Bubble baths: Sinking into the suds

Some of the earliest mentions of baths in human history come from an ancient Indian book of Vedic domestic ceremonies called the Grihya-sutras, which recognizes bathing as both a hygienic necessity and a rite of purity. Over the centuries, different cultures developed their own bathing rituals, from Japan’s hotspring steam baths to Turkey’s hamams, yet the basic act of submerging oneself into water to soothe aches, wash off grime, and even to socialize with fellow bathers has remained essentially unchanged for millennia. In the 20th century, soaps manufactured with foaming agents called surfactants—short for [surface active agent]( create the pillowy tufts of bubbles now near-synonymous with bath time, caused a splash. Today, bath gels, salts, milks, soaks, and even fizzy baking-soda-based bath bombs promise bathers an increasingly luxuriant experience. Are we living in the golden age of bathing culture? Let’s sink in and see. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( [Quartz Obsession] Bubble baths November 08, 2019 Thought bubble --------------------------------------------------------------- Some of the earliest mentions of baths in human history come from an ancient Indian book of Vedic domestic ceremonies called the Grihya-sutras, which recognizes bathing as both a hygienic necessity and a rite of purity. Over the centuries, different cultures developed their own bathing rituals, from Japan’s hotspring steam baths to Turkey’s hamams, yet the basic act of submerging oneself into water to soothe aches, wash off grime, and even to socialize with fellow bathers has remained essentially unchanged for millennia. In the 20th century, soaps manufactured with foaming agents called surfactants—short for [surface active agent]( create the pillowy tufts of bubbles now near-synonymous with bath time, caused a splash. Today, bath gels, salts, milks, soaks, and even fizzy baking-soda-based bath bombs promise bathers an increasingly luxuriant experience. Are we living in the golden age of bathing culture? Let’s sink in and see. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( by the digits 2.7 million kg (6 million lbs): Weight of the baking soda LUSH North America used to manufacture bath bombs between July 2018 and June 2019, according to LUSH [454,000:]( Number of Instagram posts tagged #bathart [$20 million:]( Annual revenue for Da Bomb Bath, a bath bomb company founded by two preteen sisters in 2015 [45:]( Minutes Glossier beauty company founder Emily Weiss claims she spends soaking in an extra-hot bath every night [$55:]( Price for an 8.4-ounce bottle of the Santa Maria Novella bubble bath Weiss favors [$36 billion:]( Estimated size of the global bath and shower product market by 2023 [$1,950:]( Price for a Bluetooth-enabled air bathtub that shoots jets of air, rather than water [15:]( Men interviewed about feminism while bathing for the Men Who Take Baths project Imgur The way we 🛀 now Welcome to the age of #bathfluence --------------------------------------------------------------- Rachel Syme [coined the term “bathfluencers”]( in the New Yorker, capturing the rise of social media influencers who create aspirational bathing experiences involving elaborate, ritualistic elements that make your average morning shower look about as glam as a cold spray from the hose. We’re talking candles, we’re talking bubbles and a few hunks of aura-cleansing rose quartz for good measure, we’re talking so many fresh flowers floating in the tub that your plumber could make potpourri after dredging your pipes. While it’s very possible to dump $25 worth of potions into your bathtub at a go, in the age of luxury wellness products the bath trend is appealingly democratic—anyone can enjoy one, given time, a tub, and a few scoops of Epsom salts. “A lot of what is out there in the wellness world can feel inaccessible,” Brooklyn bathfluencer Deborah Hanekamp tells Syme. “A bath doesn’t feel too far out.” Bath-related industries are soaking in the spoils. LUSH saw sales of their extremely fragrant bath bombs [increase 71%]( between 2015 and 2018, linking the uptick in part to the rise of the #bathart hashtag used alongside mesmerizing videos of bath bombs dissolving. The National Kitchen and Bath Association’s 2018 Design Trends study reported that [87% of industry professionals]( report freestanding tubs “are an important component of the surge in self-care rituals.” quotable “I am sure there are things that can’t be cured by a good bath but I can’t think of one.” ―[Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar]( million-dollar question Are baths actually good for us? --------------------------------------------------------------- Sure, baths feel nice—but do they really have any health benefits? In short, yes. There are reasons hydrotherapy has been practiced for centuries. Soaking in warm water can be a great way to boost blood circulation, [lower blood pressure]( and calm the nervous system. Breathing [steam clears out your sinuses]( and as anyone who went too hard at the gym can tell you, hot water can take the edge off sore muscles. And, it just feels good. Giphy pop quiz In Finnish and Russian saunas, bathers lightly thwack themselves with bath brooms—bundles of leafy branches which release aromatic oils. Which of these is not a species of tree used to make them? HollyOakEucalyptusPine Correct. Correct! The prickly leaves of the holly tree would make for a very uncomfortable massage. Incorrect. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. brief history [1700-1400 BCE:]( The palaces of Knossos and Phaistos in Crete feature bathing chambers and alabaster tubs. Ancient Greeks of all social classes visit public baths, applying scented body oils after a soak. [69 BCE:]( Cleopatra is born; she is known to have enjoyed donkey milk baths. [1591:]( The first sentō, or public bathhouse, is built in Edo (modern-day Tokyo). Records show that by 1810 the city’s sentō count had grown to 523. [1638:]( The birth year of Louis XIV, who boasted a custom octagonal marble tub at Versailles, despite—as was conventional at the time—being skeptical of bathing and prone to disguising his body odor with perfume instead. [1883:]( Austrian-American entrepreneur John Michael Kohler coats cast-iron horse troughs in porcelain enamel and adds nifty animal legs, creating the first clawfoot bathtubs. [1936:]( Clare Boothe Luce’s comedy The Women debuts in Manhattan. The play includes a scene in which the character Crystal (later played by Joan Crawford in a 1939 film adaptation) takes a bubble bath; echoes of this sybaritic moment reverberate through pop culture for decades to come. [1961:]( Mr. Bubble debuts with the slogan “Makes Getting Clean Almost As Much Fun As Getting Dirty.” [1966:]( Hawaiian crooner Don Ho releases the hit song “Tiny Bubbles.” [1976:]( The Body Shop, a store selling beauty and bath products that have not been tested on animals, opens in Brighton in the UK. [1990:]( The first Bath and Body Works store opens in a mall in Massachusetts. There are now close to 2,000 stores, with locations on every continent except for Antarctica. [2012:]( Oprah tells Harper’s Bazaar that bathing is her hobby. “I love creating bathing experiences—bath gels, bubbles, crystals, salts, lavender milks.” [2020:]( Bathfluencer Deborah Hanekamp’s book of bath recipes Ritual Baths: Be Your Own Healer is set for release. Have a friend who would enjoy our Obsession with Bubble baths? [ [Forward link to a friend](mailto:?subject=Thought you'd enjoy.&body=Read this Quartz Obsession email – to the email – diy How to make a bath bomb at home --------------------------------------------------------------- If you’re crafty—or keen on customization—you can make your own bath bombs using a mix of baking soda, citric acid, corn starch, and Epsom salts, plus biodegradable glitter, coloring, and essential oils to your liking. When you drop this mixture into water, a fizzy chemical reaction occurs between the baking soda and citric acid, just like when you add vinegar to a science fair volcano. [Popular Science breaks down all the steps](. fun fact! According to physics professor Eugene Terentjev of Cambridge University, [bubbles act as an effective insulator]( so the water in a bubble bath stays hot for 50% longer than plain bathwater. watch this! Inspired in the bath --------------------------------------------------------------- In the late 1970s, Calgon, a company that manufactured a laundry additive designed to get clothing cleaner in hard water (water with a high level of naturally occurring minerals), added a bath powder to their product line. The powder may have been meh but the commercials, which featured harried women trying to balance work, family, and general chaos, intoning, “Calgon, take me away!” generated one of the most memorable catch phrases of the era. explain it like i'm 5! The opposite of toil and trouble --------------------------------------------------------------- You can create bubbles by just blowing through a straw, but they pop because of the water’s surface tension. Surfactants in bubble bath make them last longer because one side of the molecule is attracted to water and the other is repelled, reducing surface tension by [trapping the water in a “molecular sandwich.”]( The pleasant swirls you see in the bubble [stem from the Marangoni effect]( in which the surfactants move from areas of low to high surface tension, which further strengthens the bubble. In 2016, Stanford researchers [figured out how to “pause” the swirls](. It looks [pretty trippy](. take me down this 🐰 hole! The social side of the soak --------------------------------------------------------------- In Iceland, nearly all villages have public baths—they’re not for getting clean so much as for socializing daily even when there are only a few hours of daylight in the winter. Most feature hot and cold pools, fed or heated by geothermal springs. There are lots of [etiquette rules about showering before you enter](. “The more local swimming pools I visited, the more convinced I became that Icelanders’ remarkable satisfaction is tied inextricably to the experience of escaping the fierce, freezing air and sinking into warm water among their countrymen,” Dan Kois [writes in the New York Times](. “The pools are more than a humble municipal investment, more than just a civic perquisite that emerged from an accident of Iceland’s volcanic geology. They seem to be, in fact, a key to Icelandic well-­being.” REUTERS/Rahel Patrasso poll What is your must-have bath product? [Click here to vote]( Bubble bathBath saltsBath bombsNothing but water 💬let's talk! In yesterday’s poll about [5G]( 43% of you said you’ll use it “when the kinks (and discounts) are worked out,” 26% each said “eh, whenever” or “as soon as I can get it,” while just 5% are using it now. 🤔 [What did you think of today’s email?](mailto:obsession%2Bfeedback@qz.com?cc=&subject=Thoughts%20about%20bubble%20baths%20&body=) 💡 [What should we obsess over next?](mailto:obsession%2Bideas@qz.com?cc=&subject=Obsess%20over%20this%20next.&body=) [🎲 Show me a random Obsession]( Today’s email was written by [Adrienne Matei]( edited by [Annaliese Griffin]( produced by [Tori Smith](. The correct answer to the quiz is Holly. Enjoying the Quartz Obsession? [Send this link]( to a friend! Want to advertise in the Quartz Obsession? Send us an email at ads@qz.com. Not enjoying it? No worries. [Click here]( to unsubscribe. Quartz | 675 Avenue of the Americas, 4th Fl | New York, NY 10011 | United States [Share this email](