Bath bomb redux

Soooo... I tested out the half-bomb from my black tea bomb batch. It fizzed great. However, there was a major issue. I had scented them at 2%, per Bramble Berry's fragrance calculator (using some random fragrance), for a medium-strength scent. They were way, way over-scented. Also, the fragrance oil was not emulsified, so when I set off the bomb in the sink, the oil all floated on the surface of the water. Since fragrance oils are concentrated and not meant (or indeed safe) to be used straight on the skin, I don't think they are usable. Aside from the fact that using it would be like a lemony tea kick in the face.

I tried again today with a smaller batch. (Is it possible to crush up and re-batch bath bombs the way you can with soap? I have 5 black tea bombs that could be diluted and emulsified....)

This time I made enough mix for just one bath bomb with some leftovers for making wee testers in an ice cube tray. I included some oat flour and powdered goat milk, polysorbate-80 and oatmeal, milk, and honey fragrance oil (at 1% this time). The polysorbate-80 should make this more of a foaming bath bomb than a fizzing one, but that's fine, it's meant to be a calming milk and oatmeal bath, not an exciting bubbly bath. ;)

The testers are like little bath bomb jujubes!

I definitely need to test this one before I let anyone use it. With a milk powder in it, there is a possibility that when it is put in water and the milk rehydrates that it might form curds due to the presence of the citric acid. Cheese is awesome, but not in the bath water. :D


UPDATE - Sept 6, 2016: I tried out one of the little tester bombs in a bowl of water yesterday. I made a video of it that I thought of uploading here, but the file was huge and was taking forever to upload from my phone to my Google Drive and I ran out of patience. Suffice it to say, it was a great success compared to the last batch. The bomb fizzed and foamed nicely. It smelled good and not overwhelming. The oils (FO and sweet almond oil I decided to include in this recipe) were reasonably well emulsified by the polysorbate-80, though perhaps I could use just a touch more. The milk powder didn't turn into curds and whey in the presence of the citric acid. And the only floaty bits were tiny pieces of ground oatmeal, which were 100% expected.

Verdict: Much better.