A couple of weeks ago I was clicking around on the web and stumbled upon this article over at Duxbury Farm girl for Homemade Shower Discs. I’d never heard of such a thing, and commented that I loved the idea and would give it a try next time we had a cold run through the house.
Fast forward about 9 days. I woke up feeling a little stuffy, but nothing major. That night we took the kids out trick-or-treating. And true to New York State tradition…it was cold and rainy. This exacerbated the cold, and I woke up on November 1st with a full on chest cold. So it didn’t take long for me to have the opportunity to try out some shower discs of my own. Ask and you shall receive. 
So I made up some of these, and am taking some of the elderberry syrup that I made a few weeks ago when my youngest had a cold. Those things combined with running a humidifier at night have made it so that we haven’t needed any store bought cough syrups or pharmaceutical treatments (so far) this cold season. Our colds aren’t lasting as long, and when we do get sick, the symptoms just aren’t as bad as they usually would be. (happy mama!)
The base of these little discs is just water and baking soda. Then you can add whatever essential oils you’d like into it, in whatever strength you prefer. For children, the standard recommendation is to cut the dose of essential oils in half, so I’d probably just break one of these discs in half for them.
Recipe:
– 3 parts baking soda
– 1 part water
Mix the baking soda and water. The mixture is pretty gloppy. That’s what you’re going for. Line a muffin tin, or any kind of similarly sized mold with plastic wrap or cupcake liners and pour the mixture in. Let it sit overnight to harden. In the morning they’ll be ready for the essential oils. I added 15 drops of eucalyptus oil and 10 drops of lavender oil to each disc since those are my favorite cold busting EO’s.
Put one of these discs on the floor of your shower and hop in. They’ll dissolve pretty quickly, but the aroma of the oils remains and continues to do their work.
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Great post. This sounds so simple and easy to do. It would be great to give as a gift too. I am going to try this just for the aroma. Thanks for sharing. Visiting from Wildcrafting Wednesdays. Pinned & twitted.
I was thinking they’d make great gifts, too. There are so many different oils you could use for different purposes (relaxation, mood lifting, headaches etc.).
I’ve just put a drop of peppermint eo in the far corner of the shower and have loved it, but this looks great for gift giving! I love to see other folks who love essential oils!
I’ve been slowly building up our supply of essential oils over the years, and I never seize to be amazed at the different things you can use them for…and how WELL they work compared to pharmaceutical or other options. My EO cabinet has definitely become my most visited cabinet throughout the day, for so many reasons and uses! Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
What a great idea. I’m going to have to try this!
Great post. Congrats on being chosen as a featured post on this week’s Wildcrafting Wednesdays! I hope you’ll join us again and share more of your awesome posts.
https://www.herbanmomma.com
Thank you!
I am making these for my mom, who seems to always battle a cold/cough nowadays!
Hi Tracy, I hope your mom finds them helpful!
Great idea! Would these work for cold water? Not ice cold of course but we do not have any heating system, live in Africa and water that comes from a black tank outside can be luke warm to cold depending on the weather outside.. I wonder it would be enough to activate the essential oils..
Hi Nihal- I’m not sure if this would work with cold water because I think it’s the steam that carries the oils into the air. However, if you boiled a pot of water, then lowered it to a simmer and put one of these in…that might work!
How do you store them/how long will they keep if you don’t need them that often? Should I only make a few at a time, like 3-6? Thanks!