Debunking the Detox Bath
Last week I was fighting one of my migraines, with the weather and the schedule change for school, not to mention all of the stress that came along with that. Not long ago, I had come across this idea for a Detox Bath on the boards, so late one afternoon, I decided to give it a try. The photo on Pinterest looks like this:
Under the photo I found, there was a note by a previous pinner that claimed: ” I just tried this. I currently have strep throat and thought this could help. Boy was I right not only did I sweat like crazy I could smell toxins leaving me; also loosened anything in my chest and relaxed my body.”
As you can see, the bath wiped away a lot of the pinner’s punctuation marks, but I don’t think that you need to be an ENT to know that the strep-cure part is probably bunk. The bacteria that causes strep is no push-over, you know. But I figured that since I didn’t have strep, it was just a migraine, that it might work for me. (One other note: I did have a slight sore throat, so I could also use that as a gauge to determine the efficacy of the bath as well.)
I filled the tub, pouring in three pints of hydrogen peroxide with the water.
And then I grated a few ounces of ginger into the warm water as well.
Then I got in and relaxed.
Just so you know, the photo from Pinterest is probably a stock photo, since the peroxide-ginger combination produced no bubbles at all.
Yes, the bath was nice. Did I sweat? Maybe a bit, but wouldn’t any soak in hot water cause that to occur? And it was relaxing, at least until two of my three kids insisted on climbing in with me, but overall, despite spending more than a half hour in the tub, I didn’t feel anything “leaving” my body at all.
The next day, the migraine was still there, with full force. The throat was better, but that may have been a result of the steam, because it hurt again later.
Bottom line, go ahead and soak, but you don’t need all the additives in your bath. Besides, if you think Mr. Bubble leaves a ring around your tub, let me tell you: he’s got nothing on Mr. Ginger.
too funny…thought you maybe you found the magic migraine cure and a way to look like the poster girl in the bath!
This doesn’t necessarily have to do with the content of the detox bath, but I just thought I’d add that the photo from the pin is of Amy Adams in the movie “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.” They must have used it to have a fun bath visual aid.
You know, I thought that was Amy Adams!! Thanks for pointing that out. And yes, it’s way more fun than my photos. Looking back now, I wish I had at least worn a turban like Amy’s. 🙂
Yes it is and one of my favorite movies with Frances Mcdormand!
I love her! She is hilarious in all of the Coen Bros. movies!!
One other note: It’s been more than a week since I took this bath, and a least a week since I cleaned the tub. Not sure if it’s because of the ginger or not, but suddenly we have ants in that bathroom, and we’ve never had them there before.
Ants. Lots and lots of ants.
Haha, thanks for trying all of that out.
I always find that my migraines get worse with baths in general, because of the heat and the steam. I guess finding out what type of migraine you have is key.
I think that the hot water is good for relaxing my neck, if that’s the cause of the migraine, but normally I opt for cool relief like the gel mask above. Thanks for your comment!
I tried this bath with ground ginger (as is states in the instructions) and I sweat like CRAZY for the full 30 minutes. Not to mention, my skin felt like it was in liquid fire because of the ginger. Perhaps you should try the bath again except FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS. I’m sure fresh ginger is great. But there is a reason the ground ginger is suggested.
Oh, I see. I didn’t realize that the ginger wasn’t supposed to be fresh, but rather from a jar. Like the powdered kind from the spice aisle? I guess that would make it more potent. Thanks for the note. I will try it again and follow up in a few weeks (when my ant problem is resolved) and post one Saturday as a “Pinheads Revisited.” Thanks again!!
I just did this tonight with the ground ginger, from the spice isle. Lol. I didn’t have a full cold yet but my girls do and I am always the next to get it. Today I started to feel a build up in my chest so I figured I’d give it a try to head anything off.
During my bath I sweated more then usual. My skin felt tingly, a good tingle. The smell of the peroxide and ginger got stronger the longer I sat. I could even taste it. Kind of like when you have an Iv of saline you can taste it in the back of your throat. Weird, I know. It wasn’t gross though.
When I was done I felt way more relaxed. I rinsed off the ginger and stated drinking the water. The headache that I did have was almost entirely gone so that was a plus. My nose was clear and the stuff building up in my chest was coming up.
So it seemed to have helped me. I’ll know tomorrow for sure.
Thanks for the note! Hope you feel better. Please come back and let us know how it goes.
Its the morning after… For the hour after the bath, until I fell asleep I felt great. When I woke up, not so much. I felt just as I did before the bath, the oncoming of a cold/flu. Still not fully sick, but not any better either. If your going to take a hot bath while sick do it with something that smells great and is all bubbly. No peroxide or ginger required. This method did not help me. Stick with eucalyptus bubble soaps or salts. That’ll clear sinuses for a bit and its DE stressing!
Thank you SO MUCH for checking back to report your progress. Sorry you are not feeling better though. I hope it’s not strep and that you feel better soon.
Okay, I have a sick tweenager at home today. I have assembled the correct ingredients and am going to try this one again. I will post the results this Saturday.
Thank you for the candid review(s). I’m not going to bother wasting my peroxide on this bath!. 🙂
Thanks for the note! It’s funny how we kind of want this to work. I tried it again with my son (check out my Pinheads Revisited post) and it still didn’t work. But even though it didn’t work, he wanted to try it again the next day.
Like I said, a bath is rarely a bad thing, but all the stuff this pin suggests putting in it is worthless.
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This bath is to release toxins and does not heal sicknesses. Even with releasing toxins it may take several baths before you feel improvement. The pinned photo is from a movie: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, just a cute picture to pin, your bath is not supposed to froth up.
Yes, agreed, though I don’t believe it does release toxins. I guess I would need a toxicology report on my bath water to know for sure. Any improvement one might feel, I think, would come from the warmth of the water, the relaxation, or the time that it would require to take these baths repeatedly. Over a few days, any illness should begin to abate, just because of the body’s natural immune system. Thanks for the note.
The photo is of Amy Adams, but it was the photo that was used for the original pin on Pinterest, which was also where I found the claim that the bath could cure sickness. This post was an attempt to validate, or as it turned out, invalidate that claim.
I have fibromyalgia and Lupus. Fibro is one of a number of conditions that reportedly improves with detox baths. So last week I took an Epsom Salt bath and it was ok. This week I tried the Epsom Salts with baking soda and ginger. Multiple sources say to have the water as hot as you can tolerate to create a sauna like effect, well I’ve ended up with a severe migraine from the experience and threw up all night. Many fibro sufferers are Magnesium deficient so I had hoped the magnesium sulfate (Epsom Salts) would help. I think I may use the salts again but I will not force myself to have the extremely hot water my body obviously can not tolerate it
I did a different detox w 2 cups of Epsom salt and a cup of baking soda and a cup of peroxide. That’ll make you sweat. I had my hubby bring me ice water and a box fan. Then wrap yourself in a blanket and you’ll keep sweating. No bubbles still and I’m sure the most it did was dehydrate me in the end but I enjoyed it.
Thanks for the note! Did you feel as if you had sweat any toxins from your body? How did you feel the day after the bath?
I started doing ginger baths late spring and they are a lifesaver! I use 1-2 cups fresh grated ginger (I put it in a knee-high stocking to keep it out of the drain) and approx. half a fresh lemon. I usually sit anywhere from 1-3 hours (bring the iPad and watch a movie) and keep draining water and adding more hot to keep increasing the temp throughout the bath. I also bring a pitcher of ice lemon water (realllly lemony) and drink that the entire time I am in the tub.
Depending on how long it has been since my last ginger bath, I will start to feel itching under my skin within 10 minutes to an hour – the sting/itch comes to the surface of the skin and as I sweat, I can feel that stingy itch coming out of my skin. The feeling passes quicker the hotter the water is, and is helped along by brushing my skin lightly in the affected area.
I started doing these baths because of a recurring rash that was diagnosed as an “allergic rash” that no one could determine the cause of – my kineseologist believes it is caused by stress and histamines that my body is releasing due to an existing issue with my endocrine system.
Since I’ve started doing these baths approx once a week and drinking lemon water throughout the day, I do not get this rash. If I stop with the lemon water and or ginger baths for up to a week it comes back. I’ve also noticed that since starting the ginger baths, I can feel the same stingy/itch on my lower back both in the tub, but also when I am working out – after a certain amount of time/effort I can feel the change from “normal sweat” to “detox sweat” back to “normal sweat”.
I don’t think since you didn’t see a result that it should be called debunking. Leave that word for scientist and people who know what they are talking about. For one hydrogen peroxide should not be used in a detox bath. Try baking soda, epsom salts, sea salt, DRIED ginger (no ring), and some essential oils like lavender, orange, mint, eucalyptus. Also drink plenty of water. Iodine may be added to your bath as well to help combat chemicals like chloride, fluoride, bromide. Also make it you time, have the dad take the kids for the afternoon, You can’t relax and focus on you if they’re bothering you.
I’m pretty certain that scientists would agree that this bath won’t cure strep, which was what the original pinner had claimed. It was very relaxing though. We have tried this bath a number of different ways, and it’s never cured any of us of ailments, though again, it was a nice relaxing bath experience.
Overall I agree about the essential oils. They work better on the skin that all the other stuff, I think. And of course, you can’t go wrong with taking a bath that includes hydrogen peroxide and or epsom salt.
Thanks for the note!
Was the bath the hottest water you could stand? I use epsom salts, baking soda and lavender essential oil and I believe it does work.
Yes, it was very hot — as hot as I could stand. I definitely felt relaxed, I just don’t think it definitively kills sickness.