After a long day in the office, 29-year-old Helena, a graphic designer from Manchester, gets home, kicks off her shoes and runs a hot, steamy bath. A year ago, she might have gone straight to the sofa with dinner in-hand, but today’s priority is immersing herself in a hot tub of water.
“It’s the one moment in the day where I can properly switch off,” she says. “I light a candle, add a few drops of bath oil and some salts, and for half an hour, I don’t look at my phone — it feels like shedding off the day. A total reset.”
She’s part of a growing movement of consumers rediscovering the restorative power of bathing, seeing it not as a luxury, but as a ritual for mental clarity and calm. On TikTok, #BathTok is trending, with 15.5 billion views of the #Bath hashtag, while Instagram feeds are punctuated with pedicured toes emerging from bath tubs flanked by flickering candles and a curated array of oils, salts and tinctures.
The global bath and shower products market is currently valued at around $54 billion, with projections reaching approximately $80 billion by 2032. Retailers are taking note: at Space NK, revenue from bath oils has risen 180% year-on-year, while Cult Beauty reports a 25% rise. Bubble bath has also seen double-digit growth at Space NK, Sophie Wayman, the retailer’s category director for skincare, adds.
This renewed appetite for ritual offers an opportunity for beauty brands. Serial entrepreneur Sharmadean Reid, founder of Wah Nails and Beautystack, recently launched 39BC, a wellness line designed to honor the cultural history of bathing. Its debut collection is inspired by Mark Antony and Cleopatra, featuring four fragrance-infused body oils that are designed to envelop the skin post-bath. “Washing has been reduced to efficiency and hygiene,” Reid says. “Historically — whether in Rome, Istanbul or Kyoto — it [bathing] was the center of cultural and political life. I want to bring that sense of ritual back.”
