Clumping and hardening of bath salts is a quite common problem most of us have to face. But the good news is that we don’t really have to. Here is how you keep bath salts from ever clumping again.
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The trick to avoiding clumpy bath salts is to bake them for about 15 minutes. This helps remove the clumping and hardening texture of it. The bath salts blend will turn into a smooth, clump-free texture after baking.
Smoothened bath salts are obviously much better than the clumpy/hard ones as they can also be used as salt butter for the skin. Also, the outlook can be extremely professional and also be randomly customized at home. Thanks to this, it also makes bath salts an excellent gift for bridal showers and birthdays quite commonly. But before even thinking about making gifts, we first need to make sure they are clumpy.
Why Are My Bath Salts Clumpy?
If you live in such an area where you have monsoon season or a constantly humid environment, you’re probably one of the many who are struggling with clumpy and hard bath bombs? When salts come in contact with moisture, they lose the essence quickly. And if you would like to experiment a little and have a jar of bath salt, try keeping it open overnight and see how your salt clumps up.
Moisture reacts with salt and liquefies easily. Salt, being a hygroscopic substance, absorbs water vapor from the surrounding air, and water vapor in the surrounding air is moisture.
Eventually, salt’s hygroscopic property starts attracting moisture, thereby changing the gas into a liquid. This forces the salts to dissolve and finally to clump together partially.
Why did my bath salts harden?
Hardening or caking of salt occurs because of several factors. In general, bath salts crystallize because the forces between the particles increase. Salt being a water-soluble material, leads to material bridges, instead hardens due to increased attraction between the particles.
With bath salts, moisture is usually either present inside the product as humidity or inside the packaging. Humidity can be present as moisture on the product or as waters of hydration. Once there are enough water molecules on the salt’s surface, it leads to the relation between water and the particle’s interiors.
The temperature gradient induced moisture, also known as diffusion of water, takes place from the salt’s surface. This way, water starts to make its way to the particle’s surface, forming a salt solution.
Upon too many particles gathering to dissolve into the solid solution, it starts building liquid bridges between the neighboring particles. In addition to that, the bridges contain water. Water evaporates, resulting in the crystallization of the dissolved material.
This way, the liquid bridge becomes a solid material bridge. Therefore, the particles of salt, which were once in the form of dust, gather moisture forming a solid network of interconnected particles.
How do you keep bath salts from clumping?
Adjusting the proportion of bath salt depends upon the requirement. In some cases, the soap also indicates the quantity of bath salt.
Bath salts are mostly kept in the bathroom, where there are numerous chances for moisture to mix with the salt leading to clumpy disaster.
Adding rice:
If you’re worried about and clumping your salt, you can try adding a small amount of rice or some freshly dried parsley into the jar.
Parsley:
Both parsley and rice absorb moisture quickly. However, you may find it hard to remove them from the jar once the salt separates. Salt attracting water vapor is because of the negative end of the oxygen water molecule and chloride ions being attracted to the positive end of hydrogen.
Add oil:
Any salt of your choice, be it Epsom, dendritic, or sea salt, can be mixed with liquid oil. You can take any liquid oil, for example, avocado oil, vitamin E, sweet almond, or green tea seed. It’s also appropriate if you add an essential oil you already use. A word of caution if you do not use one, refrain without testing it on your skin, a minimum of three days before.
Baking soda to save the day:
The next ingredients would be baking soda, food color (optional), and wooden scoops. Baking bath salts to remove the clumps require adding baking soda, liquid oil, or essential oil to the salt.
Salts can draw moisture because of their hygroscopic property. Soda crackers in the same container as your bath salt can prevent such situations. Soda crackers are made from white flour, yeast, and baking soda. They can absorb moisture and also protect the bath salts from evaporating.
Toothpicks:
That’s correct. Toothpicks prevent bath salts from clumping. Try adding 4-6 toothpicks in a midsized container. However, it’s best to try the rest of the methods first and then employ this one.
It is because there may be a chance for the toothpick to break and leave some of it inside. As such, you may not notice while adding salt to your skin and accidentally cut yourself.
Cloves:
Dry cloves in the same jar as the bath salts act as a miracle ingredient, just like dried fresh parsley. It also infuses a scent of its own into the already existing jar of your bath salt. Any form of bath salt can get along with a few pieces of clove, restricting them of their hygroscopic properties.
How can you avoid hardening bath salts?
The best way to keep salt away from hardening is by adding ordinary rice to the container. Make sure to give the jar a quick shake after the rice is put into it.
Some also believe dry beans in salt can keep the moisture away. It takes the humidity out and also holds the fragrance of the bath salt for a long.
Endnotes
Refrain from storing bath salts in plastic jars. Glass jars are the best way to increase the shelf life, restrict the airflow, and keep the moisture out.
Plastic containers contaminate your bath salts, and so do the metal ones. Steer clear from affecting the quality of your salt and have fun bathing.
