If you’ve landed here you already know what we know: there is no better self-care for a terrible day than a long, hot bath. But truly effective CBD bath products take your bath time to the next level. You’ve probably heard about the harmony between CBD and skincare. Now, let’s talk about CBD and bath time.
CBD bath products generally work by infusing your bath water with cannabidiol (CBD). The skin absorbs CBD easily in the hot water for additional calming and pain soothing effects.
And although CBD comes in many forms, allow us to convince you to try CBD bath products—exactly because we couldn’t figure out why anyone would bother, at first. Not until we tried them!
But when it comes to overall relaxation, skincare, vibe, pain relief, and relief for tired muscles, nothing beats a hot bath with one of these CBD bath products. A CBD bath is especially useful for anyone looking to microdose and soothe the skin, bypass the GI system, and stay away from the lungs.
Each of the best CBD bath products we review here are made using CBD oil from organic hemp plants and other essential oils. Every brand tests its products for purity and content through third-party labs, so you know exactly what you’re getting: the stated serving of CBD without any heavy metals, pesticides, or other toxins.
Enhance your relaxation with these CBD bath products:
- Joy Organics CBD Bath Bombs
- CBDfx CBD Bath Salt
- Mission Farms CBD Bath Soaks
- CBD American Shaman CBD Bath Bomb
- CBD Living CBD Soap
- Koi CBD Hemp Extract CBD Bath Bombs
Joy Organics CBD Bath Bombs
One thing hits you right away with Joy Organics CBD bath bombs: the amazing smell. These you can smell right through the wrapper, and the high-grade lavender essential oils create an aroma that is intense and familiar yet soothing and natural. It’s not too flowery or sweet at all—really spot on.
[Side note: had this been chamomile, I might never have left the house again.]
These little globes about the size of an old-school gumball start fizzing immediately as they touch the hot bath water and even more of the fragrance hits the air. Unfortunately, it takes only around 15 to 20 minutes before the aroma to start to dissipate—this may be partly why they are individually wrapped, to preserve their freshness.
Each bath bomb contains 25mg of CBD. Keep them in their wrappers to maintain potency until you’re about to take your bath. The 25mg potency is about on par with other CBD bath bombs on the market today.
Since the bath bomb starts to fizz immediately, drop it in when you’re already in the tub. It’s most fizzy for around five minutes, and then it melts fairly quickly. The result is bathwater that is infused with a fragrant, fresh, moisturizing oil that contains cocoa butter in addition to the hemp. Soak for long enough that your skin has time to absorb that oily layer, and in the meantime it will end up smelling fragrant and feeling luxuriously moisturized.
It takes about 25 to 30 minutes for a hot bath to start to feel cool, and in that time, you’ll start to feel the effects from the CBD in the bath bomb. Will you feel a full 25mg worth of effects? No, of course not! But that’s really not the point.
[Note: When our tester tried this CBD bath bomb, it was after a truly difficult day. She had to build a physical structure in her yard, and she threw out her shoulder doing it. She also has skin allergies and other sensitive skin issues. With an actual minor injury and sore basically everywhere, she dropped the bath bomb into the bath and soaked.]
At the time of the bath, the tester had several patches of dry, itchy skin that are eczema, and also some itchy spots from allergic reactions to bug bites and plant scrapes. Within around 15 to 20 minutes, the tester experienced some relief from the inflammation and redness in those areas. The itching mostly stopped.
For the tester, by the time it naturally felt like it was time to get out of the bath (because it was cooling off), the CBD was also working internally. Although pain from the injury was still there, it was far less notable. And the overall tension was mostly gone.
These effects lasted for most of the night, say five or six hours, like a tincture would work. We recommend Joy Organics CBD Bath Bombs for anything that you find responds to CBD at a low to moderate serving size, or that might benefit from topical treatment.
Each box contains four bath bombs, each with 25mg of CBD, at just shy of $20. That’s about $0.20 per milligram of CBD. We found Joy Organics Bath bombs to be effective, gentle for even very sensitive skin, and made with natural, wholesome ingredients. These are the best CBD bath bombs for our money.
CBDfx CBD Bath Salt
This is a no frills, all action alternative to the bath bomb, with all of the health benefits CBD, other essential oils, and mineral-rich Celtic sea salt have to offer your skin. Bonus: the salt itself works like an exfoliator or similar beauty product, especially teamed up with the best CBD soap, body wash, or even coconut oil.
Each pouch of CBDfx CBD bath salt is infused with 100mg of high quality, organically grown CBD along with organic botanical extracts like lavender essential oil. Your sore muscles get their relief faster thanks to hot water which opens your skin’s pores and the natural electrolytes from the Celtic sea salt.
We love this product because it’s both luxurious and utilitarian. I mean you feel like you’re at the spa, yet you’re exfoliating your skin, opening up your pores and getting your CBD in, and moisturizing too. That’s useful!
History in the form of the Roman Baths actually inspires this traditional way of relaxing and getting past stress. CBDfx Hemp Tranquil Soak Bath Salts takes that to the next level with 100mg of independent, third-party lab-tested, solvent-free CBD per bag.
CBDfx believes in transparency, and reveals testing results for every single product and batch. They also use 100% natural ingredients and hand-picked botanicals such as organic bergamot, jasmine, and lavender essential oils.
Another consideration is this is neither broad-spectrum nor full-spectrum CBD, but isolate. This means there is no THC at all, and no chance of failing a drug test. On the other hand, there is also no chance of other cannabinoids working together with CBD to produce the entourage effect.
Still, in addition to the three for one punch we get from the salts and the quality and transparency you get from the CBDfx product, this is what we love about the product: the other botanicals. You get a feast for the senses thanks to the well-thought out aromatherapy and relaxation benefits of these botanicals. Bergamot, jasmine, and lavender smell absolutely wonderful together, but they also help soothe skin and stress or sour moods. Overall, a wonderful product.
Mission Farms CBD Bath Soaks
In a CBD industry that is more flooded with products every day, Mission Farms CBD has created some truly unique CBD bath products. Each product starts with a premium CBD oil infused with essential oils—and the goat milk shavings send this bath soak into the blissfully creamy stratosphere. (Goat milk is high in MCT, which bonds beautifully with CBD.)
But let’s start with quality. Mission Farms runs their own top-shelf hemp farms in the Bend, Oregon region. They manage each step of production, including grow and harvest, processing and extraction, and shipping.
Central Oregon’s nutrient-rich, volcanic soil enables Mission Farms to grow big, healthy hemp plants that the team tends and harvests by hand, without chemicals or pesticides. All Mission Farms products are subject to independent third-party lab testing at three stages: hemp, extract, and every final product. You can see the results right on the site.
Now let’s get to next-level luxury. Mission Farms CBD Bath Soaks are seriously enough to turn a meh day into a Me Day. Between the CBD, essential oils, and goat milk, you truly get the ultimate bath experience, like being at the spa in house.
The CBD eases discomfort, reduces inflammation, and relaxes stress. The goat milk makes your skin feel like something you want to touch. And each bath soak is designed to treat something specific:
Rest CBD Soak induces sleep with organic lavender, while Relax CBD Soak calms the nervous system with grapefruit and ylang-ylang. Relieve CBD Soak reduces inflammation and discomfort with eucalyptus and spearmint, while Pure CBD Soak soothes even the most sensitive skin with oatmeal and honey.
This couldn’t be easier to use, either. Just run your hot bath and drop the bath soak in. It melts right into the water and it smells incredible. Each jar contains 300 mg of muscle soothing CBD.
We really love Mission Farms CBD bath soak and find it to be a unique CBD bath product, even just for the goat milk alone. Especially if you’re looking for a fuller terpene profile than most CBD products offer, especially in your bath, Mission Farms should head up your list.
CBD American Shaman CBD Bath Bomb
Another excellent CBD bath bomb option comes from CBD American Shaman. This bath bomb starts with organic non-GMO hemp, CO2 extraction, and proprietary nanotechnology to generate another excellent CBD bath bomb option.
The American Shaman bath product line, like the company’s other products, allows customers with disabilities and/or chronic illness and financial hardship to apply for the Compassionate Care Program. With the CCP, you may get 30% off all products on orders above $34.99.
American Shaman sources its hemp from organic, non-GMO farms in Colorado and Kentucky. The hemp then goes through proprietary nanotechnological processes and CO2 extraction to create the company’s water-soluble CBD tinctures. Each batch of products is tested in-house using ultra performance convergence chromatography.
Each 30mg bath bomb also comes with other natural ingredients to create an overall mood and retreat. CBD American Shaman CBD bath bombs are available in Lavender/Lilac, Oatmeal, and Tea Tree/Mint—and we were surprised that we enjoyed Oatmeal most. It still had a mild, pleasantly sweet smell, and it left our skin really soft.
CBD Living CBD Soap
Check out our post on why you should give CBD soap a try here. But without going into too much detail, CBD Living makes what we think is the best CBD soap on the market right now.
CBD soap makes the cannabinoid bioavailable and easy to absorb into the skin, and you can check out the results from detailed lab testing on the CBD Living website. Every bar has 60 mg of CBD, plus coconut oil, natural fragrances, oat protein, purified water, and other natural ingredients—absolutely nothing that will bother your skin, though.
Our favorite was the Lavender CBD Soap, which was really fresh smelling. Also, bergamot is known for its anti-inflammatory, hypoallergenic, healing benefits.
However, the soap also comes in coconut-lime, eucalyptus, and amber bergamot, so try away! At $14.00, it’s not an unachievable luxury, and shipping is free for all orders over $115.
Koi CBD Hemp Extract CBD Bath Bombs
If you’re the kind of person who gets a lot of joy from a colorful koi fish dissolving in your tub—and yeah, we are—then you are going to love Koi CBD Hemp Extract CBD Bath Bombs. Part of the reason a CBD bath bomb works is that it creates an entire relaxing, joyful experience, and these relaxing CBD bath bombs have a lot of fun in them, too.
Koi CBD bath bombs are each infused with moisturizers like coconut oil and 100 mg of CBD. These come in three different scents: lemon-lime and lavender; orange, citrus, and lavender; and peppermint, eucalyptus, and lavender. Strangely, although none of us expected to like the peppermint, we did! And the other aromas were great, too—but that peppermint was surprisingly delightful.
Every batch of Koi CBD that goes into these bath bombs is tested by third-party, ISO accredited labs to ensure quality multiple times during production. All test results, for both potency and purity, are publicly available on the website.
CBD and Relaxation
Cannabidiol (CBD) is a non-psychoactive cannabinoid. It occurs naturally in both hemp and marijuana plants—both of which are varieties of cannabis.
CBD can have potential health benefits for people with anxiety—or who just want to relax. This is because supplementing with CBD may help support the naturally-occurring endocannabinoid production in the body. This in turn helps support the many functions of the endocannabinoid system (ECS), which also greatly impacts relaxation and stress.
In fact, the ECS modulates the fight or flight response, affecting how our bodies respond to stress. For example, the ECS is related to how much of the stress hormone cortisol we produce, and how quickly we recover after a stressful event.
How CBD Can Enhance Baths
For thousands of years, humans (and even other primates!) have understood the many benefits of a hot bath. Whether you bathe to unwind mentally, wash up, ease into sleep, or relieve stiff muscles, you may believe you already know all there is to know about the healing power of bathing.
However, a CBD bath could be an even more soothing way to relax, according to science—not to mention word of mouth. And if you’ve been wanting to try CBD in a relatively safe, low-impact way, a hot bath is an ideal option.
Just about anyone can enjoy the benefits of a CBD bath, even those who need to avoid eating cannabis and hemp products or smoking. To relieve the stress or pain of strenuous travel, a difficult day, or even an intense workout without any risk of getting high, a CBD bath is a great choice.
CBD Bath Benefits
You already know that research proves the benefits of CBD: this cannabis-derived plant substance promotes calm and homeostasis throughout the body. But what does it have to do with bathing?
Heat boosts CBD’s anti-inflammatory properties. Whether you’re treating pain or eczema, the root cause of the issue is inflammation. You can speed the process of absorbing CBD into the bloodstream through the skin by dissolving a CBD-infused product, such as a bath bomb or bath salts, into hot water and soaking in it.
Heat also causes the blood vessels to dilate, further enhancing absorption of CBD and any other botanicals in your bath water. It also helps open your airways and relax your muscles, improving respiration. Literally making you breathe easier relaxes you and furthers the anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving effects of the CBD.
And of course many other ingredients in CBD bath products have their own proven effects. Bath salts in particular promote healing, deliver minerals to the body, and help relieve soreness after a workout, for example.
The skin absorbs CBD more efficiently compared to how the body absorbs oral CBD tinctures, delivering more direct, quicker results. Of course applying a topical is a great idea when you have a local source of pain, like a sore muscle. But thanks to this improved absorption, CBD in the bath can deliver systemic effects to the entire body, and quickly, if you get the right products.
CBD also works in tandem with other therapeutic ingredients in bath products. For example, many of the plant extracts in these products promote relaxation, and many assist in penetrating pores and detoxifying the skin.
How Do CBD Bath Bombs Work?
CBD Bath Bombs are a topical product just like CBD massage oil, CBD face cream, or CBD lotion. In fact, most bath bombs contain dehydrated versions of moisturizing CBD products that CBD extract suspends well in, because the cannabinoid is not water-soluble. This means you’ll need the bath bomb to dissolve into an oil of some kind to soak in that holds the CBD.
In contrast to edibles such as gummies and tinctures which have to get past the GI system, topicals interact with the cannabinoid receptors in the skin. This means the skin absorbs the CBD from these products, allowing it to work more readily, but it also means the CBD in topical bath products rarely reaches the bloodstream and brain in the same way as other CBD products.
Researchers believe CBD applied topically may have therapeutic effects thanks to its potential antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties. It’s certainly true that hot water opens pores and may allow the CBD to penetrate more deeply into the skin.
Baths are scientifically proven to:
- calm the brain and nervous system
- help balance hormones
- help you breathe easier
- improve gastrointestinal health
- improve heart health
- moisturize the skin and hair
- soothe muscles
The use of topical CBD products have been scientifically proven to promote greater physical and mental health and well-being. Most CBD bath products are less potent than typical topicals such as CBD creams, CBD balms, CBD rubs, and related products. In other words, do not expect as much of an effect as you would from rubbing a potent topical on a painful spot.
On the other hand, you may get a systemic boost and additional relaxing benefits from the bath. And especially if you don’t need a very high dose and other botanicals will benefit you, a CBD bath may be ideal.
How do CBD bath salts work?
CBD bath salts, like bath bombs, work like topicals and deliver the relief of a hot bath. However, they feature their own benefits, including:
- Anxiety relief
- Anti-aging properties
- Bone and muscle pain relief
- Relief from skin conditions such as eczema, rashes, and psoriasis
In addition, these CBD bath salts also offer other beneficial ingredients, such as sea salt and lavender. It’s all about the whole Zen vibe, and those minerals in the salt truly work to relieve muscle pain.
How Are CBD Bath Products Different From Regular Bath Products?
First of all, brands matter more than ever with CBD bath products. This is because a citrus or lavender fail is bad, but not that bad. A CBD fail is potentially very bad.
CBD is not regulated by the FDA, so only buy CBD bath products from reputable brands that follow good standard growing procedures. Look for results from third-party independent lab tests. We have recommended organic products that we like that feature high-quality processes and ingredients:
- US Hemp Authority certification
- Essential oils, no artificial fragrance
- Hemp CBD (contains less than 0.3 percent THC by law)
- High-quality hemp oil
- Non-chemical extraction processes to remove metals, pesticides, and solvents
- Sea salts, pink Himalayan salts, and/or pharmaceutical-grade Epsom salts
Remember, whenever you try any new bath product, if you have sensitive skin, before you get all the way into the tub, test your CBD bath product on a small area of skin. Also, recall that it will probably take at least 20 to 25 minutes of soaking to really the get full effect of these kinds of CBD bath products.
Final Thoughts
If you want a safe and easy way to try CBD, or you already love it, we really recommend these CBD bath products! We also recommend them to any and all bath fans. CBD bath bombs, bath salts, soap, and soaks are luxurious yet affordable, and especially for those of us with problem skin and no desire to smoke or snack, they are perfect.