Aromatherapy Bath Salt:

Aromatherapy of Ancient Rome: Infused Bath Salts

Aromatherapy employs many cosmetic benefits that were known to the ancient Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians. Even Biblical figures like Queen Esther purified herself and bathed in herbal oils to beautify her skin. Now in our time you can take one from the ancients and enjoy the cosmetic properties of aromatherapy through bath salts.

Aromatherapy teas, oils, and infusions are not only beneficial to the skin, but they also can add shine and vitality to your hair. Whether your hair is straight or curly, highlighted, dyed, bleached, natural, blond, brunette, or gray, Aromatherapy can enhance the feel and appearance of your hair, nourishing each strand through aromatherapy infusion.

So what is infusion and how does it play into aromatherapy bath salts? Taking 1 ounce of dried herbs and steeping them in 1 pint of boiling water will make an infusion. Add this infusion to your bath water, to soak the entire body, or you can be apply it directly to your hair for immediate benefits.

If you're concerned only about your hair, another thing to try is to use massage or hair oil that has been made with essential oils or herbs combined with a carrier or base oil. For hair use, choose base oil such as olive, jojoba, and sweet almond and add essential oils known to improve hair quality.

Many blonds are probably familiar with chamomile and its ability to add natural highlights to the hair, as well as its ability to supposedly speed growth. A good number of organic shampoos are adding chamomile as a main ingredient for these very reasons. You can make your own chamomile infusion by seeping 1 ounce dried chamomile flowers to 1 pint boiling water. Let the infusion cool, then apply to hair. For blonds, sitting in direct sunlight to enhance the effect.

If you want to mix aromatherapy in baths and hair care, you can add a few drops of herbal essential oils to your running bath water, shampoo, and/or conditioner to create your own aromatherapy bath/shower experience. When using essential oils, remember they are highly concentrated and need to be diluted -- think of them like vanilla extract, but only much, much more potent. Proper dilution is accomplished by adding a few drops of an essential oil to a carrier base such as olive oil, jojoba oil, or sweet almond oil, as mentioned above. However, you can achieve the same results by adding a few drops of essential oil to generic lotions, creams, and conditioners as your base or "carrier oil."

If you are suffering from an itchy scalp, which is often caused by psoriasis, dandruff, or simply dry skin, you can add a few drops of peppermint oil to your bath water or conditioner for a wonderfully soothing and very cooling treatment. Make sure to use just a few drops of peppermint oil, because it is an essential oil and can be very irritating to the skin if not properly watered down. If using conditioner instead of bath water, test your solution in a small area of your scalp to make sure the peppermint oil isn’t overwhelming.

The ancient Romans and other archaic peoples employed essential oils in baths in the form of salts to create aromatherapy, good for the hair and the body.