Throwback Thursday: Soothing Oatmeal Tea Bags

Sometimes looking back at things we have made before can inspire us. Yesterday, Tina asked for advice about what to do with heat rash. Here is my suggestion for her request!

This soothing oatmeal tea bag has been a staple in my bathroom since I first made this recipe three years ago. It has lots of uses and I enjoy the calm feeling it gives my skin.

Summer is just around the corner. If you are like me, you have already received your first sunburns and bee stings all in one week. OUCH! I’ve been treating my painful sunburns with Bactine and my even more painful bee stings with Benadryl Itch Stopping Cream, but both of those stop working effectively the minute I get in the shower. Since I prefer my showers to take about 5 to 10 minutes, I was indecisive on which would be worse, terrible itching and pain for the duration of the shower or terrible BO and greasy hair for the next day at work. My pride won and I decided to take a shower. (I would bet my co-workers were relieved! 😉 )

As I was getting ready to take my shower I realized, “Whoa! Andee. What do you do for work? You probably have some things here at home that could make this shower less irritating. Go raid your stash and find something!” So … I listened to my inner voice and trotted off to my craft storage closet to rummage through my ingredients for something that would help my skin.

As I rummaged, I found Finely Ground Oatmeal, Calendula Petals, Milk Powder, Epsom Salts and Jumbo Heat & Seal Tea Bags. I decided all of these ingredients would make a great tea bag that would help calm my skin. Join me in the blog kitchen as I recreate this recipe for you!

Collect needed items:

Ingredients Oatmeal, Finely Ground Calendula Petals, Finely Ground* Milk Powder Epsom Salts

Equipment Jumbo Heat & Seal Tea Bags Mixing Bowl or Bucket Coffee Grinder or Mortar & Pestle Spoons Scale Iron

Recipe in ounces: 2.12 ounces Oatmeal, Finely Ground 0.35 ounces Calendula Petals, Finely Ground 1.76 ounces Milk Powder 2.82 ounces Epsom Salts

Recipe in grams: 60 grams Oatmeal, Finely Ground 10 grams Calendula Petals, Finely Ground 50 grams Milk Powder 80 grams Epsom Salts

Recipe in Percentages: 30% Oatmeal, Finely Ground 5% Calendula Petals, Finely Ground 25% Milk Powder 40% Epsom Salts

*When I first made this recipe, I used the whole Calendula Petals. That didn’t work very well as the Calendula Petals just sat on top of the mixture. I decided to grind the petals to make a powder instead. I put a small handful of Calendula Petals in my trusty soap kitchen coffee grinder and ground them until they made a fine powder. I had to do this several times until I had enough Calendula Petal powder for my recipe.

Weigh all the ingredients into a mixing bucket or bag. Mix thoroughly. After the ingredients have been mixed together, fill each Large Heat & Seal Tea Bag with 1 ounce of the tub tea mixture. Seal with the iron.

Notes:
I like to mix this in a 1 gallon pail with a lid. I put the lid on and shake the bucket. This recipe was fun to make and it filled 7 Large Heat & Seal Tea Bags.

How would you change this recipe? Would you add a fragrance, change the botanicals or something else? I would love to hear what you would do with this recipe!

Enjoy!