It’s always a challenge to get kids excited about bath time. You need toys, towels to clean up the inevitable splashes and more than a little patience for mom. And sometimes no amount of coaxing seems to work at all! But luring them with bubbles is a sure-fire winner. Homemade bubble bath is easy to make and much safer on sensitive skin than Mr. Bubbles.
Making your own bubble bath is a great way to avoid sodium lauryl sulfate, a foaming ingredient in many bath products. While most adults tolerate SLS just fine, it can be way too harsh on little ones’ skin and cause issues such as dryness and eczema.
If your child is dealing with dryness or eczema-like patches that you just can’t find the cause of, have a look at your bath products! If SLS appears on any of the lists, it could be the cause—just one more reason to make your own bubble bath.
Another perk of homemade bubble bath is that you can sneak in essential oils like lavender and chamomile that calm little ones and get them ready for bed. Adding these scents to the bath is a great way to get them to wind down after a full day, and should hopefully get them to sleep faster afterwards. Or you can try one of these aromatherapy bath blends for stress, balancing or sinus relief.
Don’t be surprised that homemade bubble bath doesn’t create enormous bubbles like the commercial stuff. This recipe uses more soap than this honey vanilla bubble bath, so there’s more bubble action. But you’ll still need to agitate the water to create a good foam. It’s still enough for the kids to love it, though! It’s also still ensuring that they’re clean from head to toe afterwards, sans any overly-drying foaming agents.
Adding glycerin helps counteract the drying effects of the soap. It’s an effective skin hydrator and skin softener, ensuring that their delicate skin doesn’t get dry or itchy. A drop or two of food coloring makes bathtime even more fun because it colors the water, too.
Or let the kids pick their color and add a drop to the water each time you use the bubble bath. Kids loove this and is a great way to bribe them into the bathtub! And honestly, a relaxing soak does good for them and you—so you can enjoy this DIY recipe too.
Calming Sleepy Time Bubble Bath
- 1 cup mild liquid body soap (like this one, just not Castile soap or you will get very few bubbles)
- 1/4 cup pure vegetable glycerin
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon chamomile essential oil or a ‘pillow blend’ essential oil that combines lavender and hops
- 2-3 drops red food coloring (optional)
Combine all ingredients in a sealable bottle. (It’s probably better to use a plastic bottle if you plan to store it in the bathroom.) Stir ingredients gently; you don’t want to make bubbles just yet! To use, pour about 1/2 cup under running water and agitate water to create bigger bubbles.
Have you tried making homemade bubble bath?
Photos by Ana-Maria Stanciu
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I was curious about the lack of Castile soap. I only have Castile soap at my place, and so before buying the soap that you linked to, I want to confirm. The instructions say don't use Castile, yet the linked to soap is Goat Milk Castile Oat and Honey Hand and Body Wash, 1 Gallon, Sulfate Free, Non-GMO. Isn't this Castile soap, per the title?
Sorry for my ignorance if I just don't get it.
Cheers.
This does not work at all, bubbles didn’t last for 30 seconds, no exaggeration. My daughter and I were both very disappointed. My water is not hard at all.
I forgot to answer the question, “Have you tried making homemade bubble bath?” Thje answer is yes, but with real bubble bath ingredients, not soap. My favorite liquid recipe:
4 volumes 40% diammonium lauryl sulfosuccinate
2 vols 40% disodieum laureth-3 sulfosuccinate
2 vols 30% active lauramidopropyl betaine
1 vol 30% active palmitamidopropyl betaine
Mix the betaines thoroughly wtih each other, mis the sulfosuccinates thoroughly with each other, then thoroughly mix the mixtures.
It doesn’t foam up fast just from running water, but kids love splashing this stuff in water to make the foam. And it won’t make curds or scum in “hard” water the way a soap-based bath will. I’ve made bubble baths with soap, but that takes a large amount and you wind up with a bath like sudsy laundry or dish water; when you use real bubble bath ingredients you can use a lot less for a given amount and duration of foam, and the result is a lot gentler and less grease-cutting than actual soap suds.
Instead of red food coloring, if you want something more natural you can use red saffron tea or hibiscus extract. Artificial dyes have been linked to hyperactivity and tumors.
So exciting to try this bubble bath. You are right Stephanie, kids will love this mostly when added some color, they will enjoy playing in bathtime. Thank you.
I really like the jar you used. Where did you find it?
Unfortunately in most waters it’d be impracticable to use enough liquid soap (made of actual soap soap such as castile) to make a bathtubful of water foamy. If when you take a bath and wash with actual soap soap, you rinse it off & it quickly turns to scum instead of staying sudsy, then forget it — your water’s too “hard” for this to work. (See my link as to how I’m an expert on this subject.)
This sounds like what happened to me ~ So much for a relaxing bath…had to scrub the tub and shower the chalky residue off myself & wash the clothes I had put on afterward :( not sure if it’s our well water or what!
You’re saying that not only did the curds from liquid soap and your bath water scum up your skin and the tub, but that you wound up washing your clothes sooner than you otherwise would have? I’ve heard of lime soap graying towels, but not of its transferring to clothes worn afterward! Maybe it was just psychologic — that you disliked seeing soap curds in the bath, and so felt like they were gumming up your clothes.
Yes, it’s from your well water, but yours is an extreme case that might just result from your being very sensitive to it.