Small wounds, sore muscles, swollen joints, headaches, PMS, rough/winter skin? Epsom salt, also known as magnesium sulphate, is an excellent go-to, at-home, spa remedy. Here are five ways in which I like to use it:
1. A Bath Soak after the Gym
Add 2 cups of epsom salt to a bath tub filled with water. The Hazelberry Skinfood Epsom Salts are scented with Bergamot and powdered rose petals are added for a luxury bath-time experience. Submerge your body in the the warm salt-soak for 15 minutes or more for a relaxing, soothing feel. You can also custom order our Epsom Salts with your scent preference. Choose from natural lavender essential oil, tea tree and lemon or perfumed oils like Turkish pomegranates and vanilla berry.
2. A Body Scrub
Mix together 1 cup of mango butter, 1 cup of coconut oil, and 1 cup of Epsom Salt. You can also add your favourite essential oil such as sweet orange essential oil or ylang ylang for a deliciously-scented scrub scent. Use the scrub in the shower and rinse off. This is a perfect exfoliant for use during the winter time.
3. Magnesium Oil
Actually, this recipe will not really result in a slippery, viscous solution. Because what it is: is epsom salt dissolved in water. Bring half cup of water to a boil in a pot on the stove and add half cup of epsom salt. Stir; let dissolve. When cooled, pour into a spray bottle. You can spritz it on the skin to relieve aches and pains.
4. Magnesium Balm
This is an easy combination of magnesium salts whipped together with soft oils and hard oils. You can choose your favourite hard oil (mango butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil, shea butter) and soft oils (camellia seed oil, flax seed oil, grapeseed oil) of your choice. For your recipe ,use a ratio of 70% hard oils to 10% soft oils and 20% epsom salts. Therefore, if you want a 100g yield of your recipe, then use a total of 70 g of the hard oils/butters and 10 g of liquid oils and 20 g of espom salt. As extras, you can also add a fragrance or essential oil of your choice and also a few drops of Vitamin E.
5. Magnesium Deodorant
If you are magnesium deficient, then an additional method of supplementing your magnesium (outside of ingesting or soaking your body in it) is to apply a skin balm or deodorant with magnesium salts in it.
- 1 tbsp magnesium oil
- 4 tbsp shea butter
- 5 tbsp arrow root powder or corn starch
- 1 tbsp and 1 tsp baking soda
- 20 drops essential oil of your choice (e.g. Make a blend with 5 drops tea tree oil, 5 drops lavender, 5 drops lemon oil, 5 drops geranium oil – it’s antibacterial + smells great!)
- Small pan and wooden spoon for mixing
- Deodorant tube or clean container
Place 4 tbsp of shea butter in a small pan on the stove top. Gently melt it down over a low heat. Don’t use high heat because you don’t want to burn the shea butter plus overheating destroys the skin-nourishing properties of the oils/butters. Once melted, turn off the heat, and add the baking soda, and arrow root powder. Stir well to form a creamy paste then stir in the magnesium oil and essential oils. Pour your creamy mixture into deodorant tubes or a glass container. If using a plastic container, then first completely cool your deodorant for 10 minutes. It will become more firm but you can still scrape it into the container. That’s it! Your DIY magnesium oil deodorant is ready! Let it set in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before use! If storing in a container, scoop out just a pea-sized amount each, and apply on clean underarms.