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There are two kinds of people in this world: those who love baths and those who can’t stand them. I used to fall into the second category. Maybe it’s because I can never get the temperature quite right or because I have a nasty habit of dropping my phone in the water, but for whatever reason, I never saw the point in filling up a tub with hot water and simply sitting there. That is, until I tried Maude’s Tub Kit

As a 20-something navigating moving back to New York City in the middle of a pandemic (after returning to my parents’ home for six months and existing in a euphoric haze of my mom’s life-changing lasagna and freshly laundered sheets), I’ve been more stressed than usual. Meditation and journaling both did wonders for my focus and mental clarity, but my body still felt tense; my shoulders were in knots and my face was breaking out. Enter the Tub Kit.

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The Tub Kit, Maude ($32)
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What it is: Two products in one sleek cardboard tube: hydrating and exfoliating bath salts plus anti-inflammatory coconut milk powder. The salt crystals, packed with magnesium, sodium, and potassium, are hand-harvested from the Dead Sea, while the dehydrated milk powder infuses the water with vitamin C.

How it works: You can use the duo separately, but I tossed a handful of both into hot bath water. It took a minute for the powder to dissolve (with some water-swirling on my part), but the salts disappeared instantly.

The lowdown: The first thing I noticed was the scent. In the jar, the milk powder smells faintly like coconut—if I could somehow bottle it and turn it into a perfume, I would—but once dissolved, the fragrance went away. The salts, on the other hand, smell like a mix of amber, lemongrass, dates, and cedar, for immediate spa vibes (which is a hard feeling to create in a tiny Brooklyn apartment). The scent lingered on my body long after I toweled off—even into the next morning.

With the addition of the salts and milk powder, my bath water became almost silky to the touch, making the luxurious experience all the more tangible. I was doing that thing I’d never done in the tub before: relaxing. Suddenly, I got it. If I closed my eyes, I could have been on the beach in the South of France.

The next day my skin felt much more hydrated and nourished. (I have bad eczema, so it’s not easy for it to be anything other than desert-level dry.) All in all, the Tub Kit did more than just allow me to unwind, it allowed me to escape. Consider me convinced, bath fans. I’ll be taking many more in the future.

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