What to Put in Foot Spa Water: Homemade Recipes for Pampering Your Feet

Last Updated on January 10, 2023

Using a foot spa is a great way to get some much-needed relaxation at home. The water in a foot spa can also be catered to suit your needs. The addition of some typical ingredients into your foot spa water will help with conditions such as dryness and odour as well.

If you are looking for ideas of what to put in foot spa water to improve relaxation and enjoy specific health and skincare benefits, then you have come to the right place. Hopefully, our ideas will help you to get the most out of your spa day at home. They may even encourage you to pamper your feet more often.

What Is a Foot Spa?

A foot spa machine is a device used for soaking your feet. More importantly, many foot spa machines like those from Conair have upgraded settings that include features like bubbles, water jets, massage rollers, and vibration.

Some leading foot spa machines even have heating elements that allow you to keep the water warm and control the temperature with precision.

What to Put In Your Foot Spa Water

Below is a list of common foot bath concoctions that may help ease different conditions. Feel free to improvise and add your favourite herbs, therapeutic-grade oils, or bath salts to your foot spa water for a more relaxing experience.

When treating yourself to a foot spa, make sure to choose a water temperature that you find soothing. For safety, don’t use very hot water. Your foot spa shouldn’t be overly hot or overly cold.

For Mind and Body Relaxation

While you can add just about anything to your foot spa water to enhance relaxation, lavender oil and other essential oils like tea tree and chamomile are great for total mind and body relaxation. Simply add some to your foot bath, soak your feet, and reap the aromatherapy benefits.

Bath bombs, bath salts, soaps, foot spa oils, and other essential oils can also help improve relaxation as long as you enjoy the scent. However, make sure not to use any jets if you add chamomile tea to the water, as it could clog the device and ruin your experience.

For Dry, Cracked Heels

To help ease dry or even cracked heels, there is an easy home remedy you can try to reset the pH while also moisturising your feet.

Try adding a small amount of alcohol-based mouthwash, apple cider vinegar, and Epsom bath salts or sea salt to your hot or warm water. Letting your feet soak for about 15 minutes before rinsing will improve your feet’s condition.

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For Aches, Pains, and Inflammation

To relieve aches, pains, or swelling in your feet caused by wearing your shoes all day, there is a myriad of things you can add to your foot bath or foot soak.

Try adding lavender or peppermint essential oil. Tea tree essential oil has anti-inflammatory properties as well. You can also add bath salt, apple cider vinegar, or cucumber slices to your hot water. All of these items have properties known for improving muscle relaxation, and you may be surprised how well they actually work.

Try experimenting until you find the treatment or remedy that works best for improving your feet’s condition.

For Improved Circulation

Poor circulation in your feet can lead to aches and pains, and general discomfort. Many people turn to massage when this occurs, but foot spa machines can also help quite a bit. For this reason, pregnant women use a foot spa to improve blood flow in their lower extremities.

Both rosemary and citrus fruits are known to improve blood flow, and adding them to your foot spa water can go a long way in helping you find relief. Feel free to use sliced citrus wedges or essential oils. Either will provide the desired results.

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Additionally, Epsom salt is another common home remedy used to improve circulation, leading to muscle relaxation.

For Stress Reduction

We recommend adding eucalyptus oil or calming bath salts to your foot bath water to reduce symptoms of stress. These promote relaxation leading to stress relief. Peppermint is also somewhat known for reducing stress, but some people find it to be stimulating.

For Itchy Skin

To soothe itchy skin, try adding a handful of baking soda and bath salts or Epsom salt to your foot spa machine’s basin or tub. Baking soda has natural antimicrobial properties, while Epsom salt can help reduce itchiness.

Make sure to give your feet, and your machine after using it as baking soda tends to leave behind a residue.

For Regular Exfoliation

Adding bath salts will help remove skin cells off of your feet. You can use Epsom any bath salt to massage and exfoliate your feet, leaving them soft and smooth.

For Odour

Odour on your feet can also be treated by a foot bath. An antifungal recipe that kills odour causing bacteria can easily be made using apple cider vinegar with Epsom salt or baking soda.

To improve the scent and invigorate your feet, you may also want to add lime, orange, and lemon slices to the hot water as well. Peppermint and tea tree essential oils can provide similar results when added to the warm water in your foot spa.

Using Foot Spa Machines: Things to Remember

While some foot spa machines are more than capable of accommodating household ingredients to their basins other than water, some manufacturers advise against it.

Read the Manual

For this reason, we recommend consulting the user manual for your specific device before adding soaps or essential oil to your foot bath. The manual of your foot spa equipment should clearly state what kinds of things the device can handle. Knowing how to use a foot spa machine properly will help prevent clogs and prolong its lifespan.

DIY Foot Soak

If you find that your foot spa device isn’t compatible with essential oils or bath salts, but you still want to try out one of our suggested foot spa bath remedies, you can easily use an extra-large bowl or basin that’s just lying around in your home.

Of course, you won’t get quite the same benefits without your device’s massage rollers or bubbles, but it will still be relaxing and effective at alleviating itchiness, dryness, and odour.

What Will You Add to Your Foot Spa Water First?

After learning about all of the possible benefits of adding certain ingredients to your foot spa water, it is time for you to pamper your feet with a luxurious foot spa.

Whether you need an at-home treatment for aching feet or want baby soft feet, a few drops of essential oils and a handful of your favourite bath salts will go a long way.

Now that you know what to put in foot spa water, which one of our foot soak recipes will you try out first? Let us know in the comments section below.