Updated 4/28/22
Did you know it’s super easy to whip up a bottle of DIY bubble bath? Skip the chemical-laden store version and make your own natural homemade bubble bath. Read on to find out how!
On my gradual journey towards a healthier lifestyle, I’ve been slowly eliminating products with harsh chemicals from our home and replacing them with homemade versions, like my DIY Activated Charcoal Soap.
If you’re a regular reader here, you know I am stingy with my time and money so I’ve only made the switch when it’s easy and affordable to make products myself rather than buy the store version. For examples, check out my Homemade Beauty Products and Homemade Cleaning Solutions.
Why I Decided To Make My Own Bubble Bath
In the winter, I like to take a nice, hot bubble bath to relax and warm up from the freezing weather outside. Have you read the ingredient label on store-bought bubble bath?
Here’s what mine said: Water, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Chloride, Cocamidopropylamine Oxide, and 6 more ingredients equally long and difficult to pronounce.
So, if you have sensitive skin but enjoy a nice, hot bath, making your own bubble bath is an easy solution.
How to Make DIY Bubble Bath
I did some research to see if it would be difficult to make my own and discovered that most natural homemade bubble bath recipes only need 3 ingredients!
Oddly, every natural homemade bubble bath recipe I found had the same 3 ingredients (castile soap, vegetable glycerine, and water) in different proportions. I tried 3 different recipes, wasn’t happy with any of them, and finally played with the proportions myself until I came up with one that (to me) was the perfect balance of bubbles, moisturizing ability, and a pleasant scent.
Items Needed
- 1 1/4 cup liquid castile soap
- 1/2 cup glycerine
- 1/2 cup water
- 20-30 drops of essential oils
Substitutions and Additions
Soap
I like castile soap because it’s natural and versatile. However, you can use any liquid soap in its place.
A great substitute is Mrs. Meyer’s hand soap. It’s not as natural as it contains some synthetic ingredients but they are all paraben-free and made without phthalates or artificial colors.
Glycerine
Glycerine is used in bubble bath to help moisturize your dry skin. If you don’t have any, an easy replacement is coconut oil.
You can even use other types of oil like olive oil or almond oil. Just make sure to wipe out your tub later as these will often leave a residue.
Essential Oils
You don’t have to add essential oils if you don’t want. Castile soap (and other liquid soap) come in scented so you can simply choose one that has a scent you like if you want the aromatherapy benefits of scent without using essential oils.
I chose lavender and vanilla for their stress-relieving aromatherapy effect. But you can use any scent combinations you want.
Here are some suggestions for a calming bath:
- Chamomile
- Rose
- Ylang ylang
For a refreshing, stimulating bath try:
- Eucalyptus
- Orange
- Peppermint
Some essential oils you might want to avoid (because of potential to irritate the skin) are cinnamon, clove, and spearmint.
Optional Ingredients
Epsom salts: This is a great addition if you have muscle soreness or aches and pains.
Honey: Did you know honey has both moisturizing and antiseptic qualities? A single teaspoon added to your solution will do wonders for your skin.
Vitamin E: This is a powerful natural moisturizer and works wonderfully in a bath.
Ingredients to Create More Bubbles
One of the problems with DIY bubble baths is that they lack surfactants (some of those difficult-to-pronounce ingredients in store-bought bubble baths). So, your homemade bubble bath isn’t going to give you the same luxurious tub full of bubbles you’re imagining from Calgon commercials.
Sugar: Adding 1 teaspoon of sugar to the your bubble bath mixture can help the bubbles last longer.
Egg whites: Supposedly, adding one egg white to the other ingredients will also help with longer lasting bubbles.
SLSA: Okay, here’s the real nitty gritty. To get big, foamy bubbles, you need a surfactant. Sodium lauryl sulfoacetate is the most natural version you can get (it’s made from coconut and palm oil). So, if you’re willing to bend on the hard-to-pronounce ingredients, add one teaspoon of this to your bubble bath solution.
Instructions
Once you have all your ingredients, all you need to do is mix them all together. Just add them directly to the container you’ll be storing them in.
I combined all mine in a clear pump bottle, but you can order similar bottles in blue, amber, or purple. You can order them in 2 packs rather than in packs of 6, but they are more expensive (per bottle) that way.
I stocked up at Christmas when I was making a lot of gifts. You’ll see this bottle again in a couple of weeks when I share my homemade shampoo recipe that I made for my best friend for Christmas.
You’ll want to store in a cool, dark place (like a bathroom cabinet). If you added egg whites, store in the fridge and use within a couple of days.
Free Printable Lavender Vanilla Bubble Bath Labels
I wanted to make sure that I knew this was bubble bath, so I made up a label for it. Then, I went ahead and made a whole sheet of them so I could share them with you.
Lavender Vanilla Bubble Bath Labels
Here’s a hint – I created them in Word using an Avery label template. So, if you pick up these Avery Name Badge Labels you can print directly onto the adhesive name badges, trim around the label, and peel of the back sheet to expose the adhesive and attach to your bottle of lavender vanilla bubble bath.
Tips For Making Your Bubble Bath More Bubbly
As I mentioned earlier, a DIY bubble bath isn’t going to give you the same type of bubbles as the kind you buy in the store unless you add SLSA. To get the best possible bubbly result (no matter which bubble bath you use, follow these tips:
- Add some water to the tub before you add the bubble bath.
- Turn the water on all the way (for the highest water pressure possible).
- Pour the bubble bath slowly, directly under the running water.
- Use your hand to gently stir the water in the tub as the water is running.
- Turn on the jets if you have a jacuzzi. If you don’t have a jacuzzi, consider buying an electric bathtub bubble massage mat to get the same effect.
Lavender Vanilla Bubble Bath
Materials
- 1 1/4 cup castile soap
- 1/2 cup vegetable glycerine
- 1/2 cup water
- 10-15 drops lavender essential oil
- 10-15 drops vanilla essential oil
- 1 teaspoon sodium lauryl sulfoacetate optional
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a 16 oz pump bottle.
- Secure lid and shake well to mix ingredients.
Made this w Egyptian musk for my man. I added a lil table salt….read that that causes soponafication….ie thickener n suds. It has worked well in both shampoos and soap and bubble bath for me…. I added about 1/4 to the water, and stirred til it dissolved. If u don’t do it that way it clumps……hope this helps others.
Thank you for letting us know what worked for you!
I got no bubbles at all..very disappointing.
Same. More like sea foam brought in by the tide. No actual bubbles at all.
Several other readers commented on what they did to get bubbles. Maybe one of their tips will work for you.
Hi! I, too, first had no bubbles, but read on to discover it may be my water (we live in the country on our own well & im sure it’s hard water). So upon filtering the water and THRN attempting the recipe, I did, in fact, get bubbles. This helped me encourage my husband to put a water softener/filter system on our well. Hope this helps anyone else confused about the lack of bubbles.
Yes, you can do that, softening the water to use real soap to make it sudsy — but you wind up with very soapy water for the amount of bubles you get. As long as you have softened water, there’s a way to make a heap of suds on top without getting the whole bath as soapy as dishwater, and that’s to blow thru a soapy washcloth. Use a cloth with a dense weave (high thread count) and no holes, soap it up (you needn’t use liquid castile, any soap will work, but the more lather-prone the soap the better), hold it around your mouth so there’s no other way for the air to escape, and blow. Re-wet and re-soap the cloth as needed. To keep your face from getting sore where the soapy cloth keeps getting pressed around it, you could rig one of those arrangements with a cut-open plastic bottle and rubber band to blow thru, or you could get one of those pillowcase-like pouches they soap you up with in a Turkish bath (hamam) or make your own. This way you cover yourself (or your kids) and the water surface with suds, but don’t get the entire bath very soapy.
Thos eo fyou who got no bubbles did nothing wrong. Similar recipes have been getting around forever despite the factt that this is the expected behavior of soap in bathtubful of most waters, which have enough “hardness” to turn it all into curds, not suds. If you want bubbles, you have two choices. The better choice is to use the hard-to-pronounce ingredients, which are much gentler than soap for the amount of bubbles they produce. The worse choice is to use enough soap (preferably starting with soft water) to make the bath as soapy as dish or laundry water.
As to repurposing the mixture, simple: use as hand or body or any other soap that doesn’t require mixing it with a large volume of water in use.
No bubbles for me either. Just cloudy water. What a waste of all those ingredients. Any ideas on how to repurpose this concoction anyone?
I made this bubble bath exactly following the recipe but got ZERO bubbles. What did I do wrong?
I love the idea of adding essential oils, so the bubble bath smells lovely! I also love your labels! I think swapping out commercial cleaners and beauty products with healthier homemade versions is a great idea, and doing it as you run out of something is a great way to save money 🙂
Looking forward to trying your homemade bubble bath. I could use a nice relaxing bath!