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The term has two distinct meanings, depending on whether the bubbles are in, or on top of, the bath water.

Contents

Bubbles 'in' the water

Bubbles 'on top of' the water

Both types combined

History

See also

Bubbles 'in' the water

This meaning of "bubble bath" is more commonly used by non-native users of English.
Bubbles in the water can be produced either by aerating it mechanically (in some cases using jets that also move the water) using equipment installed permanently or temporarily in a bathtub, hot tub, or pool, or by producing gas in the water in a bathtub through the use of effervescent solids. The latter can come as small pellets known as bath fizzies or as a bolus known as a bath bomb, and they produce carbon dioxide by reaction of a bicarbonate or carbonate with an organic acid.

Bubbles 'on top of' the water

Bubbles on top of the water, less ambiguously known as a 'foam bath' (see photo), can be obtained by adding a product containing foaming surfactants to water and temporarily aerating it by agitation (often merely by the fall of water from a faucet). The practice is popular for personal bathing because the foam insulates the bath water, keeping it warm for longer, and (as a lime soap dispersant) prevents or reduces deposits on the bath tub at and below the water level (called "bathtub ring" and soap scum, respectively) produced by soap and hard water. It can also keep the body of the bather from being visible, preserving modesty while giving the appearance that a performer who is actually clothed is tub-bathing normally. Children find foam baths particularly amusing, so they are an inducement to get them into the bathtub.
Surfactant preparations for this purpose are themselves called "bath foam", "foaming bath", or "bubble bath", and frequently contain ingredients for additional purposes common to bath additives. Used at much higher concentration (for instance on a washcloth), such preparations (especially in liquid form) may also be used to wash skin or hair, so they are sometimes marketed for combined purposes; in a few cases, mild household detergents for hand washing of articles have also been labeled for such purposes, or for preventing soap scum on the bathtub (with or without foaming).

Both types combined

It is possible for a single bath to have bubbles in both places, but the combination is less popular because of the possibility of runaway foaming, the relatively small volume of gas production by effervescent products (and the gas's depletion by the agitation to foam the bath), and the fact that mechanically aerated baths are often public or otherwise shared by adults.

History

Effervescent bath products came into use as effervescent bath salts early in the 20th Century; the bath bomb became a popular form late in that century. The earliest foam baths were foamed with soap, which practice came about shortly after soap flakes were marketed. Saponins were also used to foam machine-aerated baths. Foam baths became more popular with later surfactants, and indeed the earliest recorded public use of an alkyl sulfate surfactant was as bath foam in the original 1936 production of the play ''The Women''. Foam baths became standard practice for bathing children after the mass marketing of products so positioned during the 1960s and thereabouts; the dubious claim had been made that their normal use (diluted in a tubful of water) would clean skin well enough without soap or rubbing.
Machine-aerated baths originated in the early 20th Century for therapeutic use, becoming more widely used with the introduction of the Jacuzzi. Trends merged when the hot tub, which originally had still water, with its increasing popularity became more commonly a communal whirlpool bath. By the late 20th Century jetted bathtubs had become popular for home installation.

See also

★ Bathing

★ bath salts

★ Rubber duck