Best bath!

April 8, 2023 5:22 PM

I’ve never liked baths… but suddenly recently I’ve been drawn (get it?) to them. How to make a bath awesome?

I have a standard builder grade tub that doesn’t have good edges - the tub edge against the wall is only an inch wide, and the other edge is about 3 inches wide. I don’t feel like I need a “bath table” type gadget and I don’t think one would fit anyway.

I lie flat on my back with my knees up. I like having my neck and shoulders in the water but it’s uncomfortable on my neck which ends up mashed into a 90’ angle at the back of the tub. Any way to make this position more comfortable? I would be happy to buy a gadget as long as it doesn’t get slimy (like bath pillows sometimes do) and it stores well in a very small bathroom.

I usually fill the tub with hot water, nothing else. I feel like using other stuff will just, uh, be unfriendly to lady parts? Please feel free to convince me if I’m wrong.

For ambiance, I light a candle and scroll on my phone or watch tv on my laptop which I set on a chair. Occasionally I bring in a drink but it’s hard to enjoy it with my neck bent at 90’.

So- what might make me enjoy my baths even more than I already do? I’m quite new at this- until this month I haven’t had a bath since childhood!

posted by nouvelle-personne to Home & Garden (13 answers total)

I've also recently started enjoying baths! I do all the things you mentioned (and waiting on suggestions for neck support), with the addition of a bath bomb and a snack. I typically get the store brand Whole Foods bath bombs, which I find pleasant and nice for my skin without being Too Much. Favorite snacks lately have been a slice of cake with an iced coffee, or a Diet Coke and a bowl of chips (mine require caffeine because they happen during toddler naptime).
posted by i_am_a_fiesta at 6:22 PM on April 8, 2023

I like to use epsom salts! They dissolve quite nicely and feel really soothing and not at all unfriendly to my “lady parts”. I’m partial to Dr. Teal’s but any brand would do! There’s lots of varieties too, so you could get little pouches of different varieties to have choices.
posted by cruel summer at 6:33 PM on April 8, 2023 [13 favorites]

I am a long time bath lover and so my tastes have been evolved and made efficient over time :). First off, the water has to be the right temperature so you may want to invest ina cheap digital thermometer that helps you get your water to the right temp most efficiently. I take so many baths that bath bomba were getting too expensive but I like targets brand of bath epsom salts - not too $$$ and the coconut or eucalyptus varieties are nicely scented without being too much (I’ve never had any side effects from using these but a gentler way to soften and scent the water is a cup of oatmeal steeping in a sock(you’ll need a rinse off after an oatmeal bath though…)

you could use a bath towel rolled up for neck support. It will get all wet but that’s what towels do…
posted by Tandem Affinity at 6:36 PM on April 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

I am not a bath person but I do occasionally do it up fancy style.

For neck support, saturate and roll up a towel or two. Wring it out afterwards and hang to dry or toss directly into the wash. Downside is you have to do more laundry, upside is you can thoroughly sanitize them and don’t worry about plastic issues or inflatable things breaking down. Also it’s more customizable - try another one below the small of your back.

With regard to sensitive body parts and add-ins, that’s kind of dependent on you. Unless you’re getting fingers (or whatever) up there in the tub, you probably won’t get any bath water inside of you. This is because of the pelvic floor muscles, I believe? So if you have reason to believe yours are in a weakened state (recent pregnancy, injury, etc) then be more cautious. Some people are also more prone to things like UTIs and bacterial vaginosis and similar than other folks, and you probably know if that’s you or not. If none of these factors concern you, just rinse off your external genitalia with plain water after your bath and you should be okay to add things to your soup.

An extra gentle bath add in is colloidal oatmeal, which feels a bit strange at first but is lovely and calming, so that might be a good one to start with. Stay away from anything minty, because oh my gosh is that an irritant on your mucus membranes. If you have a favorite scent, I’d go with candles or a wax melt situation and keep the bath scent free, since the essential oils in most heavily scented things are usually skin irritants. Epsom salts can feel nice and you can use it as a scrub to help exfoliate your feet and such, but they don’t do all the things they claim to do.

Usually when I take a bath I’m enduring migraine prodrome. For whatever reason, having a tall glass of ice water to drink while I’m submerged in a hot bath can really help. Something about temperature calibration? I really don’t know, but do yourself a favor and occasionally have an ice cold drink in the bath, like a fancy iced tea or even a daiquiri.

You might want to invest in a waterproof phone case. That way you can do stuff like control your tablet with your phone like a remote, play music, or even games in the bath without being nervous about dropping it. And it’s useful outside of just the bath scenario, unlike a tub accessory.
posted by Mizu at 6:39 PM on April 8, 2023 [4 favorites]

I love baths, but it sounds like I approach then a bit differently than you do - I’m usually sitting up (and sometimes leaning back on a towel), I always add something to the water (bath salts/oils/bombs/bubble bath etc), I always have something cold to drink (sometimes alcohol sometimes not). Often I’ll light candles and turn off the lights.

Also, I frequently use that time to write. I have waterproof fieldwork notebooks (Rite in the Rain brand) that can be written on perfectly legibly when soaking wet. It’s wonderful to have no access to any of the things that normally distract me from writing.
posted by showbiz_liz at 6:40 PM on April 8, 2023 [2 favorites]

Bring a bath sheet into the bath with you and use it as a blanket -- it's wonderful!
posted by jgirl at 7:14 PM on April 8, 2023 [2 favorites]

I am not going to recommend specific ones, but there are a lot of fun light-up bath toys our there. It's silly and cute. I have found them a nice addition to whatever else I'm doing. It's more ambiance and it's playful.

I don't find a huge issue with add-ins when it comes to my female parts but your mileage may vary. I tend to use pretty natural stuff, though, so no synthetic fragrances/etc. I'm not using them every night, though, but maybe once or twice a week.

(Sadly, due to current reality, my favorite bath experience of reading and therefore destroying a fashion magazine isn't really a thing anymore.)
posted by edencosmic at 8:41 PM on April 8, 2023

I use a bath tray to hold my drink, snack and book (or phone, or Switch, depending on my mood). I love bringing a cold snack like refrigerated fruit or oddly, frozen peas, to contrast with the hot water.

I also really like the overflow cover to get a few more inches of water. I believe I found out about this from Metafilter as well!
posted by Paper rabies at 8:46 PM on April 8, 2023 [5 favorites]

I will second the overflow cover! It's such an essential part that I forget this is not everyone's bath experience!
posted by edencosmic at 9:01 PM on April 8, 2023 [4 favorites]

You can also get a bath pillow with a terrycloth cover (or wrap one in a towel) to avoid slimy texture. Always dry them thoroughly between baths. Mine is filled with polyesterene beads, more comfortable than the inflatable ones.

Thirding overflow cover, and get a jute glove because once you soak it in the bath water for a few minutes, it's the best and luxurious exfoliation. Also a reading light lets you turn off the overhead light.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 1:00 AM on April 9, 2023

You might be interested in Japanese ofuro baths. These are less long than Western baths - but they are deeper. Japanese people tend to take a bath at night before bed - and they will often shower before the bath to get clean. The ofuro is about the pleasure of soaking.
posted by rongorongo at 1:58 AM on April 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

....So I can't really take baths in my current apartment, and I leave for a trip tomorrow and went out of my way to book a place based on what the tub in the room was like, so I could indulge in the baths I've been missing - and I even bought a few things to get more into it. An overflow cover is indeed one of the things I've packed.

I've had similarly narrow tub walls in prior apartments, and a bath tray thus didn't work for me either. I sometimes just got a little stool and put it next to the tub, or even just a little box that would hold things at a comfortable enough height or me to reach from the bath. Then you can just get a cheap serving tray (Ikea has nice ones of all shapes and sizes, and some are only two dollars), load it up with tea/juice/fruit/whatever, and put it on the box or stool; and after the bath, you can put away the stool/throw out the box and use the tray for other things too.

As for this, now -

I usually fill the tub with hot water, nothing else. I feel like using other stuff will just, uh, be unfriendly to lady parts?

So, I'm a bit more prone to yeast infections than usual, but anything I put in my baths NEVER triggered one. (In fact, the culprit was usually if I used glycerin-based lube for anything.) Unless you are deliberately holding your vulva open, it's really hard for anything to get up in there. Once in a blue moon you may find a bubble bath that might be a little irritating to the outside, but that's VERY rare and would be unique to you; all you need do is stop using the thing. (The only time such irritation happened to me it was just a little itchy, and I stopped using that bubble bath and that was all that happened.)

If you're still uncomfortable with the thought and want to play it safe, then bath herbs or "tub teas" are an option. You just steep a handful or two of some herbs in a pot of hot water for about 20 minutes before your bath, and then you draw the bath, strain the herbs out of the pot, and pour that "tea" into your bath. Or, some companies make up "tub tea bags" - bundles of these herbs in a big cloth or paper bag like a tea bag, and you literally drop a bag into your bath while it's filling like it's an enormous mug of tea. Or you could slice up a couple lemons or oranges and throw them in. Or a pouch of powdered milk. Or a can of coconut milk. There are all sorts of claims about the benefits of various herbs or milk on your skin, but I honestly haven't noticed anything but an aesthetic benefit; and that's totally fine. (I bet a couple of sliced limes and a can of coconut milk would be mad fun - it'd be like taking a bath in a giant pina colada!)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:32 AM on April 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

Lots of good advice/options here!

To add into the mix: I will add that I like to boil a kettle of water and bring it into the bathroom to heat up the water mid-soak.
posted by vividvoltage at 6:25 PM on April 12, 2023