Oat and Coconut Bath Snow

This simple Bath Snow is great for people with sensitive skin, featuring calming anti-inflammatory ingredients and no abrasive scents or colours. Most of these ingredients are fairly normal things that you do not need to purchase from a specialist shop. In fact, you can get pretty much all of these ingredients from a supermarket and you probably have a few of them in your cupboards to begin with.

Coconut oil is a versatile, all-rounder for skin and hair and there is some limited evidence to suggest that it has anti-inflammatory properties. Here I am using it for its moisturising qualities and because I always have it to hand.

I am fully convinced that tapioca flour is one of the most wonderous things on the planet. If you have never played around with it, you really should! I use it in this recipe because it has the ability to take on large amounts of oil whilst remaining a dry powder and it blows my mind every time. Or maybe I am just easily entertained? Since the coconut oil does not dissolve in water, mixing it with tapioca starch will help it to dissipate evenly rather than just floating on the surface of the bath like an oil slick. It is also the key to this recipe being dry snow rather than a sticky mess, so it is really is quite important.

Corn flour is used in this recipe as an inexpensive bulking agent, but has the additional benefit of a soft skin feel. It is good for fluffing up and lightening this snow mix.

Oats are a great, cheap, easy to come by anti-inflammatory and anti-itch ingredient. Colloidal oatmeal is basically oat grains that have been ground finely to resemble flour so that they dissolve in water. They are a great base for loads of skincare products and are particularly good in face masks. I make my own colloidal oatmeal from chunky jumbo oats, but you can get pre-made therapeutic grade certified sachets from pharmacies. I tend to get a 50% yield as there is only so fine my food processor can grind, but keep the remaining roughly cut oats to bake with.

Epsom salt is magnesium sulphate, not your common garden variety table salt. It has been used the help relieve muscle aches and to soften dry skin, amongst other things.

When selecting essential oils to fragrance your snow with, please be careful as not all of them are suited for sensitive skin. Lavender, chamomile, geranium and rosemary are usually good options. I went with Sweet Orange Oil because it smells divine and feels slightly festive to me. For a touch of glamour, add some biodegradable glitter or lustre dust. Be responsible and don't put just anything in it, environmentally friendly things only please!

The amounts listed make about 450g of snow. As a reference point, it took about 400g of snow to fill a 500ml glass milk bottle. It may settle in the bottle, but will loosen up easily with a quick shake.

THINGS YOU WILL NEED

Food Processor

Big Mixing Bowl

Fork

Airtight Container

INGREDIENTS

100g Oats (makes 50g colloidal oatmeal) OR 50g Colloidal Oatmeal

25g Coconut Oil

5g Scented Essential Oil of choice

70g Tapioca Starch

250g Epsom Salts

30g Corn Flour

* 1 tsp Biodegradable glitter or lustre powder

1) To make the colloidal oatmeal, blitz the jumbo oats in a food processor for about a minute. You will see chunky granules sitting on top of fine powder. The powder is what you want, so tip the oats into a sieve resting over a large bowl and gently tap the oats or toss them about with a spoon so that the fine dust falls through to the bowl leaving the chunky bits behind. Tip what is left in the sieve back in the food processor and repeat until you have 50g of colloidal oatmeal. Keep any remaining oat lumps to bake with and set the colloidal oatmeal to one side.

2) Place your oil ingredients into a bowl and gently melt the coconut oil by resting the base of the bowl in a dish of hot water, or in the microwave for a few seconds. Add the tapioca starch and stir everything together until it is well incorporated and forms a slightly lumpy looking but very soft flour texture that is dry to the touch.

3) Add your colloidal oats, Epsom salts and cornflour (and biodegradable glitter if using), and gently combine with the back of a fork until everything is evenly distributed. The mixture will be soft, fluffy, not greasy and feel really nice!

4) Store it in an airtight container, or package up into cute milk bottles to give as gifts. To use, sprinkle one or two handfuls into a hot bath and let it dissolve. Light some candles, grab a glass of wine and enjoy a long soak.