Lake Austin Spa Resort
An aromatic herbal bath is one of the most pleasurable and therapeutic ways of cleansing the skin. Herbs can invigorate and stimulate circulation, or relax and soothe muscles, unwinding the body for a peaceful night's rest. You can select herbs for healing treatments or simply for the pleasure of their aroma.

Try to keep your bath temperature close to that of your body; if it is too hot, the skin will perspire and will not absorb the therapeutic herbal properties. To get most benefit, relax in the water for at least ten minutes.

Although it seems romantic to sprinkle scented leaves and flowers directly onto the water, you may find that you emerge from such a bath like a creature from the swamp, with plant bits clinging to your body. Instead, the easiest way of adding herbs to a bath is to hang three or four herbal tea bags from the tap, or to place a small herb-filled tea infuser in the water. Or you can create your own drawstring herb bag with a square of cheesecloth. You can use a single herb or mix up to four in one bath.

For a body scrub, add a little fine oatmeal or bran to the herb bag and rub it over your body. Some of the most soothing herbal bath treatments include chamomile, rosemary, peppermint, thyme, lavender, lime flower and marigold.