Recipes for a milk bath???

March 20, 2006 10:56 PM

I am throwing an ecstatic poetry/prose party this weekend and want to have a milk bath. I have access to a lot of fresh milk but not enough to fill up a large tub. Are there ways I can mix with oils or other decoctions?

P.S. and if your in Los Angeles, you're invited.

posted by goalyeehah to Grab Bag (9 answers total)

What you want is this. Body Shop Milk Foaming Bath.

Not sure if you can get it delivered by the weekend, but there's no harm in trying. Hell. PayPal someone in Canada (I don't have a PayPal acc't or I'd offer), have them pop by a store and FedEx it to you.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 11:05 PM on March 20, 2006

Before I RSVP, what does a ecstatic poetry/prose party have to do with a milk bath?
posted by samh23 at 12:06 AM on March 21, 2006

Yeah, do you mean you're going to have a milk bath before your party? Or during your party? If during, is it a one-person milk bath performance or is the whole party expected to take turns between bouts of "ecstatic poetry/prose" (what?)?
posted by pracowity at 12:29 AM on March 21, 2006

Here’s one. In general, I guess that using powdered milk would be a good way of bulking out fresh milk.
posted by misteraitch at 2:17 AM on March 21, 2006

Response by poster: No reason. I just want to do it because I can and have never done it before. The bath is separate from the performances. Friends and performers come over, bring some food and wine and after about an hour we do the readings. The bath will be there for people to bathe at their own leisure. I am asking to bring their own towels. I like having different things at these events, which I call 'Riders of the Divine Yeehah" The last four we've had fashion and books swap which were met with huge delight. Events are small - no more than 15-20 people and are done at my duplex/yoga studio.
posted by goalyeehah at 9:48 AM on March 21, 2006

I just want to do it because I can and have never done it before. Awesome! I like your spirit. :)

I thought a milk bath was a mixture of milk and water, not pure milk. I took a milk bath at a B&B once, and their formula was one gallon of milk for a completely full tub (and this was one of those enormous, six foot long, deep clawfoot tubs). Milk was an old fashioned bath oil. The fat from the milk would coat the skin. (It doesn't really work with homogenized milk, so it was more an exercise in nostalgia than skin care.)

Besides, unless you are willing to heat up 40 or so gallons of milk, it would be a cold or at best tepid bath. Or you could buy powdered milk and reconstitute it in the warm bath water.

Do you have any essential oils? I've found sandalwood and lavander make a really nice bath oil. The two scents go together surprisingly well, and makes a scent that's both relaxing and refreshing.
posted by luneray at 10:05 AM on March 21, 2006

People are going to be bathing while everyone else is in another room?

Please be careful if you serve alcohol - I can imagine a lot of slipping and falling and/or sexual escapades in another room.

Unless you're cool with those too.
posted by agregoli at 10:19 AM on March 21, 2006

Use powdered milk. I think that what luneray says about it traditionally being just a little milk is probably right, but if you're doing some kind of decadent type thing, you should do what most people think of as a milk bath - a whole bath of the stuff.

I've done the powdered milk, and it was kind of blah. I mean, it was nice, but it wasn't really worth repeating. It was very milky though, and pretty cheap. Milk and lavender could be a really nice combination.
posted by crabintheocean at 10:46 AM on March 21, 2006

I think that you could soon smell very bad if you don't shower after.
posted by crabintheocean at 11:26 AM on March 21, 2006