Easy DIY Shower Steamers Recipe with 5 Aromatherapy Options (2024)

This basic shower steamers recipe is so easy to make, and you can use it to make five different aromatherapy shower steamers!

Are you looking for an amazing spa experience right at home? 🛀🏼 One that you know is free from all harsh chemicals? Or do you simply love to make your own bath and body products?

Either way, I’ve got a super easy shower steamers recipe that you can take and make your own! 💁 You can make homemade shower steamers to clear up a stuffy nose, provide allergy relief, lift your spirits, or calm you down!

Just take this basic recipe and swap out the essential oils with your personal favorites, for a dreamy at-home spa experience!

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What is a Shower Steamer?

If you’ve never used a shower steamer before, you are going to love them! There is nothing like a hot, steamy shower that smells absolutely invigorating! I honestly didn’t learn about them until somewhat recently.

Shower steamers are aromatherapy tablets that you place on your shower floor. As they get wet, the shower steamers dissolve, releasing fragrant essential oils into the air. These essential oils create an aroma therapeutic experience – right at home!

It’s sort of like using essential oils in a diffuser, but you do it in the shower instead. 🤯

Shower steamers can also be called shower melts, shower bombs, bath bombs for the shower, shower tablets, shower fizzies, essential oil steamers, soothers, and pucks, depending on who you are talking to.

Are Shower Steamers the Same as Bath Bombs?

No, shower steamers are not the same as bath bombs. Shower steamers are often called bath bombs for the shower, or shower bombs, and although they are similar, shower steamers and bath bombs work in entirely different ways.

Bath bombs are created with nourishing oils for your skin. They have a skin-safe level of essential oils in them, and their purpose is to moisturize and rehydrate your dry skin. Plus, bath bombs often turn your water into fun, pretty colors.

Shower steamers, on the other hand, are not a skincare product at all. They are not meant to come into contact with your skin and have no skin nourishing benefits. 🚫

Rather, shower steamers are meant for an aromatherapy shower. They have very high levels of essential oils in them, to be released into the air, for therapeutic purposes. You don’t want that much essential oil on your skin.

So, if you want a bath bomb, check out my fool proof bath bomb recipe, and leave the shower steamers for an aromatherapy shower.

How Do Shower Steamers Work?

The shower steamer ingredients are activated by shower steam. Once the shower tablet gets wet, it begins to fizz. This fizz catapults the essential oils up into the air, and then the hot steam in your shower diffuses and circulates the oils around you, enveloping you in a dreamy aromatherapy shower.

Shower steamers dissolve slowly while you take your shower, releasing the essential oils throughout your shower. They’re great for ailments like congestion! 👃🏻

If you tend to take colder showers, the homemade shower steamers will still work. The shower steam still activates them, whether it is hot water or cold water. They just work better in a hot shower.

What are Shower Steamers for?

A shower steamer is for an aromatherapy shower. What is aromatherapy? Well, Healthline says it best, I think:

“Aromatherapy is a holistic healing treatment that uses natural plant extracts to promote health and well-being.”

Aromatherapy is sometimes called essential oil therapy because it uses essential oils to improve the health of your body, mind, and spirit. Not to mention aromatherapy is gaining traction in both science and medicine.

While there are definitely a time and place for essential oils (like here in this fun DIY), I actually think we use them too much in our current culture. You can read more about that in my essential oil safety guide.

There are two types of shower steamers: aromatherapy shower steamers and shower steamers that act as a decongestant.

The therapeutic shower steamers can help you to relax, unwind, and de-stress. They can calm you down and get you ready for bed, or they can wake you up and energize you. They can even relieve headaches!

Decongestant shower steamers are great for cold and flu season. They can clear up your stuffy nose, relieve cold and flu symptoms, and help alleviate your allergy symptoms as well.

And with this basic shower steamer recipe, you can make both!

What Ingredients Do You Need to Make Shower Steamers?

For this DIY shower steamer recipe, you will need:

• ¼ cup baking soda
• ¼ cup citric acid
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon kaolin clay
• 2 tablespoons Epsom salts
• 1 tablespoon castor oil
• *optional* 1 teaspoon non-toxic food coloring
• 120 drops total of essential oils

Each ingredient has a very specific purpose, so don’t exclude any of them except for the food coloring! That’s purely just for looks. If you need to substitute these ingredients, we’ll cover that a bit below.

Here’s what each ingredient does for your homemade shower steamers:

Baking soda and citric acid 🤍– when you combine baking soda and citric acid, they create a fizz! They will start fizzing if they get wet, so you have to be very careful when you make shower steamers, so that you don’t get a lot of moisture in your mixture. You don’t want to set your shower bomb off before you hop in the shower!

Plus, baking soda does absorb moisture from the air, so try to make your shower melts in a dry room.

You can find baking soda in the baking aisle at your grocery store, and citric acid at hobby stores, such as Michael’s or Hobby Lobby. You can even find citric acid in the canning section of grocery stores!

Corn starch 🌽– the corn starch acts as a buffer, to help the fizz last a little longer in the shower. Plus, corn starch helps prevent stickiness and binds the mixture together, to form a tablet or ball.

You can find cornstarch in the baking aisle at your local grocery store as well.

Kaolin clay 🤎– While this is the most obscure ingredient on this list, the clay acts as a hardener for your shower steamer tablets. Recipes with kaolin clay tend to form better and dry harder than other recipes. Plus, the clay also slows down the fizzing, for longer-lasting shower steamers.

You can buy kaolin clay on Amazon, or do what I did and track some down at a local apothecary. Support small businesses!

Castor oil 💦– the castor oil binds the other ingredients together, kind of like a glue. It also protects your essential oils, keeping them from being released into the air as you are making the shower fizzy. You want that goodness released into the shower, not the air.

You can find castor oil at many local grocery and wellness stores, or online at Amazon.

Essential oils 💙– they offer aromatherapy or the relief from cold, flu, and allergy symptoms. Higher-quality oils will give you a stronger, longer-lasting scent, while cheaper oils will fade quickly, just so you know.

I use Revive essential oils, because they are not as expensive as those MLM’s, and the quality is fantastic!

If you want to know more, read my review of Revive, and if you want to purchase essential oils from them, you can use my code ESSENTIAL10 for 10% off your first order. Or 15% off if you buy $100 or more 🙂

Non-toxic food coloring ♥️– provides a fun pop of color and makes your shower steamers look gorgeous. Your homemade shower bombs will work fine without them, though! I usually only color mine if I’m giving them away as gifts.

You can find all-natural food coloring in some grocery stores, or on Amazon. You’ll know it’s natural when the names sound like food. For instance, beet juice is red, and carrot is orange.

Epsom salts 🧂– the Epsom salt makes your shower steamers rock hard, and it helps them to dry faster. Plus, you can use them to create fun glitters to decorate your shower steamers if you’d like.

You can find Epsom salts in the pharmaceutical aisle at your grocery store. Just make sure you get some without any added essential oils or fragrance!! 🚨

What Can I Use as Shower Steamer Molds?

Basically, any mold that you have will work as a shower steamer mold. But silicone molds, tablet molds or cylinder molds are the most popular choice for shower steamers. They are the easiest to use, and the easiest to get the tablets out of.

If you go with a silicone mold, make sure that it’s a high-quality mold. If it’s too flimsy, it won’t hold the shower steamer mixture in well, and it’ll kind of balloon out in the middle, as it dries. Or rip apart, like mine did. 😑

Some other mold options include:

• Mini muffin tin – if you make shower steamers in a mini muffin tin, be sure to grease it first, with a little coconut oil, olive oil, or vegetable oil. Or, put a cupcake liner in the mini muffin tin. It’ll be hard to get the shower steamers out otherwise.
• Mini ice cube tray – they often come in fun shapes that you can use for special occasions.
• Bath bomb molds – just use one half of the bath bomb sphere when you use it to make shower steamers.

You’ll have to play around with a few different molds and see what works best for you! If this is your first time making shower steamers, I’d just invest in a silicone mold, or use your bath bomb molds. I don’t think I’d use the mini muffin tin, just because they are harder to get out.

Anything to make the job easier and no-fail!

How Do You Make Homemade Shower Steamers?

Now for the fun part! This basic shower steamer recipe really is easy. I think shower steamers get a bad rap; people think they are so hard to make.

Often, they can become too wet, and release the essential oils too early. Or too dry, and completely fall apart!

But my shower tablet recipe is almost fail-proof! It really is the best shower steamer recipe. And you can customize it to your own needs. I have five different essential oil combinations below for you to try. 🌸 Or you can play around with your own combinations!

You should know, however, that I used a lot of essential oils when I made them. I’d recommend using at least 120 drops total, but that is just the beginner amount. The shower steamers I made smelled incredible, but I technically made three batches, and I think I used up an entire standard-sized bottle – or even more!

If you want shower steamers that have a strong scent, go ahead and double the amount of oils! Or even more. Your shower experience will be next level! But be prepared to burn through a lot of essential oils. 💸

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup baking soda
• ¼ cup citric acid
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon kaolin clay
• 2 tablespoons Epsom salts
• 1 tablespoon castor oil
• *optional* 1 teaspoon non-toxic food coloring
• 120 drops total of essential oils

How to make your homemade shower bombs:

1. Vigorously mix your wet ingredients in a small bowl. This includes the food coloring, essential oil blends, and the castor oil.

2. Mix the baking soda, citric acid, Epsom salts, kaolin clay, and cornstarch in a larger bowl. Use a non-metallic or glass bowl, because the citric acid reacts with a metal bowl.

3. Give the wet ingredients one last quick mix before very slowly pouring them into the dry ingredients. You will pour the liquid into the bowl with one hand and whisk everything together with the other hand.

4. Whisk vigorously until the mixture appears damp and clumpable. It should look like wet sand. There should be no visible clumps or unmixed food coloring.

5. Tightly pack your mixture into the shower steamer molds.

6. Let your shower bombs dry in their molds for at least 24 hours. Then pop them out, dry overnight if you can, and use them within six months to a year.

Note: When using your shower steamers, make sure you place them away from the direct stream of the water. This will make them last much longer so you can get those aromatherapy benefits!

How Strong Do These Shower Tablets Smell?

That totally depends on you! The basic recipe calls for 120 drops of whatever essential oil combination you like. That is enough essential oil to induce a spa-like experience in your shower. 🛀🏼

But that’s just the starting point! From there, you can make them as strong as you’d like. I tripled my recipe and used an entire bottle of essential oils!! And I loved it!

But you don’t have to make your homemade shower steamers that strong smelling. The best thing I can say is to play around with it. Make a few different batches, with different amounts of essential oils, until you like the aroma.

Keep in mind, though, the essential oils will fade during storage somewhat. We try to keep them from doing so, by keeping the homemade shower steamers in an airtight container, but it’s hard to avoid some aroma loss.

So, it might be better to err on the side of too much essential oil, rather than too little. Also, higher-quality essential oils will create a stronger, longer-lasting scent. You may have to use more of the lower-quality essential oils to get the same aroma strength. Ultimately, it’s all up to you!

That’s why I highly recommend REVIVE Essential Oils. You can get the best of both worlds because their prices are so great. Not to mention you can get 10% off your first order with the code ESSENTIAL10 🙂

Can You Make Shower Steamers Without Citric Acid?

Yes, if you don’t have citric acid on hand, you can still make shower steamers without it. You can use cream of tartar instead, which is something almost everyone has in their pantry.

But just keep in mind that cream of tartar is milder than citric acid, so your shower steamers won’t be as fizzy as they would be with citric acid. Instead, the cream of tartar will make it look like more of a slow foam when you get it wet. Which is pretty cool too!

Also, cream of tartar doesn’t cause the shower bombs to dry as hard as citric acid does. So be careful handling them, they may be more crumbly.

What if I Don’t Have Cornstarch?

If you don’t have cornstarch, you can use arrowroot powder or tapioca starch.

Arrowroot is a root vegetable that is often sold as a powder. It’s typically used as a thickening agent, or as a gluten-free flour.

Tapioca starch is a gluten-free flour that comes from the cassava plant. It is often used to thicken soups, gravies, and stews.

Both help control the fizz in your shower steamer. Using them instead of cornstarch will still help your shower bomb fizz slower, which will make it last longer.

Arrowroot powder and tapioca starch can be found in the baking aisle of your grocery store, in health food stores, or online at Amazon.

Or you can skip the cornstarch entirely, but just keep in mind that the shower bombs will probably fizz faster in the shower than without the cornstarch.

What if I Don’t Have Food Coloring?

If you don’t have food coloring, it’s okay! You can still make shower steamers.

Here are your options:

1. Substitute the food coloring for a different colorant.

Plant-based powders and colored clays make great shower bomb colorants.

Plant-based powders can be anything from spices, such as turmeric, curry, and saffron, to algae, such as spirulina, to plant leaves, such as matcha.

And you can replace the kaolin clay with a colored clay, such as a rose kaolin clay or a Moroccan red clay.

Keep in mind, however, that clays provide a more uniform color throughout your shower bomb than a plant-based powder will. Plant-based colorants may leave small streaks of color in your shower steamers. This is okay and is to be expected when using natural colorants.

I actually think it makes them more natural-looking anyways.

If you want to learn more about the different natural colorant choices for your shower steamers, see my post on the best ways to color your bath bombs. You can use it as a reference for your shower steamers.

If you use dry colorants, you can mix them in with the dry ingredients. Just be sure to keep a small amount of water handy as well. You’ll need to replace the liquid that the liquid food coloring provided, or your bath bombs will be crumbly.

2. Omit the food coloring entirely.

There’s no rule that says you must have a colored shower steamer! You can simply keep it white. That’s what I usually do when I make them for myself.

If you decide to go this route, be sure to add a bit of water or witch hazel, though. You’ll need to replace the lost liquid.

If there’s a tint to your essential oils, they might just color your shower steamers for you, too. So, you could leave them just like that as well – au naturel.

3. Use a synthetic colorant.

Some people do use mica powder, traditional food coloring, or soap coloring when they make shower steamers. If you decide to go that route, I’d be careful.

Mica powders are actually dyed with the very artificial dyes we usually try to avoid! Dyes labeled “FD&C” or “D&C”, although FDA approved, are actually made from petroleum and aluminum.

They are linked to hyperactivity and depression in children, along with cancer, allergies, developmental disorders, reproductive disorders, and so much more! 😦

And these dyes are used to color mica powder – even the “all-natural” mica powders. Read my post on bath bomb colorants if you want to know more.

We aren’t going to be putting these aromatherapy steamers on our skin, of course, but I wouldn’t want to be breathing in any toxic fumes, either. So, just to be on the safe side, I’d avoid using mica powders.

If you are going to use mica powder, I recommend Edible Luster Dust Line from Slice of Moon. Again, not something I’m totally in love with, but I can live with it just fine.

Traditional food coloring is colored using the exact same dyes, as well. Plus, they can stain your shower. I’d try to avoid them if I were you.

And if you want to use soap coloring, check out my guide to natural soap colorants. Again, we aren’t putting these shower steamers on our skin, but we are still inhaling their ingredients, so we want to keep them as natural as possible.

Why Do You Use Castor Oil in a Shower Steamers Recipe?

Castor oil is an emulsifier that sort of acts like a glue.An emulsifier will bind the ingredients of your shower bomb together.

It helps the ingredients that don’t typically blend well together (think oil and water), to mix together. It also stops your essential oils from evaporating too quickly, making the scent last a lot longer in the shower.

If you don’t have castor oil, you can substitute it with another emulsifier, such as:

• Polyglycerol oleate
• Sorbitan oleate
• CreamMaker ANIO
• CreamMaker Fluid

Some people use polysorbate 80 as well, but I wouldn’t recommend it. While it will work, it is a synthetic ingredient, and it is linked to cancer, skin allergies, developmental problems, and reproductive concerns. Granted, the shower steamer isn’t going on your skin, but you are inhaling it. 🚫

And while you don’t technically need to use an emulsifier, your DIY shower steamers will turn out better if you use one. I recommend using castor oil because it’s the easiest to use and find.

Do I Need Liquid to Make Shower Steamers?

No, you don’t need any extra liquid for your shower steamers. The food coloring is enough to hold them together.

If you do worry about your shower steamer being a bit too dry, you can keep a little liquid at your workstation, just in case. A few drops of water will work just fine.

You can also use witch hazel, which evaporates faster than water. You can buy witch hazel at your local pharmacy. Or, you could just add a little more food coloring to your shower steamer mix.

If you use a colored powder, instead of food coloring, you may need to add a little bit of water or witch hazel to your shower bomb. I can’t tell you exactly how much because I don’t use powdered colorants. You’ll have to play around with it.

How Long Do DIY Shower Steamers Last?

A homemade shower steamer will last about 15 to 30 minutes in the shower, depending on where you place it. 🕰️ If you place it out of the direct stream of the water, it will last much longer, so that you can thoroughly enjoy those aromatherapy benefits for the entire shower!

How Much Does This Shower Steamers Recipe Make?

How much this recipe will make totally depends on the size of your molds. However, this recipe typically makes me about seven small DIY shower steamers.

But you can double or triple the recipe if you want to make more. It’s amazing how quickly you can get addicted to them!

What is the Shelf Life of a Shower Steamer?

These DIY shower steamers, and shower steamers in general, will last about six to twelve months. If you go much longer than that, the citric acid can lose its potency. And your essential oils will start to fade.

If you do find that your oils have faded, you can add a small drop to both sides of the shower steamer and use it immediately.

Plus, if you store your steamers in a cool, dark place, they will last longer.

How Do You Store Shower Steamers?

If you have time, after removing your DIY shower steamers from their molds, let them air dry overnight. Be sure to air dry them in a cool, dry place, however. You don’t want them to absorb any moisture from the air.

Then wrap each shower steamer individually, in aluminum foil, brown paper, beeswax wrap, or saran wrap, before storing them in an airtight container or jar. 📦

The baking soda absorbs the moisture in the air, so an airtight container will keep them from dissolving prematurely. Or you can seal them with a vacuum sealer.

Store your shower bombs in a cool, dry place. It’s best to store them outside of the bathroom, because your bathroom tends to be a steamy place.

But if you must store them in the bathroom, tuck them away in a cupboard or the bathroom closest. Proper storage will keep your shower melts fresh and dry. Plus, it’ll help their scent to last longer.

How Do You Use a Shower Steamer?

Your shower steamer will last longer in the shower if you place it on the shower floor, out of the direct water stream.

You want it to get just wet enough to activate the fizzing. If it is in a spot where no water splashes on it, that’s just fine! The shower steam will usually activate it, but if it doesn’t, you can splash a little water on it yourself, to get the fizzing started. 🧼

You can also place it in your shower caddy, on a soap dish, on a shelf, or in a shower steamer dish. A shower steamer dish is a little dish made specifically to hold shower steamers in the shower. You can find them on Amazon.

Or, put it in an organza bag, a cotton bag, or a fine mesh bag, and hang it from your shower head. You can find these bags on Amazon as well.

This will keep the shower steamer closer to your face and nose, giving you a stronger aromatherapy experience.

Combinations for Aromatherapy Shower Steamers

Are you ready to make your own DIY shower steamers? If so, give one of my shower steamer recipes a try! Just use the basic shower steamer recipe (above), and add the essential oil blends (below) of your choice.

Or use my basic shower steamer recipe to totally customize your own shower melts, just by mixing and matching your own essential oils.

Maybe you want to play around with sweet orange essential oil, grapefruit essential oil, or lime essential oil. You can create your favorite scents!

And don’t forget that you can get 10% off your first order of all the essential oils I have linked in this post. Just use the code ESSENTIAL10 and shop here 🙂

Sinus Clearing

40 drops Rosemary Essential Oil

40 drops Peppermint Essential Oil

40 drops Eucalyptus Essential Oil

These menthol shower steamers are made from some of the same ingredients found in a vapor rub. The eucalyptus oil and peppermint oil clear your sinuses, and the peppermint also energizes you. The rosemary relieves pain, reduces stress, and may increase your circulation.

So the next time you get hit with a seasonal cold or the flu, whip up a batch of these sinus clearing shower bombs, for an all-natural relief with eucalyptus oil.

Sleepy Lavender

40 drops Lavender Essential Oil

40 drops Chamomile Essential Oil

40 drops Ylang Ylang Essential Oil

Just like the name implies, this sleepy lavender shower steamer will relax you and get you ready for bed. The lavender and chamomile promote relaxation and treats anxiety and insomnia. The ylang ylang also treats anxiety, but it can lower your blood pressure and decrease your heart rate as well.

If you have trouble falling asleep, try taking a shower before bed with these lavender shower melts.

Happiness Blend

30 drops Bergamot Essential Oil

30 drops Rose Essential Oil

30 drops Lemon Essential Oil

30 drops Orange Essential Oil

The happiness blend can energize you and lift your spirits! These essential oils all reduce stress, fight depression, ease your anxiety, and increase your mood.

Try using a Happiness Blend shower steamer in your morning shower to set you up for a great day!

Allergy Relief

80 drops Blue Tansy Essential Oil

40 drops Lemongrass Essential Oil

The allergy relief shower bombs will alleviate your allergy symptoms. Both the blue tansy and the lemongrass contain anti-inflammatory benefits. The blue tansy also has antihistamine effects, while the lemongrass is also an antioxidant.

If you suffer from seasonal allergies, you may want to keep these shower steamers on hand. They could make or break how you feel that day!

Flower Field

30 drops Rose Essential Oil

30 drops Bergamot Essential Oil

30 drops Lavender Essential Oil

30 drops Jasmine Essential Oil

Want to feel like you just stepped into a field of flowers? This combo will do it!

Rose and jasmine, of course, are used for romantic purposes, but did you know that they also boost your libido? Bergamot relaxes your mind and lifts your mood, and lavender promotes relaxation.

If you are getting ready for a hot date or a night on the town, you might want to use these shower steamers to put you in the mood for romance.

Or just use them because you love the smell of flowers. 😏 Either way, they are sure to please!

Frequently Asked Questions

This recipe really is easy to make! I know a lot of people do struggle to make homemade shower streamers, however. So, if you have had bad luck in the past, try my basic recipe out and see if it works for you!

But just in case, I’m answering some of the most common DIY shower steamer questions for you. If you don’t see your question here, or my answers don’t help, post your question in the comments below! I’m happy to help.

Why Do My Shower Steamers Have No Smell?

What if your homemade shower steamers don’t smell as strong as you’d like them to? Or worse – they don’t smell at all? That kind of takes the whole aromatherapy experience out of the shower bomb, now doesn’t it?!

If you can’t smell your shower steamers (and you have no health issues blocking your sense of smell) it could be one of these issues:

1. You aren’t using enough essential oils.

Try adding more oil to your shower steamer mixture and see if that helps. Just remember to keep your drops proportionate.

For example, if the recipe calls for 30 drops of lemon, 30 drops of orange, 30 drops of bergamot, and 30 drops of rose, increase them all by another 10 drops or so. Don’t do 30 drops of lemon and orange and 40 drops of bergamot and rose. That’ll change your scent. 🧐

2. Check the quality of your essential oils.

Cheaper essential oils sometimes aren’t as strong smelling. If you are using a lower quality essential oil, you’ll likely need to use more of it.

If you want a high quality essential oil, I’d use REVIVE Essential Oils. They’re the only essential oil company I’ve found where their prices are excellent without losing out on quality. You can read how they do that in my REVIVE review.

And don’t forget you can get 10% off your first order with the code ESSENTIAL10 🙂

3. Add an Emulsifier.

Did you forget to add the castor oil to your shower steamer mixture? Castor oil acts as an emulsifier, which “anchors” your essential oils and keeps them from evaporating too fast.

4. Your shower steamer may have lost its scent.

If you’ve had it for a while, the sent may have evaporated over time. You can prevent this from happening by individually wrapping your shower steamers, and then storing them in an airtight container.

You want to keep them someplace cool and dark and try to use them within six months. For sure by 12 months.

If you think your homemade shower steamers have lost their scent, just add a drop or two to freshen it up before using it.

5. You don’t have enough base note oils in your recipe.

Just like with perfumes, there are lighter essential oils, and heavier essential oils. Lighter essential oils, such as peppermint, lemon, and bergamot evaporate faster. Heavier oils, such as cedarwood, sandalwood, and ylang ylang take longer to evaporate.

Try adding more heavier, base note oils to your recipe. I just started doing this recently and it rocked my world!

Why Are My Shower Steamers Crumbly?

If your shower steamers are really crumbly after popping them out of the mold, it could be because they are too wet, too dry, or too soft.

Talk about narrowing it down, right?

Too wet – my recipe uses both Epsom salt and clay, to combat this problem! So hopefully your shower steamers aren’t too wet.

But cold climates and high humidity in the air can also cause a shower steamer to crumble. So be sure to make your shower steamers in a warm, dry room.

Also, not enough drying time can cause them to crumble. After popping them out of the mold, let them dry for another day or two, if crumbly shower steamers is an issue for you.

Too dry – if your shower steamer doesn’t contain enough moisture, it can be crumbly as well. To fix this, simply add more essential oil blends or liquid food coloring to your mixture next time. You could also add a few drops of water.

Your shower tablet mixture should resemble damp sand.

Too soft – citric acid helps shower steamers harden, as does Epsom salt. And this recipe has both. So hopefully it isn’t too soft!

If you used a substitution for the citric acid, such as cream of tartar, I’d try it again, but with citric acid this time.

If none of these seem to fix your problem, leave a comment below. I’ll see if I can figure out where you went wrong.

Why are My Shower Steamers Cracking?

If your shower steamers are cracking, it’s likely due to the same issues as crumbling – they are either too dry or too wet.

Try the same fixes as above. However, if you do find that they are too dry, it could be because the air in your house is too dry. If that’s the case, try adding a little moisture 💦 to your environment first before making your shower steamers.

Why are my Shower Steamers Too Sticky?

A sticky shower steamer mixture is caused by too much humidity, either in the air or in the mixture. Castor oil, baking soda, and citric acid all absorb excess moisture, so hopefully this isn’t a problem for you, since my recipe includes all of them.

If it is, I’d try running a dehumidifer before making your shower steamers. Or, make them in a drier room or on a drier day.

How to Give Shower Steamers as Gifts

DIY bath and body products are all the rage right now! They make the perfect gift for that someone special in your life!

You can use them for:

• Baby showers
• Bridal showers
• Birthdays
• Teachers
• Childcare providers
• Christmas gifts
• Stocking stuffers
• Thank You gifts
• Party favors(I did this recently and got rave reviews!)

Or pretty much anyone else that you want to give a little something special to. 🎁

To gift your DIY shower steamers, simply pack individually wrapped steamers into a beautiful mason jar, a cotton muslin bag, or a gift box.

Create a homemade label on a free program, such as Canva, and print it out. You can print it on sticker paper even!

Or use stock paper or card paper, chalk, stamps, markers, or stickers to create your own label design. Then use glue, two-sided tape, or a hole punch and twine to add your homemade label to your gift.

Don’t forget to include the instructions for use and a shower steamer ingredient list! That’s what makes it so fun. I can guarantee most people haven’t heard of a shower steamer.

Consider pairing your DIY shower steamers with other DIY beauty products, such as:

• DIY Bath Soaks
• DIY Body Washes
• Therapeutic Bath Salts
• Lavender Oatmeal Soaps
• DIY Bath Bombs
• Homemade Lotions
• Homemade Hand Sanitizers
• Homemade Vapor Rubs
• DIY Sugar Scrubs

You can easily create DIY bath and body gift baskets as well! Make a home health gift basket for someone who’s under the weather or that special teacher in your life, with some bath soaks, bath salts, bath bombs, hand sanitizers, vapor rubs, and shower steamers in it.

Or, create a romantic basket for that new bride, 👰 with a sugar scrub, a homemade lotion, some bath bombs, a bath soak, and some lavender oatmeal soaps. Add a bottle of wine and you are good to go!

Masculine oils, such as cedarwood essential oil and cypress, can be used in lotions, shower bombs, and body washes for those awesome men in your life too!

The possibilities are endless. Have fun with it!

Final Thoughts on Shower Steamers Recipe

Making shower steamers doesn’t have to be hard! This basic recipe is super easy to make and even easier to use.

The key is to go slow, when mixing the ingredients for your shower steamer, and pack the shower bomb molds tightly. And let your DIY shower steamers dry overnight before popping them out of the molds.

And remember, you’ll get a stronger scent with high-quality essential oils. Plus, be liberal with your oils! The more oils you use, the more heavenly your shower steamer will be.

Don’t let shower steamers scare you! You can do this!! If you have any troubles at all, don’t hesitate to pop them into the comments below. I’m happy to help!

And let me know what aromatherapy combinations you tried! Or, if you created your own combo, share the recipe below! I love trying new variations.

Related to Shower Steamer Recipes

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