Mother's Day - Bath Treatment

Posted by Jennifer W. Miner May 6, 2006

I discovered my love for soothing nighttime baths many years ago, longer than I'd like to admit in public. Around the same time, I also discovered that The Body Shop in my neighborhood was selling an assortment of bath beads in rainbow colors. Rose, lavender, jasmine and sandlewood were my favorites of the bath beads, and half the fun may have been the act of purchasing them. The Body Shop had their bath beads arranged in apothacary-style glass jars, and I would scoop out my choices from the colorful array. It was like a candy store (even better, because I could "sample" the eye liners too).

I would often buy some on the way home, after a stressful day at my job, as a way to help me unwind and forget the demands of the workday. You know the deal; Drop two or three in the tub, wait for the gelatin casings to dissolve, then -ahhhh, the senses relax as the scented bath oil works its magic. The scents of the floral bath oils at The Body Shop are not at all subtle; they follow along the hit-you-over-the-head-with-a-mallet theory of perfumery. In retrospect, I probably stunk up my bathroom to a larger degree than I pretended not to notice back then. But they were an affordable luxury for a young woman just getting started in New York City, and I look back upon my bath-bead-therapy fondly. Well, mostly fondly. The day after a long soak, I'd often slip and almost break my neck while taking my morning shower, and it took me an embarrassingly long time to put two and two together. Hmm, oil is slippery, isn't it? Once I realized that I would have to follow a luxury bath experience with a sturdy sponge and a bottle of Clorox, the magic was gone. Nothing kicks me back into real life faster than scrubbing out a bathtub. THAT can't be relaxing for anyone!