When traveling for work, I would call the hotel weeks in advance to reserve a room with a tub.

I would pack up all of my toiletries in anticipation of living out my bathing fantasy. Do any of you remember the Calgon ad campaign, “Calgon take me away?” Those vintage ads of the women pouring the bath powder into the frothy tub and basking in the warm bath were the epitome of zen for me. It’s safe to say my happy place is deep inside a bathtub.

A few years back, I felt called to buy a house in the rural countryside of Texas, and I took my sister with me to check out the property. Most people would fawn over the foyer or the kitchen, but I had a different devotion. I made a beeline to the bathroom in search of a bathtub. Turning the corner, my eyes ballooned with excitement. There in front of me lay the most divine tub with oxygen-infused jets!

I immediately crawled in and asked my sister to take my picture. She was a bit horrified but obliged my bizarre request. Upon seeing (and sitting in) this beautiful bathtub, I was sold immediately and in the following days began the fast and furious attempt to make her mine.

The first 6 months after moving in, I lived with very few belongings as most of my California life was still in storage. To be honest, I wasn’t in a rush to take on the possessions of my past. I was grieving on a magnitude I hadn’t experienced before. I wanted time to sit in my new home and absorb my new environment. The quiet walls and empty halls allowed me to heal and rewrite my story on my terms and timing.

I relied on bathing as a way to cope with my grief. There was a season in time when I would take a bath in the morning, one in the afternoon, in the evening, and one at night before bed. I would run the water and slowly sink into the depths of the water, letting it rush over me. This immediately calmed my nervous system and in the years 2020 and 2021 seemed to be the only thing that kept me afloat.

Bathing has been a practice I’ve sought after and cherished for many years. As children, we bathed as a way of cleansing and as a time for play. As adults, bathing serves to soothe our muscles and joints, as well as our racing minds. The products I use today have replaced the rubber ducks and toys of youth and provide an opportunity for regeneration and rest from the noise from the world outside and in my head.

Over the years, I‘ve found bathing to be a powerful practice of self-care. From the oils and salts that give the water a delicate scent to the sprinkling of flower petals in the water, each aspect of my bathing ritual holds a certain kind of magic. I’ve listed below some of my bathing essentials. You can add or subtract what you need, but I’ve found that each of these products has provided me with a blissful bath experience.