One of the things I learned from watching With Love, Meghan was that people can mix their own bath salts. It honestly never occurred to me, that you could use epsom salts as a base and mix in essential oils to create custom bath salts for yourself or your guests. Well, the Skincare/Bath Salt community is apparently up in rashy arms about Meghan’s DIY project, which was part of the first episode of WLM. Apparently, Meghan should have measured the arnica oil and lavender oil she used, and she should have added something else to stabilize the mixture… or something. Honestly, I’m not a dermatologist or a bath salt expert. But the Mail contacted several YouTubers (?) and they’ve all come to the conclusion that Meghan’s bath salt controversy will bring down the monarchy AND that this is the smoking gun to prove that Meghan doesn’t know what she’s doing about ANYTHING!
While many critics mock the inauthenticity of the duchess’ show, With Love, Meghan, some have found more serious fault with a potentially harmful do-it-yourself project. Herbalists and skin care specialists are red-flagging Markle’s bath salt mixture, which they fear may damage and even burn users’ skin.
‘Don’t try this at home!’ warned Jennifer Christopherson, a longtime esthetician and YouTuber who produced a video warning about Markle’s concoction. ‘I don’t even know if she really knows what she’s doing,’ she said.
The mixture of Epsom salt, Himalayan salt, arnica oil and lavender oil looks harmless enough. But the wanna-be princess turned wanna-be domestic diva fails to measure the ingredients, prompting one of her crew members to ask from off-camera, ‘Is there a certain amount of salt that I’m dealing with here?’ Markle doesn’t concern herself with specifics, saying only ‘Quite a bit’ because she is clearly winging the recipe.
‘I am not modest when it comes to the amount of salt I put in the bath,’ she tells him, looking a bit irked by his emphasis on measurements. As it turns out, her mixture doesn’t come close to filling the jar she planned to put it in. ‘Let’s bulk this up,’ she says, hurriedly adding several more scoops of Epsom salt to cover up for her miscalculation. She tops the jar with a dried lavender and rosebud-filled sachet, which she calls ‘a tea bag for the bath.’
Instead of comfort, however, many plant extractors and skin care experts are warning that Markle’s bath salt mixture may cause rashes, hives or even burns to the skin because she failed to add a so-called ‘carrier oil’ to ease the potentially volatile effects of arnica and lavender oils. Carrier oils such as those pressed from jojoba, coconut, almond, primrose or grapeseed dilute the plant compounds in essential oils, easing potentially irritating effects on the skin. Sellers of essential oils insist that those being used topically must be mixed with carrier oils in ratios of at least eight to one. Yet Markle seemed to use no carrier oil at all when drizzling her salt mixture with three drops of lavender, plus at least two full eye droppers – known as pipettes – of arnica oil.
Christopherson described that amount of undiluted arnica as ‘a crap ton.’
‘So that’s why I was just absolutely cringing when I was watching that,’ she said, noting in her 18-minute video that essential oils are ‘unregulated substances’ that, if overused, can irritate skin. You can’t just dump an essential oil in, give (it) to a friend and be, like, hey, have fun,’ Christopherson said.
A friend gifted me some facial “recovery oils” last Christmas and I tried one and I felt like a greasy mess and I haven’t touched the stuff ever again. I have sensitive skin – I break out in a rash just looking at poison ivy, and when I find a soap or lotion which doesn’t irritate my skin, I tend to just use that brand forever. I guess my point is that people know their own skin’s sensitivities and most people with sensitive skin aren’t going to try some homemade bath salts anyway. Meghan wasn’t telling people: this is the exact way to make DIY bath salts. She was offering an idea for gifts you can give your guests. It’s funny though, that the Mail is now clinging to this one thing as definitive “proof” of Meghan’s “inauthenticity.” They are Bath Salt Truthers! It reminds me of the Obama administration, and whenever Pres. Obama made one small mistake or misspoke in some minor way, people were screaming “IMPEACH!” It really is the same with Meghan – she throws together some bath salts without measuring and the Mail is like “NETFLIX NEEDS TO CANCEL HER SHOW.”
Photos courtesy of Netflix.
