Bathing for Your Health

Benefits of Combining Hydrotherapy and Natural Ingredients to Care for Your Mind, Body, and Soul

Bathing. A daily act we regularly endure as a child, often to our chagrin. We would run and hide. We’d scream and cry. In the end, our efforts were futile as someone in our family made sure we took a bath before bed.

This nightly ritual was often eased with the addition of bath toys, and the process got even simpler we transitioned to showering. Eventually, taking a daily bath simply became routine, something we did just because it’s what you do.

However, bathing as part of a healthy self-care ritual is making a comeback, and we couldn’t be more excited.

Bathing is More Than Just Getting Clean

The physical and emotional benefits of regular bathing are abundant. By combining warm—never hot—water with the right natural ingredients for a therapeutic soak, you can tackle tomorrow’s tasks with more mental clarity, peace of mind, and a newfound strength. And all while enjoying smooth, soft, and glowing skin.

Use Natural Bath Oils when bathing for better health

For men and women—both young and old—introducing a therapeutic bathing regimen to your weekly routine will produce noticeable results almost immediately. At-home spa treatments don’t have to be intimidating or complex. It’s all about finding the right balance of water and natural ingredients.

Source Vitál Apothecary used the expertise of aromatherapy specialists and estheticians to develop a holistic approach to bathing. We combined safe and natural skin-revitalizing ingredients with a ritualistic process to help you achieve a little bit of nirvana in the comfort of your own home, and all within the rhythm of your personal schedule.

Cleansing Baths

The most obvious benefit of bathing is the cleansing of the skin, hair, and nails. Good grooming not only keeps us healthy, but it also provides an element of purifying the soul. Washing away the grit of a bad day feels good on the outside and inside.

There isn’t much ritual to your average cleansing bath. It’s just the basics: soap, water, lather, scrub, rinse, and repeat as necessary. This is especially true for the days we want a quick and efficient shower.

The key to changing your bathing experience is to regard cleansing as a ritual, something crucial to your overall health and wellness. We recommend using luxurious natural ingredients like Dead Sea salts and 100% pure essential oils to take your bathing ritual up a notch. Make it something you enjoy, rather than a chore.

Expert tip: Start with warm water and leave the bubbles out. While they might look pretty, did you know that bubbles can dry out and even weaken your skin? The same goes for hot water. It can actually leech moisture from the skin, making you feel tired and dehydrated.

Instead of bubble bath or a bath bomb – often made with drying synthetic ingredients – mix together some grapefruit, peppermint, ginger, or eucalyptus essential oils with a nourishing carrier oil such as coconut oil or safflower oil. You should enjoy the benefits of cleansing your body’s largest and most protective organ – the skin.

Dead Sea Salts

One of the best ways to nourish the skin and help the body expel toxins is through bathing with Dead Sea salts. For thousands of years, visitors from around the globe have visited the Dead Sea to bathe in its waters to clear their mind, relax their soul, and heal their bodies.

At the lowest elevation on earth, the Dead Sea is 9.6 times as salty as the ocean. Salts from the Dead Sea contain much less sodium chloride than regular ocean salt, so the rest is packed with powerful minerals which help the body to function at its best.

Review this breakdown of the minerals you’ll find in Dead Sea salts to learn how they can benefit your skin.

Magnesium Chloride: Slows down the appearance of aging skin by strengthening and supporting skin tissue, while also promoting energy, combatting stress, reducing the discomfort of fluid retention, and calming the nervous system.
Potassium Chloride: Beneficial for balancing the skin and energizing the body.
Sodium Chloride: Can improve the skin's metabolism and maintain the balance and osmosis in the extra-cellular fluid of the skin (but only in small quantities).
Calcium: Supports healthy bones and healthy cell growth.
Chloride: Prevents fluid retention, increases circulation, and strengthens bones and nails.

Other minerals found in low percentages include:

Bromine: Relaxes muscles and nerves.
Strontium: Offers anti-inflammatory properties and reduces irritation of contact dermatitis.
Zinc: Promotes cell renewal and anti-aging.
Manganese: Increases the skin's circulation and the condition of connective tissue.
Boron: Relieves the discomfort of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.
Lithium: Increases the effectiveness of balneotherapy for inflamed skin, including psoriasis and other painful skin conditions and itching.
Natural sulfates: for natural purification.

Other natural salts like Epsom salt or Pink Himalayan salt also offer great benefits for the skin. For the best results, always use 100% natural salts and try to avoid those that are scented with potentially irritating synthetic fragrance.

Hydrotherapy to Relieve Stress & Promote Tranquility

It seems the older we get the, more stressors seem to flow in and out of our lives. When some weeks bring on more stress than others, we recommend the simple, natural, and holistic techniques of hydrotherapy in your evening routine to help wash away the worries and anxieties keeping you up at night.

The most essential ingredient of hydrotherapy — or bathing for health — Is water. This is not a novel idea. The Japanese have used water to treat stress and cleanse their mind and soul for thousands of years.

Before this practice was dubbed hydrotherapy, it was known as onsen. An onsen, or a Japanese hot spring, is just one tactic the Japanese use to wash away stress, tension, and fog from their lives.

Today, there are more than 3,000 onsens in Japan. But while each one is different, one thing remains the same for each bath: the experience is meant for soaking, not cleansing. The Japanese believe that the ingredients make the experience worthwhile, and Source Vitál couldn’t agree more.

How to Enjoy an Aromatherapy Bath

It may be hard to get to the Dead Sea or Japan, but there are ways you can enjoy your very own onsen at home for those hectic days when nothing seems to go right. Creating an onsen-like experience is easier than you may think, because with these high-quality ingredients for your bath and body, you can transform your home into a spa-like retreat.

Dead Sea Salts (or other nourishing bath salts such as Himalayan Pink Salts or even Epsom Salts.
Aromatic Bath Oils: We suggest choosing 100% Pure essential oils and top quality botanical carrier oils
Algae Bath Powder: This is technically optional, but we feel that the health benefits take your bath to a new level
Bath Tub

Step 1: First draw a warm – not hot – bath. You also want the water deep enough that you can immerse your entire body.

Step 2: Add your Dead Sea Salts and Algae powders.

Step 3: Mix in your aromatic essential oils.

Do not just pour essential oils directly into the bathtub.
Always dilute essential oils in a carrier oil likeSafflower or Apricot Kernel oil first.
Undiluted oils will float on the surface of the water and can be too potent for direct contact with the skin.
Both the aroma and the active natures of the oils in their undiluted state can cause sensory overload that can ruin the tranquility of your personal spa experience.

To maximize your experience, we suggest the following: massage body oils into the skin before getting into the water. This method allows for deeper penetration of the oils, and your body will feel like it’s wrapped in a protective blanket as you soak.

Step 4: Lie back and relax. Typically, you will want to soak for 15-20 minutes. Try lighting candles, reading a book, or playing soft music to heighten the experience.

Note: Do not introduce soap products into your aromatherapy bath. Soap will cut through the oils and stop you from receiving the skin-loving benefits. It is best to simply towel dry off after your bath, without rinsing. If you feel like you need to cleanse, take a quick shower to rinse away any dirt, oil, and grime before your soaking bath.

DIY Aromatherapy Recipes

To create your own aromatherapy bath at home, we recommend these recipes to help you unwind, no matter what your mood might be.

Destress & Let it Go (After a long day)

Lavender Marjoram Bath

Marjoram 6 drops
Lavender 6 drops
Carrier Oil 1 oz.

Steep some fresh Marjoram and Lavender in warm water for 15 minutes. Add herbs to bath water. Add oil blend to bath water. Light a candle and feel renewed

Enhance & Invigorate (A pick-me-up before an event or when you need a natural energy boost)

Enhancing, Ecstatic Bath

Spearmint 5 drops
Peppermint 5 drops
Lime 5 drops
Carrier Oil 1 oz.
Dead Sea Salts ½ cup

Add 5 drops of lime, Dead Sea Salts, and essential oil blend to bath water. While you soak, visualize an energetic outdoor adventure: walking on a mountain, jogging, or whatever makes you feel alive. Have a glass of sparking water and feel revived.

The best part about creating your spa experience in your own bathroom is that you don’t have to stick to any one ritual. You can truly make it your own. Add candles, play some soothing music, dim the lights. You can even drop some oils on a warm wash cloth and lay it over your eyes. Breathe in the aroma and let the stress release from your body and float off into the water.

Adding any hydrotherapy regimen into your nightly routine is a great way to reset your day.

Using Hydrotherapy to Promote Sleep

Hydro- and aromatherapy aren’t only useful for destressing. They provide great benefits for relaxation, though there are some nuanced differences between bathing for stress and bathing for relaxation. While natural ingredients such as marjoram, lavender, sage, and neroli can calm the mind and remove tension, you can also concoct your own experience to help encourage a restful sleep.

Prevention Magazine quotes research journal Complimentary Therapies in Medicine for a study about bathing. They found that “soaking in warm water daily for 8 weeks is more effective at easing anxiety than a prescription drug.” When we allow our bodies to relax, we are sending signals to the body that it’s time to heal and regenerate. This includes unloading a blast of painkilling endorphins into the brain that can ease physical and emotional pangs.

The temperature of the water you use for your bath can also increase the size of blood vessels, furthering the tranquil experience by lowering blood pressure. A simple mixture of the following can soothe your mind:

To Encourage Sleep – Quiet the mind chatter & bring on the yawns

Good Night

Neroli 2 drops
Clary Sage 8 drops
Carrier Oil 1 oz.

Add some sage leaves (steeped in hot water) to the bath for an extra special bath

Lavender & Geranium Rose Bath

Geranium 3 drops
Lavender 3 drops
Carrier Oil 1 oz.
Dead Sea Salts ½ cup

Swirl in Dead Sea Salts and essential oil blend into bath water.
Add a candle diffuser or play sounds of the forest, waterfall, or other types of white noises to increase your level of relaxation.

To Relieve Sluggishness – When you are feeling down after a cold or allergies or need a healthy boost

Healing, Healthful Blend

Niaouli 7 drops
Eucalyptus 4 drops
Fir Siberian 3 drops
Carrier Oil 1 oz.
Dead Sea Salts ½ cup

Add Dead Sea Salts and essential oil blend to bath water. Breathe in the aromas as you soak.

Bathing to Relieve Sore, Tight Joints and Muscles

Sore, achy muscles can frequently impact our physical and mental comfort is. Soreness can occur because we just didn’t sleep well, we worked out a little too hard at the gym, or maybe we changed up our daily routine and activated muscles we don’t normally use.

Worry not! The Dead Sea might be far away, but the mineral-rich, therapeutic salts it produces are easily purchased at your favorite spa or natural products store. This product possesses therapeutic qualities that promote good health and a calm mind.

To relieve muscle soreness, we suggest soaking in slightly warmer water for longer periods of time: between 30-45 minutes, depending on the severity of your discomfort. While you’re letting the therapeutic ingredients and water relax your tense muscles, close your eyes and hum quietly to yourself. Meditation can play an important role in releasing the mental clutter that can keep tense muscles from fully relaxing so pain can be released from your body.

Aromatherapy Baths for Detox and Renewal

Physiologically, soreness from muscles is due in part from lactic acid built up throughout your body, literally burning at your ligaments. But you should also take stock of the toxins your body carries around daily.

Where you live, the products you use, and the food you eat all serve as factors for your exposure to toxins. If your body cannot efficiently release toxins, the buildup can cause skin issues, aches, bloating, and even sleepless nights.

A soothing detox bath is an effective way to combat these ailments. Use natural ingredients such as rosemary, cinnamon, patchouli, and sage essential oils to help kickstart your body’s natural processes for releasing those harmful toxins that can drag you down.

An aromatherapy bath with the right natural ingredients can help you feel renewed and uplifted. That heavy bloated feeling or even the discomfort of inflammation will lift, leaving you energized and light. The use of Dead Sea salts and special essential oils in these bath treatments is recommended, but we encourage you to make it your own.

A Note of Caution

Before you begin any bathing regimen be sure to consult your physician, especially if you are pregnant, have heart issues, high blood pressure, epilepsy, or other health concerns.

You will also want to make sure you are aware of the ingredients you’re putting into the water before soaking your body and mind. If you’re allergic to certain plants, avoid using oils derived from them as this will likely cause discomfort, or a negative reaction.

Always make sure that you are using 100% pure essential oils by checking the labels before use.