Regular tap water can be a source of many chemicals from chlorine to fluoride and many others. At our house, we have a water filter for our drinking water and that we conjointly use filters on shower heads.
Since most of our kids don’t seem to be the right age to require showers yet, I also wanted to find a good option for bath water. I’m yet to find a filter adapter for a bath tub, but I’ve told my dad (an engineer) that he needs to work on one of these!
In the meantime, I wanted to find ways to reduce the chemicals my kids were exposed to during bath time. My son had allergies and skin troubles since he was a baby (though we’ve almost completely eliminated them now) so this was especially important for him. Switching to more natural bath products and even bath bubbles helped, but I wanted to do something more…
Chemicals in Bath Water?
In the 1990s, the Environmental Protection Agency acknowledged that a person will absorb more chlorine and other contaminants from bath and shower water than even from drinking water polluted with the same substances.
Unfortunately, this puts kids most at danger, as some children bathe for 45 minutes or more several nights a week. Since children also have a larger surface-area-to-body-weight ratio, they may absorb chemicals more quickly and be more severely affected by them.
Children’s tissues, organs and biological systems are still developing, with several stages of rapid growth and development occurring from infancy to adolescence. This rapid development, combined with the immaturity of body organs and systems, predisposes children to potentially more severe consequences within certain age ranges and windows of vulnerability.”
These are the most common things we do to reduce the chemicals in bath water:
1. Vitamin C
Vitamin C is great for the immune system, but it can also play a role in reducing the chemicals in bath water. Most municipal water provides use Chlorine to help reduce the number of pathogens in the water.
Carbon block filters (like the one we use for drinking water) will remove chlorine, but they can be tough to use for shower/bath water. Another easy choice is to use Vitamin C to neutralize the chlorine in bath water. Vitamin C will also neutralize Chloramine (chlorine and ammonia) which is also often used in treating water and which can be more dangerous than Chlorine.
Two forms of Vitamin C will work to neutralize chlorine more effectively:
- The ascorbic Acid form of Vitamin C
- Sodium Ascorbate form of Vitamin C
If you are interested in the chemical reactions and the by-products, you can find them here. Personally, I prefer to use Sodium Ascorbate form (I use this one) since it has less of an effect on the pH, but either form will work.
Just a teaspoon of either of the above forms of Vitamin C should be enough to neutralize a tub of water and it is best to put the powder in for a 2-5 minutes before getting in the bath to allow it to work.
If you aren’t a fan of having to add the powder to the bath each time, there is actually a bath ball de-chlorinator that you can use to accomplish the same thing and it is good for over 200 baths!
2. Clay
Healing clays, like Bentonite Clay, bind to heavy metals in the body and help remove them. This same action can happen externally, and clay is often added to baths for detoxing.
One of my favorites is Bentonite Clay :
“Bentonite Clay is a unique clay due to its ability to produce an “electrical charge” when hydrated. Upon contact with fluid, its electrical components change, giving it the ability to absorb toxins. Bentonite is understood for its ability to absorb and remove toxins, heavy metals, impurities, and chemicals.
As Mountain Rose Herbs explains:
“Bentonite is a swelling clay. When it becomes mixed with water it rapidly swells open like a highly porous sponge. From here the toxins are drawn into the sponge through electrical attraction and once there, they are bound.”
I use Bentonite Clay to detox my hair and as a “shampoo” of kinds, but I also regularly add bentonite clay to my kids’ bath after removing the chlorine.
Note: Don’t use metal when dealing with Bentonite, as it makes it less effective. I mix 2 tablespoons of Bentonite Clay with water in a glass jar with a plastic lid and shake well. I then pour this into the bath after the chlorine has been removed. The two types of clay I’ve personally used and had good results
with are:
- Essential Living Bentonite Clay
- Redmond Clay
3. Salts & Minerals
I’ve written before (a lot) about magnesium (tired of hearing about it yet?). Due to depleted soil levels of magnesium and the use of synthetic fertilizers, many of us don’t get enough magnesium. One of the best ways to help kids avoid this problem is to add these minerals to their bath water.
At our house, this is what I do:
“I regularly add a cup of epsom salts or magnesium flakes and a few tablespoons of Himalayan salt to my kids baths. When I have the time, I take relaxing baths in this mixture also.
When I can’t take the time for a bath, magnesium oil also helps. Amazingly, I notice the advantage of transdermal magnesium (baths or magnesium oil) much more quickly than when I take internal forms of magnesium.
My favorite Magnesium Bath Recipe
- 1-2 cups of epsom salts or magnesium flakes(magnesium flakes are absorbed much more easily)
- 1/2 cup Himalayan or Sea Salt
- 1/2 tsp of natural vanilla extract
- 10-15 drops of essential oil of choice (I love lavender and mint)
I combine the salt and magnesium flakes and then sprinkle with the vanilla and essential oil. The whole mixture gets added to a warm bath, and I soak for at least 20 minutes, though 30 is preferable.I try to make time for this at least once a week, though my kids get it added to their bath each night. (Plus some homemade bubble bath.)
For intensive therapy (illness, eczema, etc.) these baths can be done daily, though you should check with a doctor if you have any medical conditions.”