You might be very curious to know how long do homemade bath bombs last?
In short, it totally depends on what ingredients you put in them.
The main sources are baking soda and citric acid and the good news is that both of these ingredients have a long shelf life.
Citric acid might start to lose its concentration after about 6 months and gradually within the time period too.
Rule Of Thumb
To answer the question “how long do homemade bath bombs last?”.
Well, it’s around 6 months.
But as said previously it largely depends on the ingredients you put in them.
Increase The Shelf Life
Just to clarify when we talk about how long do homemade bath bombs last what we’re essentially talking about is premature fizzing, expiration and of course a dud experience.
Bath bombs should be stored in a cool and dry place away from any sort of moisture to avoid premature fizzing.
For expiration, you must use the bath bombs as early as possible and always make them with fresh ingredients. Dud experience usually happens when you store the bath bombs for so long that it dissipates the fizzing and fragrance power it once contained.
They should be better packaged in air-tight container so the moisture in air cannot affect the bath bombs and thus increases the shelf life.
Epsom Salt Vs Kosher Vs Table Salt Shelf Life’s
Table salt is known to have an indefinite shelf life. Meaning they can’t become worse as the time passes comparing to other salt types exception would be kosher and sea salt.
But, the problem is table salt is denser and thus if you use them in your bath bombs, chances are your bath bomb might not be able to float well or couldn’t at all on the surface of the water.
Does Iodized Salt Affect Shelf Life Of Bath Bombs
Absolutely, salts like kosher or sea salt can also last forever. Even general salts doesn’t have any expiry date and that’s why you see “best before” instead of “expiry” on back of the packaged salt.
However, when salt combined with iodine actually reduces the shelf life of it and makes it usable in less than 5 years.
Role Of Essential Oils
Selecting the proper oil for your bath bomb can also contributes greatly to the shelf life of your bath bombs.
Estimated shelf life of various essential oils:
- Basil – 3 years
- Melissa – 3 years
- Bergamot – 3 years
- Myrrh – 6 years
- Blue Tansy – 3 years
- Neroli – 3 years
- Cardamom – 4 years
- Orange (sweet) – 1 year
- Cedarwood – 6+ years
- Oregano – 3 years
- Cinnamon Bark 4 years
- Patchouli – 10+ years
- Chamomile, German – 4 years
- Pepper (black) – 6 years
- Copaiba – 6 years
- Peppermint – 4 years
- Elemi – 3 years
- Rosalina – 3 years
- Fennel (sweet) – 3 years
- Rose (otto) – 6 years
- Frankincense – 2 years
- Rosemary – 3 years
- Geranium – 4 years
- Sandalwood (East Indian) – 6+ years
- Ginger – 6 years
- Helichrysum – 4 years
- Spearmint – 4 years
- Juniper Berry – 3 years
- Tea Tree – 2 years
- Lavender – 4 years
- Valerian – 5 years
- Lemon – 1 year
- Vetiver – 6+ years
- Lime – 2 years
- Wintergreen – 6 years
- Mandarin – 1 year
- Ylang Ylang – 4 years
Wrapping It Up
So now you know how long do homemade bath bombs last? They can last for 6 months generally but, depend on how you store them and what you’ve put in them makes a tremendous difference.
