Inoki Help Centre

The bathhouse kits are meant for one-time use because it takes a lot of natural ingredients to achieve the level of aromatherapy I want to achieve (without artificial fragrances).

However, you can get more out of your bathhouse kits by either:

1. Reuse: You can steep the entire bathhouse kit as per the instructions for 5 minutes in boiling water (instead of 10) and then rest it and put it inside your fridge in a clean container. The next day you can reuse it and steep it in boiling water for 10 minutes and put it into your bath.
2. Create Portions: You can split the bathhouse formulation into two experiences by simply using less ingredients. I would recommend steeping the bathhouse formula in your bathroom for longer than 10 minutes, pressing down on it regularly to extract more of the scent. And then pour it into your bath as per normal. Please note: I only include 1 large tea bag, but you can use any cotton bag that seals tightly from home.

Skin Benefits from the Garden Bathhouse Formula

1. Roses [Egypt]: Dry rose helps refresh your skin by balancing the skin’s pH balance as it contains anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties such as vitamin C. [1]
2. Lavender [France]: Lavender tea can help soothe your skin with its cooling and calming benefits. It contains antioxidant properties that can detox the skin and aid in dry skin-related issues. [2]
3. Calendula [Egypt]: Calendula helps hydrate your skin with its anti-inflammatory properties and it stimulates the skin’s firmness and elasticity. [3]
4. Chamomile [Croatia]: Chamomile helps calm the skin with its anti-inflammatory properties. It also reduces redness and signs of aging and protects the skin from inflammation like sunburns. [4] 
5. Butterfly Pea Flower [China]: Butterfly Pea Flower helps protect the skin from sun damage as it is rich in polyphenols, which prevents the skin from harmful effects. It also reduces redness and irritation from its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. [5]
6. Coconut Milk [Vietnam]: Coconut milk helps restore moisture in the skin as it is loaded with vitamin C. It also improves the appearance of the skin by reducing redness and maintaining the skin’s elasticity. [6]
7. Jasmine [China]: Jasmine tea helps balance the skin’s moisture, reduce redness, and slow down the skin aging process with its antioxidant properties. [7]
8. Oats [Canada]: Oats help soothe and moisturize the skin, which helps with skin dryness with its antioxidant properties such as vitamin E. [8]

References:

1. https://www.skininc.com/skinscience/ingredients/5-Major-Skin-Care-Benefits-of-Roses-505581371.html 
2. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/lavender-tea-benefits#1.-May-improve-mood-disorders
3. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/calendula-tea#6.-May-improve-skin-health
4. https://www.spandidos-publications.com/mmr/3/6/895
5. https://www.paulaschoice.com/ingredient-dictionary/antioxidants/clitoria-ternatea-butterfly-pea-flower-extract.html 
6. https://food.ndtv.com/beauty/10-amazing-coconut-milk-benefits-for-hair-face-and-skin-1421580 
7. https://clinic.acumedic.com/home-recipes-for-flawless-skin/ 
8. https://www.healthline.com/health/oatmeal-bath#oatmeal-safety

Here are my recommendations for creating the perfect bathhouse environment inside your own
bathroom. I will continue updating this list.

Lighting

• Mood Lighting: Purchase warm mood lights so that you can turn off the florescent light in your bathroom. My favourite is a woven bamboo lamp. Use enough light to make you feel like you're in an everlasting sunset, but not enough that it strains your eyes.
• Candles: Light candles throughout your bathroom to create a warm sunset hue. As part of the Inoki Bathhouse kit, I include 6 tealight candles with lavender to sprinkle into it to give it a nice light lavender scent.

Decor

• Fresh Flowers: Buy yourself some beautiful and fresh flowers. You deserve it and it will look fantastic in your bathroom. Support a local flower shop if you can!
• Dry Flowers: I highly recommend getting dry flowers so you don't have to buy fresh flowers all the time. It will make your bathroom look phenomenal. I purchase my dry flowers from local flower shops. Note: dry flowers are not meant to be in humid environments, but if you're taking baths once a week, I don't think it's a big deal.
• Plants: I love including my plants in my environment (I personally have a money tree and a hanging plant) in my bath environment. Hanging plants such as Boston Fern, Golden Pothos, Maidenhair Fern, String of Nickels, are fantastic and low maintenance. 
• Fake Plants: I have a ton of fake plants, but I don't use it as much for my bath environment nowadays because real plants are more aesthetic and pleasing to look at. Tip: get your plants from proper plant shops as opposed to supermarkets. The detail is in the quality of the plant roots and soil - if the foundation is good then it will be resilient. Real plants also help clean the air in your home so double win.

Scents

• Do not overdo the scent: Do not overdo the fragrances and essential oils because your tolerance for scents will adjust during bath experience. My bathhouse formulations are made with natural plant-based ingredients with sweet scents that continue to release throughout the bath experience as it soaks in the warm waters (it's not overpowering or too subtle).
• Do not combine scents: Do not combine scents from different products when you're in your bathroom. For example: lighting all sorts of scented candles that have disjointed scents. This also includes using scented products (use your products at the very end). Create a relaxing scent and stick with it for the entire soaking experience, it will make the bath experience much more relaxing.

Bath Accessories

• Bath Cushion: Get yourself a bath cushion. It absolutely changed my bath experience. My bath formulations will definitely stain your bath cushions into a tea colour. I hope this isn't a deal breaker, but if it is, no hard feelings!
• Bathtub Tray: My bamboo tray transform my bath experience. Now I can read a book/kindle, enjoy fruits, and drink hot tea.
• Bath Bowl: Get a bath bowl (you can honestly use anything). When I visited bathhouses in Japan and Korea, I used large wooden bowls/buckets to scoop hot bath water and pour it over my head and body. It was a functional use of limited water and created a relaxing sensation from the quick water pressure. 
• Gua Sha: If you're not familiar with gua sha, it's essentially the practice of using a tool that helps relieve pain and tension. This practice originates from traditional Chinese medicine. You can use the gua sha tool to massage various parts of your body, like the muscles in your back in legs. Massaging your muscles while you're in a hot bath seems like the perfect opportunity to give your muscles some more love.
• Floor Towel: To create and maintain a steamy bathroom, I recommend putting a body towel at the foot of your door. Cold air will typically rush in from that crack and we want to avoid that.
• Facial Bath Towel: Have a small clean towel available in your bath so that you can soak it in warm water and wrap it around your eyes and neck.

Refreshments: Tea & Fruits

• Bring Heat to Your Body with Hot Tea: Whenever I was sick with a cold, my mom would tell me to sweat it out. I believe this is a part of traditional Chinese medicinal practices - the belief that adding heat to your body and sweating it out will bring balance back to any internal chaos. As part of the Inoki Bathhouse experience, I include premium traditional whole leaf Chinese tea in the bathhouse kits to help bring you some delicious, aromatic heat.
• Refresh with Fruits: My mom's greatest act of service throughout my childhood was proactively cutting me fruits. I believe giving someone or even yourself a fresh bowl of fruits is love - either an act of love or self-love. It's also a great source of vitamins and electrolytes considering how much you'll be sweating in your bath.

Yes, all the ingredients in my Garden Bathhouse formula are clean, organic, and chemical-free. I have not sourced all the ingredients for the other formulations yet.

Cleaning up is easy, but not very enjoyable after a relaxing bath. I strongly advise cleaning your tub right away. That means draining the water and then use a scrubber to get rid of all the dead skin and residual bath water. You may also want to soak your bath cushion in water and baking soda (the bathhouse kit will stain your cushion). Lastly, cutting the large tea bag open to compost the bathhouse formula and then throwing away the tea bag into the trash.

Tea is a natural colouring agent, so I do want to preface with this fact first. Unlike bath bombs, there are zero artificial colours in my bath formulations.

I, nor any of my customers, have had any staining issues with the bathtub from my formulations. I've personally used my bathhouse formulation over dozens of times sometimes forgetting to drain my bathtub for hours. The only staining I've experienced is with my bath cushion (I find it charming because it adds character). 

The reason why it shouldn't stain your bathtub is because our tubs are made with resilient materials that are not porous. However, if you have an old bathtub that is peeling or degrading, I cannot guarantee that it won't stain it. 

Recommendations:

• I recommend doing a small stain test with a bit of formulation and boiling water and seeing if anything happens after an hour or two. 
• A solution to mitigate risk is to remove all the butterfly pea flowers because that emits the most amount of colour.

Unfortunately, no. It's only a link to the playlist.

I spend hours listening to music to curate the perfect playlist for the bathhouse theme and then create a sharing option. I personally LOVE Spotify (not sponsored) and I have their family plan so it's around $3/month, which I think is affordable. Spotify also has student discounts.

Short answer is no, it shouldn't.; however, things can always happen to please review the below carefully.

In order to answer this I had to do a lot of research into how pH levels can be disrupted during baths.

Here are my findings:

• A "normal" vaginal pH level is between 4 - 4.5 (however this also depends on age)
• Below 7 = Acidic - vaginal pH thrives in an acidic environment 
• Above 7 = Alkaline - this can begin to disrupt the healthy bacteria in our vaginal ecosystem
• Adding soap, salts, fragrances, and oils can cause irritation
• The quality of your local bath water mixed with added ingredients like soap (which can have a pH level of 9+) can lead to infections
• It is a safer bet to use natural ingredients that don't have chemicals that can cause an imbalance in your vaginal ecosystem
• There have been recorded instances of people who have soaked in salt baths, bath bombs, or bubble baths who have contracted infections (it's a small percentage, but it has happened)

About Inoki Bathhouse formulations:

• We do not have a bath bomb product - there are no acids, baking sodas, artificial colours, fragrances, soaps, complex ingredients, or chemicals in our products
• All our ingredients are organic (most of them are certified USDA Organic)
• It takes 1 minute in boiling water to kill bacteria and pathogens but as part of the instructions for the bath experience we ask you to put the formulation in boiling water for 8-10 minutes - this is not only to extract its scent but to eliminate any germs, bacteria, or pathogens 
• I did an at-home pH test and the result was 4.67 (after waiting a few minutes)

Personal experience:

As a female, I will always test my products on myself before offering it to you. This is relevant because I have had my fair share of UTIs (unfortunately) so I am in the "at-risk" category. I'm proud to say that this bathhouse formula has never given me a UTI or yeast infection after dozens of uses. This is actually a part of why I wanted to start this company - to create a natural bathing experience. It has also never given my customers who have vaginas any issues.

With all of that said, it's very difficult to 100% guarantee that it won't affect your pH level because there's a risk in anything that we do. I will leave it up to you to weigh the information I've offered and make a final decision.