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| Bath ingredients |
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  MINERALS
HERBS
FRUIT
MILK
FLOWERS
SOAP
SALTS
OILS
BUBBLE BATH
ACCESSORIES
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| MINERALS |
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 “Taking the water cure” is a centuries-old ritual. What reportedly made waters healing were minerals such as sulphur, calcium, magnesium, fluoride? None of those minerals can be absorbed into the skin, but try telling that to a believer. Mud, whether it comes form the Dead Sea or your backyard, is nothing more that clay or sand and water with traces of minerals. Slathered on the skin, it acts as a n astringent, drawing out oil, bacteria, and dirt. The latest in mineral treatments is called thalassotherapy, where the bather is dipped in sea water and wrapped in mineral-rich seaweed. You don’t need to buy commercial products-simply soak dried seaweed temporarily makes the skin smoother: some claim that the vitamins and minerals, applied topically, have anti-oxidant properties. Maybe. But do we pay for mud baths because of the health benefits or because they’re the only socially sanctioned way to revel in slime? |
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| HERBS |
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 Herbs do some fairly miraculous things. Who was the first to discover that rosemary was a pick-me-up and that chamomile adds highlights to blond and brown hair, a 17 th century French courtesan came up with a herbal bath anti-wrinkle potion: Ninon de Lenclos bathed daily in a concoction of mint, lavender, thyme, rosemary, and leeks, keeping her skin smooth until old age. You can buy commercially prepared herbs or you can skip the fancy packaging and head straight to the local herbalist or even take a trip to your garden and turn your bath into an oasis!
HERBS: peppermint, rose, lemon-grass, lemon-scented Geraniums, mint, Lemon verbena, calendula, miniature lavender, Pineapple mint, red sage, lemon balm, rosemary, chamomile, ginger.
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| FRUIT |
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 Maybe it was an attempt to keep him from straying. It didn’t work, but Julius Caesar’s wife is credited with inventing the first fruit bath. Her recipe: 1 kg of crushed strawberries & 750gms of crushed raspberries. Those of us who’d rather not go through life dyed a delicate shade of pink have other alternatives: apricot, orange or papaya. Fruits are valued for their astringent, refreshing qualities. Nuts are also popular in the bath: Jojoba, almond, coconut- are all rich in oil and effective as moisturisers.
Almond extract will make you amorous &/or edible or even both. |
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| MILK |
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 Is it a symbolic return to the womb, to bath ourselves in the fluid of our mothers? Or is there something even more covertly sexual about it? Milk baths have been popular since we can remember. Proteins in the mild leave the skin feeling smooth and silky. For a bath that's both moisturising, soak your favourite herbs in cold milk for several hours, strain, and add the herb-infused milk to your bath.
Who would think that a little milk, a little salt and a little fragrance could offer so much. Okay, it's not quite this simple, but almost. |
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| FLOWERS |
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 Flowers added to baths will change the whole bathing experience. Try bergamot, ylang-ylang, jasmine, camellia, carnation, and lavender. Rose is perhaps the most popular, the scent is the most womanly, as the flower’s man’s analogue for womanhood itself, combining both beauty and thorny danger. Odd, isn’t it that the idea of being “fresh as a daisy” has not translated into a soap or oil. |
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| SOAP |
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 Think of soaps -"whether gel, powder or bar"-as a kind of intimate Push Me-Pull You. One end of the soap molecule attracts water; the other end attracts oil and dirt, but repels water. With a kind of pushing and pulling action, the soap loosens the bonds holding dirt to the skin. But here’s a little secret: unless you live in a Third World country where infections diseases are common, it doesn’t really matter to your health whether you’re clean or not. Skin is as indifferent to dirt as the average four-year-old. |
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| SALTS |
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 Coloured, fragrant bath salts always seem to suggest a mini-sea adventure, so closely do they resemble the pebbles we use on the floors of tropical fish tanks. In fact, salts are particularly helpful in relaxing tire muscles and joints. Epsom salts are chiefly medicinal: they relieve constipation by drawing water into the intestine. A good scrub with tem can also be used to exfoliate skin. Scented sea salts, containing salt and seaweed extract, may contain a wide variety of trace minerals, including iodine; in addition to sooting itchy skin, they reportedly dilate the pores and relax the muscles, allowing the absorption of soluble vitamins into the skin. |
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| OILS |
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 In Egypt, only the wealthiest could afford perfumed oils for the bath; the poor rubbed their bodies with palm oil. Whether you use beads or liquid, a dip in an oil bath is the ultimate in moisturising. Oils may be scented or not; many contain vitamin E, reputed to be a skin smoother. They may be poured into the bath, or, if they're in bath bead form, "melted" under rushing hot water. To avoid drying the skin, anyone who bathes every day should soak in oil at least twice a week. Some bath oils also double as soap; check labels. Please note. Add oils to the bath when water has stopped running. Absorbed oils in the skin remain true for between 4-6 hours. Always close doors when using aromatherapy oils in the bath otherwise the aromatic vapour swill escape. Keep oils stored in a dry place, away from direct sunlight and use within 6 months of opening. |
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| BUBBLE BATH |
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 Ichnographically, bubble baths have conveyed both female wiles and female dependence. Think Busby Berkeley movies; think Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. Of course, the bubble bath can translate into vulnerability; recall Michael Caine's doomed patients in Dressed to Kill. Lavish baths should carry a warning: bubbles that last too long signal the presence of environmentally unsound detergent. Look for "all natural" ingredients on the label. Most bath powders, including bubble baths, are variations of soap: pour the powder under running water and enjoy. |
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| ACCESSORIES |
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| What did man have before towels and bath mitts and sponges and loofahs? Leaves to scrub with, sun and wind to dry. Take an outdoor bath sometime, and learn how, occasionally, forgoing the man-made tools can be in its own reward. However, a back scrubber is man’s single greatest contribution to sensuality – at least, before batteries were invented.
A Bath is not a bath unless it is accompanied by other distractions. Scrubs, luscious soft bath towels, body brushes, loofahs, terry cloths, pumice.
Maybe it’s a bit creepy to know you’re washing with a dead animal, but try to take it in stride: natural sponges are the fossilized skeletons of complex marine organisms. Until the eighteenth century, they were thought to be solidified sea foam. Loofahs are dried plants, a member of the cucumber family. Whether it’s a loofah, a sponge, or any one of dozens of bath mitts made from everything from Irish linen to goat hair, the idea here is to exfoliate dead skin cells.
When choosing a bath towel, look for three characteristics: texture, size and absorbency. Egyptian cotton has extra-long fibres that make the towels wonderfully smooth, yet durable.
Real pumice is a stone related to granite, but porous and light enough to float; it’s made of volcanic lava that’s solidified and permeated with gas bubbles. The grain of the pumice determines its use: smaller-grained stone for rough areas, such as hands and feet. Use caution with pumice and other exfoliates: while they can lift dirt, germs, makeup, and even environmental pollutants away from the skin’s surface, they can also remove the skin’s natural oils. If you love to scrub, use superfatted soap and a good moisturizer.
A bath tray is a defiant little bath treat, an accessory that says, "I'm going to spend the afternoon lying here. Just try to stop me." Whether its wood, brass, or plastic, the ideal bath tray includes a compartment for sponges, razors, or soap, a place for balancing a glass of wine, and most important, a book rest to keep your book balanced at an appropriate angle and away from the suds.
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