Bubble bath went from a 1930s stage prop to a 1960s supermarket regular, and now it sits beside salts, soaks and oils. Here are four foaming washes, four soaks and salts, and four oils and milks for a slower bath.
Bubble Bath Grew Up: Foams, Soaks and Oils for a Proper Soak
Bubble bath has a surprisingly theatrical history. The earliest foam baths were made with soap flakes, and one of the first publicized uses of a modern foaming agent in a bath was on stage, in the original 1936 production of the play The Women. By the 1960s, children's bubble bath filled supermarket shelves, and Mr. Bubble arrived in 1961 as a grocery-store bottle. The grown-up version is quieter. Maude, founded by Éva Goicochea after work in health policy and at Everlane, makes a pH-balanced, fragrance-free wash that doubles as a bubble bath, which is the one I would pick for sensitive skin. Susanne Kaufmann, a fifth-generation hotelier in Austria's Bregenzerwald, first made her line for her family hotel's spa, and the mallow blossom foam is the foaming one, with rosemary, sage and cedarwood. L'Occitane's lavender foaming bath is the relaxing classic, and Santa Maria Novella, which goes back to Dominican friars in Florence in 1221, makes a bath gel scented with its Rosa Novella perfume. Pour the foam under the running tap for the most bubbles.
Soaks and salts
Salts are for the nights when bubbles feel like too much. HigherDOSE started in 2016 as New York City's first infrared sauna, and its Serotonin Soak uses magnesium. Commune, from a couple in Somerset, England, makes its Seymour salts from Brittany sea salt, pink Himalayan salt and black lava salt, scented with lemongrass, grapefruit and Japanese hiba wood. Annee de Mamiel trained in acupuncture and aromatherapy, and her Anchor soak blends magnesium with Himalayan, Epsom and Dead Sea salts. Ortigia, the Sicilian soap and scent company, makes prickly pear bath salts that soften the water. A cup of any of these in a warm bath is enough.
Oils and milks, and the skip
The last row is for dry skin. Susanne Kaufmann's mountain pine oil draws on the Alpine ingredients her grandmother taught her about, and Aman's coconut milk bath comes from the resort group that started with Amanpuri, set in a coconut grove in Phuket in 1988. Kate McLeod, a former pastry chef, makes the Pebble, a solid bath and shower oil of cocoa butter that melts in warm water. Sangre de Fruta's salts are named after Bosch's painting The Garden of Earthly Delights, with an oil distilled from cedar off-cuts. What I would skip is combining bubbles and a bath oil in one bath. The oil flattens the foam, so choose one. Step out carefully, too, because oils make the tub slippery.
Running a better bath
Keep the water warm, not hot, and stay in for about 20 minutes. Add salts as the tub fills and oil at the end. Put your phone in another room. Moisturize within a few minutes of getting out, while your skin is still damp, and drink a glass of water afterward. Rinse the tub while it is still warm.
