Why wouldn’t you just call them STEAMERS?!
Four years ago, I went to a soap conference in Kansas City. I had been formulating shower steamers for a while and there was a guest speaker who made a formulator style note that stuck with me: they fizz, they don’t actually steam. And after that I couldn’t come back and name them “steamers” when they were really “fizzies”. Shower steamers were already picking up steam (haha, pun intended) and everyone was calling them that. But my brain was stuck on the fizzy thing and I remember thinking, no, I just can’t do it. Like, the water in your shower is steaming. But that’s just. Your shower. So they became shower fizzies because it’s actually fizzing with water activation.
Looking back now, yes, I do understand how steamer won and it’s what everyone calls them and what everyone searches for. So if you’ve been calling them steamers or googling “shower steamer” to find pucks like this, you are in the right place. I just wanted to make a case for why "fizzies" is the more honest name, but this is is what’s going on when you use them:
What is a Shower Steamer?
These pressed pucks contain ingredients sodium bicarbonate + citric acid. That’s the same fizzing pair of as a bath bomb. I get asked a lot if you can use them as bath bombs, but unfortunately no. Don’t use a shower steamer as a bath bomb: they aren’t formulated for soaking your skin in and our formulation specifically uses a high essential oil ratio so there is a lot of scent throw in the shower.
When you place your shower steamer in the corner or on the shelf of the shower, you can control how much scent is released by splashing with a bit more water to increase scent throw, or moving away from water stream or puddles for less scent. There is actually no steam in the fizzing chemical reaction, but the steam from your warm shower water helps the essential oils in the pucks volatilize and fill the air.
No need to leave the fizzies in the direct water, and if they get a chance to drain between uses, our shower steamer pucks will last a couple showers (just splash with more water again next time to activate again).
A note from the formulator
Naming a product is part science communication, part marketing, and sometimes you get a lil too weird about the science part. Four years later I still think fizzies is the more accurate name, but I've made peace with the fact that "steamer" is what's stuck in most people's heads, and that’s all good. Words evolve, brands evolve, I evolve (slowly, and usually while arguing with myself about ingredient percentages). What matters the most is knowing how it works : the reaction is a fizz, but the steam in the air helps carry it around. But seriously, if steamer is what brought you here than welcome, and I’m glad you’re here either way! :)
— Andrea, Founder and Formulator