DIY Essential Oil Shower Steamers Aromatherapy
These DIY essential oil shower steamers are the best aromatherapy shower steamers anyone can make! They are equally clarifying and calming with the bold, herbaceous aroma of sage.
Whether it’s stress or a lack of sleep that has you down, aromatherapy can turn it around. The use of aromatic plants and essential oils has been used for aromatherapy rituals in ancient cultures across the globe.
But it might surprise you how easy it is to experience the benefits of aromatherapy at home. In fact, your daily shower is one of the best places to partake in this ancient ritual.
With a little help from DIY essential oil shower steamers, you can create aromatherapy steam in your shower! Feeling the warm water wash down you while breathing in the equally clarifying and calming, bold, herbaceous aroma of sage will feel like a retreat. Or an escape as you declutter your mind and prepare for deep, restful sleep.
Keep reading to find out why I think this shower steamer recipe creates the best aromatherapy shower steamers anyone can make! As well as how to use shower steamers to create aromatherapy steam in the shower.
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What are shower steamers?
When it comes to relaxation at home, we all might picture a hot bath in a deep bathtub surrounded by candlelight and an endless fragrant bath bomb, fizzing and painting the bathwater in a rainbow of colors. And at the same time, infusing mineral-rich salts and nourishing oils into the water.
But, many of us are short on time it takes to fill a soaker tub, let alone light all the candles, and soak for at least half an hour.
Well, an aromatherapy shower steamer is the next best thing!
You see, shower steamers are essentially a bath bomb for your shower.
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What does a shower steamer do?
Similar to a bath bomb, shower steamers fizz, but they can release essential oils into the steam to create an amazing, aromatherapeutic experience.
And they happened to be easier to make than bath bombs and require fewer ingredients. Unlike a bath bomb, where you soak in the ingredients, a shower steamer is intended for breathing in the ingredients. So, you don’t need to add body oil or a fair amount of mineral salt, for example, as I do to make essential oil bath bombs.
Are shower steamers worth it? Absolutely, they are a great way to reap the benefits of aromatherapy during a routine shower without taking any extra time out of a busy day.
And the best aromatherapy shower steamers help you reboot, soothing the mind and body. I choose sage essential oil and dried sage leaves for these DIY shower steamers to purify and restore. They are another great way to use essential oils for better sleep.
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Sage Essential Oil Shower Steamer Benefits
For those of us who like to know more about essential oils, you might be interested to learn that the ancient Romans referred to sage, Salvia officinalis, as the “sacred herb” derived from the Latin word salvation. Which lends to use in clearing rituals that are still used today in the practice of smudging sage.
Maybe that’s why sage’s unique, bold aroma gives us purifying, restorative, calming feelings and is used as an herbal remedy to help improve anxiety and sleeplessness. Couldn’t we all use a little help with those from time to time?
Sage essential oil provides us with an easy alternative to smudging. It is directly distilled from sage leaves, and when you use it in a shower steamer, it will release into the steam and fill a space like the smoke of burning sage does.
How much essential oil do I put in a shower steamer?
I’ve found sixty drops of sage essential oil work best in this shower steamer recipe. But you can put a lot of essential oil in a homemade shower steamer. Because you aren’t applying it directly to the skin or bathing in it, you don’t need a carrier oil or need to worry about diluting it. If you don’t have enough sage essential oil, you can pair it with Palo Santo, sandalwood, juniper, or cypress for a very pleasing scent.
You can also create your very own unique essential oil blends for use as aromatherapy in shower steamers. Our essential oil blend charts for bath salts make a good jumping board!
Use these essential oil blends to create stress-free DIYs with our printable essential oil blend sheet from the Oily Chic Library.
How do you make steam showers with essential oils?
Here’s how to make shower steamers with sage essential oil for a clarifying yet calming aromatherapy steam that feels like a next-level spa experience.
Shower Steamer Ingredients
2 tablespoons mineral magnesium flakes
1 cup baking soda
1/2 cup citric acid
8 to 12 dried sage leaves
60 drops sage essential oil
Witch hazel in a spray bottle
How to Make Shower Steamers with Essential Oils
Use a handheld sifter or fine mesh strainer to remove clumps from 1 cup of baking soda as you add it to a large glass or metal mixing bowl.
Then add 1/2 cup of citric acid and 2 tablespoons of mineral magnesium flakes to the baking soda. Whisk well with a stainless steel whisk to combine.
Next, add sixty drops of sage essential oil (as a reference, a 5ml bottle of essential oil contains 100 drops, equal to 1 teaspoon) while whisking to incorporate it into the dry mixture thoroughly.
Then spritz the mixture with witch hazel from a spray bottle, whisking as you go (If the mixture begins to fizz or foam, slow down). Now, squeeze the shower steamer mixture in your hand; it’s ready if it holds its shape!
Place two or three dried sage leaves in each cavity of the round silicone mold. Then scoop the shower steamer mixture on top of the sage leaves. Use the bottom of a mason jar to press the mixture into the mold.
Then allow the shower steamers to dry uncovered in the silicone mold for 8 hours or overnight. Once dry, place a cookie sheet or wood cutting board on top of the shower steamers in the mold. Turn it upside down, and then as needed, gently press each shower steamer out of the mold.
Store in an airtight container in your bathroom until use in your shower.
Makes 6
How To Use Shower Steamers for Aromatherapy
Transform your shower and enjoy a moment to yourself with these tips on how to use shower steamers:
Where should a steamer be placed in a shower?
Place a shower steamer on the shower floor away from the direct spray of the showerhead. A place in the corner often works best because if you place a shower steamer under the water spray, it will fizz and dissolve too fast. Instead, you want small water droplets to slowly release the essential oils into the steam as it begins to fizz.
While the shower steamer is fizzing, inhale deeply and enjoy the benefits of aromatherapy.
How long do shower steamers last in the shower? Do shower steamers last more than one shower?
Depending on the size of a shower steamer, it will last between five to 10 minutes. These sage DIY essential oil shower steamers are quite large and will last at least 10 minutes.
It’s best to keep in mind that the ingredients in a shower steamer are designed to react with water and will begin fizzing and releasing the essential oils on contact with water. So, the lifespan of a shower steamer weighs heavily on how much water it comes into contact with.
Now it’s your turn to experience a next-level aromatherapy steam shower with these clarifying yet calming DIY essential oil shower steamers made with bold, herbaceous sage!
MORE ESSENTIAL OIL DIYS:
- DIY Body Shimmer Spray
- How to Make Foaming Hand Soap
- Essential Oil Roller Bottle Recipes
- Eucalyptus Diffuser Blends
- DIY Crystal Candle Bowl
P.S. Don’t forget the free blends printable chart above! And tag #oilychic on Instagram to share your essential oil DIYs with us.