Wearing lava beads can be a really lovely way of keeping connected all day to your favorite sensory essential oils.
Lava beads are a perfect way to diffuse the amazing relaxing or rejuvenating properties of pure essential oils and blends.
Many people making homemade jewelry are attracted by the low cost of making their own unique diffusers. With their natural shape and holistic properties, lava beads make beautiful necklaces and bracelets.
But like any other jewelry, you may wonder whether it’s safe to wear lava beads in the shower. So let’s get the definitive answer so you can make sure you look after your jewelry diffusers properly!
Can you wear lava beads in the shower? Lava beads will diffuse the fragrance of essential oils when water comes into contact. However, wearing them in the shower could damage the lava beads depending on:
- How long you are in the shower
- How well the lava beads have been soaked
- How they are handled
- Detergents used
- Quality of the lava beads
- Waxed or not
With the short answer nailed, we now know that it’s most likely to be ok to wear lava beads in the shower, but it does depend on a few other factors.
So we can understand a little more easily whether it’s unlikely or more likely to damage lava beads if you wear your lava beads in the shower, let’s start by discovering a little bit more about the make-up of lava beads.
Lava beads are porous
This means they have quite a lot of tiny holes in them, which makes them easier to absorb liquid content, such as from a bath or shower.
Their porous texture is what helps lava beads to act as perfect diffusers in absorbing and releasing the fragrance of your favorite essential oil blends.
However, this porous texture can mean your lava beads become wet when you wear them in the shower.
This is because, the same way the tiny pores absorb the essential oils, it will also absorb the water when underneath running water, such as your morning shower.
“Their porous texture is what helps lava beads to act as perfect diffusers in absorbing and releasing the fragrance of your favorite essential oil blends.”
So what exactly happens when you wear lava beads in the shower? Let’s find out.
What happens if you wear lava beads in the shower?
The obvious thing you can expect from wearing lava bead jewelry in the shower is that it’ll get wet.
However, just because that happens doesn’t necessarily mean your necklace or bracelet will become damaged when you wear them in the shower.
One of the positives of wearing your lava beads in the shower is that any essential oils you add will release their fragrance under the warm running water of your morning shower.
So by wearing lava beads in the shower, you can get a relaxing or rejuvenating experience from your essential oil blends as your lava beads get wet, resulting in a fragrant showering experience.
“One of the positives of wearing lava beads in the shower is that essential oils will release their fragrance under the warm running water of your morning shower.”
Ok so now we’ve found out that wearing lava beads in the shower will result in wet beads, but also that it will help to diffuse any essential oils you add, let’s find out if there might be any damage caused by the running water of a shower.
Will the lava beads damage when I wear them in the shower?
The extent to which lava beads might be damaged when you wear them in the shower depends on many factors.
Firstly it’s important to remember that the texture of the lava beads is porous and so it has very fragile absorbing properties.
Keeping that in mind, below are different factors that will decide whether lava beads can damage when you wear them in the shower. Let’s discover a little more below.
The length of time lava beads are in the shower
Depending on how long you wear the lava beads in the shower, the possibility of it getting damaged can vary.
As might seem obvious, the longer you wear it, the longer the beads will be exposed to water and more the damage. So if you like extremely long showers, you might notice your beads becoming less effective.
On the other hand, even if you enjoy an extra-long rainfall shower, providing you minimize the contact with your lava beads, it should be fine.
This might be easier to do with bracelets rather than necklaces which might be directly under the water flow.
In general, if you’re taking a standard morning shower, your lava beads will be fine.
However, just as a precaution, make sure you pat them dry as soon as you get out of the shower to avoid your beads from soaking up too much water. This, over time, could cause them to gradually break or become less effective.
How well it’s been soaked
If your shower ends up soaking the lava beads way too much in the water, it could damage the lava beads.
As the lava beads absorb more water through the pores, the beads get soggy and heavy and this will cause the main kind of damage to your beads, which is either the elastic or other fastenings holding your lava beads together will more easily give way or break.
This can often happen when you enjoy a long soak in the bath, where you tend to spend more time relaxing than you would in a shower.
“If your shower ends up soaking the lava beads way too much in the water, it could damage the lava beads.”
How your beads are handled in the shower
Sometimes when you are enjoying a glorious lengthy shower, you might use some kind of exfoliation brush, maybe a loofah or other type of brush to scrub your body while showering.
Make sure you are careful not to include your lava beads in the scrubbing fest! As rough handling as you scrub and move your hands while showering might result in some damage to your lava beads.
Rough handling can easily break lava beads or even detach the beads from your bracelet.
So is your shower gel or shampoo safe to use on your lava beads when in the shower? Let’s find out.
Detergents used while bathing
The detergents you use while showering and their toxicity levels could potentially damage the lava beads.
As you may be able to guess, harsh chemicals, and high toxicity could easily break the soft and airy texture of good quality lava beads.
Even if it doesn’t necessarily damage or break your lava beads, it will more than definitely affect the color and quality of your lava beads.
So is the quality of lava beads a point to consider when in the shower?
Quality of the lava beads
In general, good quality lava beads have more pores and look soft, airy, and lightweight. This means that the better quality beads you have, it’s more likely the heavy exposure to falling water could damage them.
On the other hand, as you may be able to guess, low-quality lava beads may be much stronger and heavier, which are able to resist water exposure longer, strangely than better high-quality lava beads.
So it’s a double-edged sword here for the quality. The overall takeaway is that the quality of your beads, whether they are genuine lava beads or factory prepared ones, both have the potential to either have more or less protection in the shower!
If you’re not sure if lava beads are real, then click here to go to my blog which will give you all the details on how to find out!
If lava beads are waxed
Better quality and real lava beads are usually waxed. When they are waxed as you might guess, it’s way easier to resist the type of waterfall you would get in your daily shower.
However, the wax coating may remove if you like to really turn up the heat and enjoy a very hot shower.
Very hot showers might also change the color of the beads and going forwards could affect how well they absorb your favorite essential oils blends.
“The wax coating may be removed if you like to really turn up the heat and enjoy a very hot shower.”
And finally…
So there you have it! The definitive answer as to whether lava beads could get damaged in the shower!
Our overall best advice is only to wear your lava jewelry in the shower only you are using mild detergents and just hopping in for a warmish, quick shower.
If you add some essential oils to your lava bead bracelets first, then you will get the gorgeous sensory benefits in your shower.
Or if you prefer, try popping 5 drops of your favorite oil to the base of the shower for a few moments before you get in, to diffuse the oils.
Try uplifting bergamot, sweet orange, lemon, or peppermint for an early morning zing! chamomile, geranium and rose for a soothing evening shower. Check out 21 of my favorite oils for calm and relaxation, or discover more beautiful blends and recipes with two of my favorite relaxing and calming oils, ylang-ylang and lavender.
So if you are a lava stone or diffuser bracelet lover like I am, don’t forget to check out my other lava stone loveliness articles! especially if you want to know ‘How to Tell If Lava Beads Are Real’, or find out the Top benefits of Lava Stones and Lava Bracelets and Why you Need one!’, and ‘Lava Stone Meanings in Life, Spirit, Emotion, and Strength!”
This content has been checked and verified by a medical professional or aromatherapist The article has been reviewed by our editorial board and has been approved for publication by our editorial policy.
