Make A Bath Even More Luxurious With One Easy Addition To The Water

After the mind-numbing stress of a long day at work or school, the one escape you can always count on is bath time. Soaking into a bath is a chance to refresh your skin, reenergize your mind, and relax from the day's troubles. If you want to get the most out of your bath time, there are several ways to elevate the experience. There are effervescent bath bombs that add unique scents to your water, wax melts for the perfect sensory experience, and a caddy to watch your favorite show with while you soak. But there is one more addition that can make your bath even better, and surprisingly, it's a baby care staple.

Baby oil is a moisturizing product made up of primarily mineral oil, which is an extra-purified by-product of the distillation of petroleum. It has been found to have great laxative benefits and is also great for the skin, per Cosmetics Info. While it is a staple for baby care and parents looking to moisturize and protect their newborn's skin, it turns out baby oil is not just specific to babies, as a good pour of the oil in your bath water can offer several benefits, including providing deep-rooted hydration to the skin. 

As it does for babies, baby oil can offer several benefits to your skin when used in bath water. One of these benefits is its ability to moisturize. As Healthline explains, baby oil moisturizes your skin by forming an occlusive, water-trapping barrier over it. Like a barrier cream, baby oil reduces transepidermal water loss or TEWL – a phenomenon where water evaporates through your skin. By doing this, the baby oil effectively traps moisture within your skin, keeping you hydrated for much longer. But that's not all baby oil is great for.

According to Skin Kraft Laboratories, using baby oil combined with vitamins A and E in your routine can also help soften your feet and banish unsightly cracked heels. Adding a few drops of baby oil to your warm bath water gives you the all-in-one job of adding hydration to your skin and repairing your feet from the stress of the day. Additionally, baby oil may help with the dry skin condition known as eczema. The National Eczema Association endorses using mineral oil in your routine due to its high oil content and soothing properties.

One thing to know about baby oil is that it may cause acne flare-ups in particular people, even though it's non-comedogenic. "While mineral oil is thought to be non-comedogenic (non-pore clogging), it is very occlusive and does promote acne in many acne-prone patients," dermatologist Dr. Blair Murphy-Rose tells Martha Stewart. This is because while the oil's molecular size makes it too large to clog your pores, it's also large enough to sit on your skin, causing other ingredients to become trapped. This could lead to clogged pores and cause your skin to flare up, especially if you're acne-prone. If you have skin conditions like psoriasis, where flare-ups are always possible, Dermalare does warn that baby oil can block the shedding of dead skin cells, which may make psoriasis worse. There's also the minor but annoying trouble of cleaning an oily tub after a relaxing bath. 

We recommend using only very few drops of baby oil in your bath only after conducting a patch test to ensure you're not allergic to or irritated by it. Once you have confirmed that baby oil is gentle enough for your skin without causing any flare-ups, you're well on your way to your most luxurious and skin-nourishing bath yet.