with natural ingredients, such as shea butter, avocado oil, aloe, and goats’ milk, so you still get high quality skin care, the same as if you had made the bases yourself with The Hard Way.

Quickly Make Lotion, Shower Gel, Shampoo, Scrub
You can get unscented bases for almost any liquid product you can think of: body lotion, massage cream, bath oil, shower gel, bubble bath, salon-quality shampoo and conditioner, body scrub, hand soap, and face wash.
Customize High Quality Unscented Products With Your Own Ingredients.
To these basic products, you add your own fragrance, color, and other special ingredients, such as silk proteins and botanical extracts. You can even experiment with natural anti-aging ingredients such as carrot seed oil, green tea extract, and collagen. These ingredients are what makes your products unique!

Just Like The Professionals
If you compare three bottles of shower gel from Bath and Body Works, The Body Shop, and Origins, you will see a lot of similarities in their first few ingredients. That’s because they’re all taking a basic body wash and making their own improvements on it, just like you can with The Easy Way.

About The Author

Katherine Durkes is an experienced teacher of bath and body. She runs a popular website on how to make bath and body products, as well as the Yahoo Group "Home Bath & Body." Her first e-book, "The Fast Guide To Making Bath Bombs (& Fizzies)" has over 10,000 downloads and has been featured on About.com and in Ready Made Magazine.

by: Kerris Samson

Long before the term alternative medicine was being used, aromatherapy was being practiced by the Egyptians for over 5,000 years. When being used by the Egyptians oil was being extracted from the many aromatic plants around them through infusion and then used for their not only cosmetic and medicinal purposes but also for embalming as well. They then passed the knowledge they had gained on to the Greeks and it served as the beginning of their research into how to use the oils and fragrance of some flowers for their relaxing and stimulating effects. In fact when looking back further in history we find that ancient man depended very much on his environment for their basic needs and to survive which led them to discover the more natural ways of preserving food and how certain conditions could be treated using herbs and aromatics.

First of all we will look at Eastern Roots. The use of aromatics are shown in a Chinese Herbal Book by Shen Nung dated 2,700 BC and which provides specific details on over 300 plants and how they can be used. Also the ancient Chinese would burn incense and wood as part of their religious beliefs and practices and even in today’s modern society many Chinese still observe these practices today. You will also discover that the Chinese used aromatics in relation to the acupressure, massage and other therapies that they used.

Whilst now in modern society many people place a very high premium on their health and well being but due to the high cost of traditional and conventional medicines available (surgery and Medicare) more and more people are turning to aromatherapy and essential oil therapy as well as other forms of alternative medicine.

The basics of using essential oils in an aromatherapy bath are as follows:

1. It facilitates equilibrium of both the physical, mental and spiritual health of a person through natural means.

2. In some cases it has been found that alternative treatments are considered as strong and effective as complementary treatments to regular medical practices.

3. The main component of aromatherapy is the essential oils and are highly concentrated essences which are known for their healing effects.

Essentials oils are aroma producing oils which come from flowers such as the rose, from leaves such as basil, twig, bark, fruit rind and many other parts of plants. Although experts say that extracting the oils can be quite time consuming and complex and requires a large amount of patience on behalf of the person carrying out the work the benefits at the end are great. Certainly you need to recognize and accept that if you want to get about 5 tsp of oil from rose petals it will take about 220lbs of petals to do it and this is why pure essential oils are so expensive. Although the effectiveness of the oils is not comprised as it only takes a few drops to generate the effect required. However there is a cheaper alternative namely synthetic oil, however they do not offer the person the same healing properties as their natural counterparts.

Essential oils work by stimulating a person’s olfactory system and later on the brain or limbic system. The fragrance along with other properties and effects relating to the oils will determine how a person’s body system and its parts are stimulated. Whilst having a massage using these oils they are not only absorbed by the body but are inhaled at the same time and eventually when being absorbed through the skin they will reach the organs and body system of the person being treated. The time it takes for the oils to absorb through the skin can be from as little as 20 minutes and take as long as 2 hours or more and there it is wise to avoid taking a shower or bath straight after any massage so that the maximum effect is received from the massage therapy.

The time that the effect lasts on a person can vary from 3-24 hours to 2-3 days or even as long as week. Oils that have a short live time span in regard to their scent are Eucalyptus, Peppermint, Thyme and Bergamot whilst Hyssop, Lavender, Balm and various other oils can last between 2 to 3 days. The oils that take as long as a week to completely evaporate are Jasmine, Sandalwood, Ginger and Cedar Wood.
Many people when using aromatherapy are looking to achieve a sense of calm in their lives and these people will look to using a combination of three types of oils to help with this and they will base them on how long they last. They can be used by mixing them into a warm bath and will help the person to become relaxed and calm, they will help to eliminate the stress and depression that they are feeling as well as both energizing and soothing the body of any aches that they are feeling. Certainly by using essential oils during a massage will help increase the healing and calming effect that the person is feeling. However any massage carried out using essential oils must also include a carrier oil to help prevent irritation and skin reactions on the person being treated. Such carrier oils that are used to help dilute the essential oils are avocado oil, olive oil, sunflower oil, wheat germ oil, almond oil, soya oil and hazelnut oil.

About The Author

Kerris Samson a work from home mum who has carried out extensive research in all forms of alternative medicines, treatments and therapies over the last year. She has now set up a site dealing with all aspects of baths and if you would like to learn more please visit http://www.bath.letsgetpampered.com.

Infusions - The weakest of preparations, infusions are useful for hydrating the skin. Steep 1 ounce of herb leaves or flowers in 1 pint of simmering (200F) water for about 5 minutes. Do not boil. Let cool to room temperature. Soak a washcloth in some of the liquid, then apply it to the skin. You may also use an infusion as a toner, soother, or astringent.

Decoctions - A decoction is used to same way as an infusion, but is more potent. Boil 1 ounce of the chopped, dried bark, chopped roots, and/or seeds of an herb in 1 pint of boiling water for at least 15 minutes and as long as 24 hours (bark, roots, and seeds require a longer boiling time to release their active constituents).

Macerations - Like decoctions, macerations are concentrated, potent herbal preparations. Fill a sterilized jar with crushed herbs, dried or fresh, using 1 ounce of herb for every pint of liquid. Cover with vegetable oil, cider vinegar, and rubbing alcohol or grain alcohol such as vodka. Cover the jar and let the mixture stand for two weeks; shake the jar daily.

Strain the liquid into a sterilized bottle, cap, and store in the refrigerator. Warm to room temperature before using. Oil macerations may be used as massage treatments; vinegars as toners, hair rinses, or in foot soaks; and alcohols, as toners, astringents, antiseptics, or cleansers. Macerations will keep in the refrigerator for as long as two months.

Poultices - These draw out impurities from the pores. Place a handful of herbs in a cup and moisten them with water heated to about 200F. Allow them to cool enough so they won’t burn your skin, then wrap them in cheesecloth or muslin. Apply the poultice to the skin; remove it when cool.

Always consult your physician if you have high blood pressure, are pregnant

or have other medical concerns before using essential oils or herbs.

MAKE YOUR OWN COLLOIDAL OATMEAL BATH

1 cup oatmeal (quick or slow-cooking)

Blend or process the oatmeal in your blender or food processor until you have a very fine powder (pulverized). This helps the oatmeal absorb liquid.

To test the colloid property of your oatmeal, gently stir 1 tablespoon into a glass of warm water. If the oatmeal readily absorbs the water and give it a milky look and a silky feel, you’ve processed it enough. If the oatmeal simply sinks to the bottom of the glass, it needs to be processed further.

Sprinkle the oats into a tub of running water and stir the water with your hand several times to ensure even distribution. For babies, use 1/3 cup.

OATMEAL MILK BATH

3 cups dried milk
1 cup cornstarch
1 cup ground oatmeal
EO or FO

Use 1/2 cup in your tub or tie in muslin.

OATMEAL SOAK

In blender, mix: 3/4 cup oats
1/2 cup Lavender Buds
1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup powdered milk
1/4 cup Sea Salt
EO or FO