When I take a bath, I need to know that I’m getting something out of it — like loosening tight muscles, banishing post-hangover toxins, alleviating dry, itchy skin, or quieting an overactive brain. The best natural bath salts can do all of the above, plus they’re free of synthetic additives like fragrances, colors, cleansing agents, and preservatives.
All the bath salts listed ahead contain sea salt or Epsom salts, whose huge stores of skin-soothing, tension-relieving, detoxifying minerals our body readily absorbs when we’re soaking in water. In some cases, naturally derived essential oils are added to the mix, mostly for their aromatherapeutic benefits, though certain essential oils have physiological benefits, too — eucalyptus, peppermint, and pine, for instance, are all anti-inflammatories that can help melt away muscle tension.
For best results, give your tub a good clean, fill it up with hot water and your bath salts of choice, then soak for 20 to 30 minutes. Once you’re thoroughly pruny — or, if you’re like me, your patience has run out — rinse off in the shower, drink lots of water to rehydrate yourself, and enjoy your loosey-goosey muscles and (fingers crossed!) relaxed state of mind.
Scroll on to shop five of the best natural bath salts you can get on Amazon.
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This 32-ounce jar of AHAVA bath salts contains just one ingredient — pure, unadulterated, sustainably harvested Dead Sea salt — but that one ingredient works really hard. It’s packed with 21 essential minerals and nutrients, like magnesium, calcium, sulfur, zinc, and potassium, that can help ease sore muscles, soften your skin, and relax your mind. It’s fragrance-free, so you can leave it unscented or add a few drops of your favorite essential oil.
Epsom salts (named for the English spring from which these salts are extracted) are composed of magnesium sulfate, a mineral that's clinically proven to reduce muscle tension — hence why a straight-up Epsom salt bath is a classic post-workout recovery practice. But these Better Bath Athlete Bath Salts improve upon the original formula with the addition of eucalyptus, pine, peppermint, and lavender essential oils to further soothe your body/mind/spirit after a grueling workout (or day).
Speaking of straight-up Epsom salts: This 19-pound (!) bag of Epsoak Epsom salts contains non-GMO, USP-grade Epsom salts and nothing else. And it costs just $27 on Amazon — a wildly low price point, considering that you’re basically getting all the Epsom salts you’ll ever need for the foreseeable future (and a makeshift kettlebell).
Each beautifully packaged bag of Little Moon Essentials mineral bath salts is spiked with aromatherapeutic essential oil blends for every mood and intention. There’s Letting Go, pictured above, with its soothing blend of lavender, nutmeg, and peppermint. Or try Iron Man for a revitalizing hit of camphor and ginger; chamomile- and lavender-infused Sleep Comes Easy to sedate yourself before bed; or lie back and think of an island with the coconut-scented Beach All You Want. Nine more versions are up for the taking on Amazon.
Get all the stress-relieving, skin-conditioning, and detoxifying benefits of a full-on salt bath without doing the full-on bath thing with this Pursoma Bain de Pied Recovery Foot Soak. Sea salt makes your feet feel silky-smooth, while brown and green algae are packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to help you detox and destress. Fennel seed, geranium, juniper berry, and ginger root essential oils round out the spa-like formula. This pouch only contains enough salts for one foot-soaking session, so you might want to stock up on a few.
Studies referenced:
Babar Ali, Naser Ali Al-Wabel, Saiba Shams, Aftab Ahamad, Sha Alam Khan, Firoz Anwar. Essential Oils Used In Aromatherapy: A Systemic Review - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2221169115001033
One Week of Magnesium Supplementation Lowers IL-6, Muscle Soreness and Increases Post-Exercise Blood Glucose in Response to Downhill Running. Charles James Steward, Yue Zhou, Gary Keane, Matthew David Cook, Yunyi Liu, Tom Cullen - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31624951/
