For centuries, humans have recognized the relaxing, rejuvenating affects of a bath. From the Roman Baths popular in 300 AD to modern day spas, baths have been more than just a way to get clean. They have also been both a social and medical fixture. While a regular tub bath can get you clean on the outside, did you know there are ingredients you can add to your water that will cleanse your insides as well? While there are places you can buy pre-packaged bath additives to make a detox bath, you can easily prepare these additives yourself. After a trip to your local grocery or health food store, you’ll be ready to start cleaning toxins out of your body just by relaxing in the tub.

Actually, the ingredients for a detox bath aren’t as complicated as they might sound. In fact, you may already have some of the ingredient in your home. The most common detox bath recipes call for one cup of sea salts, two cups of baking soda and one cup of Epsom salts. After mixing these ingredients well, you can store them in a glass jar with a screw-on lid. You only need about ¼ cup of the mix per bath so this recipe makes enough mix for about 16 baths.

*Tip* If you have dry skin, you may want to add glycerin as well as another essential oil of your choice to the water to help keep your skin from being too dry, but make sure is 100% natural oil not a brand name product filled with chemicals.

Another tip for dry skin is to use Aloe gel after the detox bath. As I mentioned above make sure you use 100% pure aloe, not a lotion that has aloe and host of other chemicals and artificial color and scents.

You may wonder how these simple ingredients can draw toxins out of your body. According to Naturopath Dr. Hazel Parcells, it is actually the combination of the hot water and ingredients working together that give you the detoxifying action. First, the hot water in the bath pulls toxins out of the body to the surface of the skin. The Epsom salts aid this detoxifing process by making you sweat, which is body’s natural way of releasing toxins. Poisons are also drawn out of the body as the water in the bath naturally cools.

The other two ingredients – sea salts and baking soda – also help to cleanse and purify the body of toxins. Sea salt is widely known for its powers of purification. Since baking soda is highly alkaline, it also helps encourage poisons to leach from your system.

As a few final words of instruction, you should pour the detox bath mix into the water as the bath is filling. Draw your water as hot as you can comfortably stand. The hotter the water you use, the better, more thorough detox you will have. Twenty to thirty minutes is usually an adequate amount of time to soak in the bath. It is usually a good idea to drink plenty of water during or after your bath to replace the water you have sweated out. You might also want to scrub or rub your skin after you finish soaking to encourage all the toxins brought to the surface of the skin to clear out. As a word of caution, however, if you have heart disease, high blood pressure or are diabetic, check with your doctor before trying a detox bath.

Next time you decide to relax in a hot bath, consider mixing up these simple ingredients and making it a detox bath. Your body will relish the internal and external cleansing it will get.