Homemade Vicks Soother Tablets {Shower Soothers)
Perfect for cold and flu season, use these Homemade Vicks Soother Tablets to clear your stuffy nose and relieve sinus pressure naturally. This is the original Vicks Soother Tablets recipe online and uses natural essential oils to help relieve head colds without chemicals. This shower soother recipe also includes instructions for making these tablets with kid-safe oils.
Do you remember the commercials for the Vicks Vapor shower tablets thingies? You’d put one of the disks in your shower, and voila thanks to the vapors in it, you’re magically healed, your cold is gone, and your face is shockingly free of snot.
I always used to watch the “Noxema girl” splashing water on her face in those commercials and wondered how she was able to wash her face without being completely overrun with boogers.
I’m the only one? Yes? I’m stuck in the ’90s? Ok, moving along then…
What Ingredients Are In Homemade Vicks Soother Tablets?
- Baking soda
- Arrowroot powder
- Water
- Rosemary essential oil
- Lavender essential oil
- Eucalyptus essential oil
Please note, you will NOT see cornstarch in this recipe for a very specific reason. Cornstarch is horrible for clogging drains and is a plumbing nightmare!
The oils I buy from Plant Therapy have worked well for me, are affordable, and available on Amazon. I do not sell essential oils and am not part of any MLM organization. If you have an oil brand that you prefer, please feel free to use those!
Is There a Kidsafe Version?
Yes! The main essential oils in these Vicks Soother Tablets are not safe for kids under 12. If you have younger kiddos, Plant Therapy makes a Kid Safe Sniffle Stopper. Use 30 drops of that in place of the lavender, rosemary, and eucalyptus oils.
Can I Just Use Vicks?
My preference is always for a natural version of anything I am using for my health, which is why I use the essential oils. If oils are not in the cards for you, sub in 4 tbsp of Vicks Vapor Rub for the essential oils.
If you have kids under two, please make sure you use Baby Vicks Vapor Rub.
Can I Use Herbs Instead of Oils?
Yes, but you will need a large amount to replace the potency of the essential oils. You would want to use 2 tbsp (chopped) of each herb.
Can I Use Fragrance Oils?
I would not use them. Essential oils have medicinal properties, whereas fragrance oils are just there to give you the scent.
How Do I Use Shower Soothers?
You will want to place one on the floor of your shower. If you put it in the direct spray of the shower it will likely dissolve more quickly but give you a more intense hit of the oils.
Alternatively, you can put it in the direct spray while your shower is heating up, and then scoot it over to the side when you jump in. Or walk in, because jumping into a slippery shower seems kind of beetle-headed. I mean, you’re already stuffed up, why risk a concussion?
How To Store Shower Soothers
If you’re using them for yourself, throw them in an air-tight container and toss them in a cupboard or bathroom closet. If you’re gifting them for friends or family, an 8 oz jam jar with a ribbon tied around it would be cute!
How Long Do Homemade Vicks Soother Tablets Last?
Without herbs added to the mix, the shower soothers will last indefinitely. However, the strength of the essential oils will fade in a month or so. To store longterm, you can make them without the oils and add 2-3 drops of each oil just prior to using.
How to Make Soother Tablets
*Detailed and printable recipe card is available at the bottom of the post
In a mixing bowl, combine baking soda, arrowroot powder, water, and 15 drops of each of the lavender, eucalyptus, and rosemary essential oils to the mixture. Stir until the mixture forms a thick paste. Pro tip: it should be thick and viscous and with some water remaining on the top.
Scoop the paste into a muffin tin lined with muffin cups or a silicone muffin tin.
Bake at 250 degrees until hardened – about 30 minutes. Alternatively, you can set them out overnight for 12-18 hours.
Pro Tips/Recipe Notes
- Your soothers may still be a bit squishy after baking. They should harden as they cool. If you use silicone muffin tins, the bottom of the tablets may be sponge-like. That’s totally normal.
- If you leave your shower tablets out overnight to harden, please keep them in a safe place away from pets.
- A silicone muffin tin (always available at thrift stores!) makes it super easy to remove the shower tabs once cooled. If you want to use a traditional muffin tin, definitely use a cupcake liner. However, you may still have a hard time removing the tab from the liner. I love these compostable cupcake liners because nothing sticks to them!
Variations
- Feel free to add a little food coloring if you want to jazz up the appearance of these shower soothers.
- If you want to use the essential oils and also use some herbs to make them look cute, add the herbs to the top of the mixture after you have filled the muffin tin. I found out the hard way that pouring the mixture over the herbs results in them turning brown after baking. Your shower soothers may end up looking muddy or moldy. Gross!
- If you have an oil combination that you love, feel free to adapt the recipe to fit your preferences. Peppermint and eucalyptus combined are both great for clearing sinuses and perking you up! If you shower at night and want a calming soother, lavender is great for bedtime. I love Plant Therapy’s Sleep Aid blend.
These homemade Vicks Soother Tablets are wonderful to have around for cold and flu season, and I use them during the four months a year when my allergies are on full display.
Making this recipe or others?
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Perfect for cold and flu season, use these Homemade Vicks Soother Tablets to clear your stuffy nose and relieve sinus pressure naturally and without chemicals.
- 1 cup baking soda
- 1/4 cup arrowroot powder
- 1/3 cup water
- 15 drops lavender essential oil
- 15 drops rosemary essential oil
- 15 drops eucalyptus essential oil
In a mixing bowl, combine baking soda, arrowroot powder, water, and 15 drops of each of the lavender, eucalyptus, and rosemary essential oil to the mixture. Stir until the mixture forms a thick paste.
Add 15 drops of each of the lavender, eucalyptus, and rosemary essential oil to the mixture. Scoop the paste into a muffin tin lined with muffin cups or a silicone muffin tin.
Bake at 250 degrees until hardened - about 30 minutes. Alternatively, you can set them out overnight for 12-18 hours. Store in an air-tight container until needed.
Remove from the paper liner prior to using, and place on the floor of your shower. Breathe deeply, and enjoy.
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This post on homemade Homemade Vicks Soother Tablets {Shower Soothers) was originally published in March 2012. I’ve updated it in December 2018 with new photos, details, and instructions. For reference, this is one of the photos from the original post:
I have young kiddos. Be careful. Eucalyptus isn’t supposed to be used on kids under 10 and Rosemary isn’t supposed to be used on kids under age 6. Be sure to do your safety research. Otherwise, great idea.
baking BAKING SODA changes the chemical compound into WASHING SODA.
so I personally wouldn’t bake it.. rather I would add more baking soda to thicken.. or less water 🙂
Just from experience, my son had croup all the time. I finally questioned his doctor about having it so many times a year and the doctor informed me that children only get croup a few times at most in thier whole life. Repetitive croup is actually early signs of asthma and certain asthma, like the one my son has, never changes. We started treating him for his asthma and the croup is almost non existent. Only when he gets a cold orb is around any kind of smoke. Find in out it was asthma and not croup was life changing. Poor guy is no where near as sick as he was. So if any child has repetitive croup, they need to be tested for asthma. Good luck.
Great idea – but as a mom of a chronic group kid the reason you stand in the bathroom with the shower running on hot is to loosen the vocal chords up – and then you sit outside in the winter wrapped in a blanket or three to help shrink the vocal chords. Croup is a virus – like a cold – but it affects the vocal chords swelling the throat shut. Nasty stuff – especially when you live a long way from the doc!!
Drops of reality here! This is not frugal at all! Last I checked (11/20/14) You could buy the knock off version of theses at CVS for $3.99 for three. Or roughly $1.33 each. One 5 ml bottle of quality essential oil (approx 85 drops) costs around 15-25 dollars each, break that into 5ths (roughly the yield from one bottle) and you get a cost of about $3. for six little pucks.
Okay, you are thinking.. that’s about right (better actually right? twice as much and you control the ingredients!) Except that you are not using 15 drops of essential oil. You are using 45. Rosemary, Eucalyptus, and Lavender. Suddenly the cost of each puck goes from a measly 50 cents to approx $1.80 a piece, and that is not figuring in the other minor ingredients, and more importantly, the major one; TIME! While you were DIYing these your children were watching TV.
I love that we control the ingredients, and if your children are “helping” you make these, the benefits (ingredient control & spending time with your little ones) may outweigh the costs. But please, everyone, remember to cost out every fun little pintrest hack, in terms of both money, and TIME. You may find that reading to your child for that hour returns more benefits than ??saving?? a few pennies off an acceptable alternative.
I tried making a bunch of these today because I have a terrible case of the sickies that I just cannot shake, and I was devastated when I got into the shower tonight and by the time I had counted to twelve, my disc had completely dissolved. Found a CVS brand of discs, going to try those to see if they last longer.
I’m going to try this with Olbas Oil which is a Inhalant Decongestant available in the UK,it’s a mix of cajuput oil, clove oil, eucalyptus oil, juniper berry oil and levomenthol. It will be great to be able to breathe again!
If that doesn’t do the trick I’m going to have to learn how to do the neti pot, but it sounds a bit scary. If you read in the papers someone has drowned in salt water and snot it’s probably me!
I made these last night and put them in the frezer over night. When I took them out they didn’t set right. Is it to lay to start over? Can I put the back in a bowl and add more water?
I just made of batch of them using the updated method. With dogs aroung a small house, I didn’t want to leave them to dry and then find all kinds of hairs in the pucks!! They turned out really nice, I’m hoping to make some as Christmas gifts, hope they’ll last. Although many comments from others were very useful =)
I get a lot of my oils from “soapers choice”.
http://www.soaperschoice.com/
Please add an additional edit to your wonderful tutorial:
Both Rosemary and Eucalyptus essential oil contain cineole 1,8 which while soothing and relaxing in adults and older youths, can be very hazardous to children under the age of 10. Especially those with respiratory issues like asthma and coup. The cineole 1,8 slows breathing to the point of dangerously low oxygen levels. Alternative essential oils to use would be spearmint and fir with the lavender.
I made these, but was disappointed because I couldn’t even smell them when I got in the shower. 🙁
I’m just catching up with instruction list for the shower discs and it doesn’t say what size…are they regular or minis?
It is all based on the size of the molds you choose to use. One batch made about 6-8 pucks for me in a normal muffin tin.
Where is the Vicks? Vicks is in the title but I don’t see it in the ingredient list.
It uses all the essential oils that are in Vicks so that it is an all-natural version.
The infamous shower soothers are finally here! I love the version with the herbs on top, so pretty and perfect for homemade gifts. Thanks for another great recipe!
The herbs are from my garden too which makes them extra hippie crunchy.
I just printed these. I might have Emma make them for me for Christmas.
Oh, and Emma would very much approve of your caution regarding jumping in the shower. I think she was 8 or 9 before she stopped warning us that jumping in the shower is dangerous 🤣
I love that Emma is old enough to do your bidding these days! She will be learning so many new skills this year.
This is the hill I’ll gleefully die on.
“…help relieve head colds without chemicals.” Sorry, you used chemicals. Water is made of chemicals. So is eucalyptus and well, everything pretty much.
I’d love to try these, but I’m having trouble finding arrowroot powder locally. (And, I’m not sure I want to commit to a whole pound of the stuff online, in case I have some of the troubles others have reported.) What purpose does the arrowroot serve? Any suggestions for a substitute? Thanks!
Heidi, what kind of stores do you have around you? Do any of them have a bulk spice section? You can usually get a few tablespoons there for dirt cheap. Also, if any of your stores carry any Bob’s Red Mill products, they usually have arrowroot in that section.
If you absolutely can’t find it, I would just skip it and know your soothers will dissolve a bit more quickly than normal.