All language subtitles for Inside.the.Factory.S08E06.Bath.Bombs.1080p.iP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-VTM_track3_[eng]

When life gets hectic, it's really
important to relax and unwind.

And one of the best ways to
do that is to take a bath.

For me, a bath is a real treat.

There's no end of choice
as to what you put in it.

I like a bath bomb.

In the 1990s, fizzy bath bombs
exploded onto the market.

Fragrance-filled...

..calming or invigorating...

..they bring a different
dimension to bath time.

So, to reveal the secrets,
and the science,

behind their colourful contents,

I've come to a factory that's
been making them for 27 years!

I'm Gregg Wallace...

Mate!

..and tonight,
I'll be adding a bit of sparkle...

Ha-ha! I think I might end up
looking like a glam rock guitarist.

..and hand-crafting with colour...

What a lovely job this is.

..to create
a kaleidoscopic bath bomb.

Wahey!

I'm Cherry Healey...

Oh, wow.

..and I'm in search of ethical ways
to trial our bathroom potions.

So, you make human skin in a lab,

and that's what you test
the products on?

Oh, it's horrible.

And historian Ruth Goodman...

Whale regurgitation.

..concocts a death-defying perfume.

And this is going to keep
me safe from the plague.

This factory produces 14 million
bath bombs every single year.

And I'm going to reveal
just how they do it.

Welcome to Inside The Factory.

This is the
Lush factory in Dorset.

And it smells amazing!

Here, they make all sorts
of colourful cosmetics,

with a passion to manufacture
in an eco-friendly way.

665 workers make
most of them by hand.

Mate, the colours and the smells.

This is proper nice.

From fancy floral soaps...

..to products for
your body and hair.

But...

Personally, I'm not that
bothered about shampoo,

but I do enjoy a good bath.

So, today, I'm following production
of one of their bestsellers -

the Intergalactic bath bomb.

It may sound out of this world,

but my bath bomb starts
life far more down to earth.

at Intake, where I'm meeting
Warehouse Manager Chris Smith.

Hello, Chris.

You all right, Gregg?
Nice to see you. Good to meet you.

So, making a bath bomb,
what do we have to start with?

Right now, we actually have a
delivery of sodium bicarbonate,

which is our main ingredient that
helps make our bath bombs fizz.

Let's go and see that inside.

The lorry contains six tonnes
of sodium bicarbonate,

imported from France.

Enough to make 36,000 bath bombs.

And as the super-sized, one-tonne
sacks of powder are unloaded,

my bath bomb production begins.

But before we crack on,

I want to know how this ingredient
makes my bath bombs fizz.

So, Gregg, this is
our sodium bicarbonate.

Yeah. What exactly is it?

It's just baking soda.
And what's the other one?

So, the other one we've got
here is citric acid.

When you use baking soda, you
need an acid to help it react to

create carbon dioxide. That
gives it the rise and the fluff.

In baking, you might use lemon
juice. We use citric acid.

When that mixes with water,

it creates carbon dioxide,
that gives it that extra fizz.

The procedure that makes my
cake rise is the same procedure

that's making your bathwater fizz?
It certainly is.

So, here, we have a mix of sodium
bicarbonate and citric acid.

If you'd like to pour
it into the water.

Whoa!

That certainly fizzes.

What you're teaching me here,
my friend, is the biz of fizz.

When mixed with water,
the two powders dissolve

and react to form sodium
citrate and carbon dioxide.

And it's the emission of this gas, as
bubbles, that creates all the fizz.

Thank you very much indeed.

I now know how to make fizz.

You're welcome, Gregg.

It looks fun, but the bubbles
also disperse the colour

and scent in the bath.

Sodium bicarbonate has deodorising
properties and a softening effect on

hard water, soothing your skin, and
creating a super-relaxing bath time.

I do find a good, hot soak is a
great way to de-stress

after a long, hard day.

But what is that time in the
tub actually doing to our body?

Cherry has been dipping
her toe into the science.

Now, I love a relaxing soak, too,

but I've been told that a bath

can also provide some of
the benefits of exercise.

Can that really be true?

To find out more, I've come
to Loughborough University

to meet Dr Christof Leicht,

who's conducted studies to

investigate how hot baths
could help our health.

Hi, Christof. Lovely to meet you.
Hi, Cherry.

So, you're saying that hot baths
can have health benefits?

So, we've done
lots of research in this area.

And, yes, we do get some health
benefits by taking hot baths.

There's quite a lot of evidence that
when people raise their body

temperature regularly,
they get health benefits from that.

It's like all my dreams come true.

But it's not going to be
a replacement for exercise.

This could be interesting for
people who can't exercise, right?

So, people with a disability
or people who are frail,

and for them, it will be
useful to have another thing

to do if they can't do exercise.

So, would they get the same
thing by having a bath?

Regular exercise strengthens
the heart and blood vessels,

improving circulation
and lowering resting blood pressure.

Christof wants to show me how blood
pressure can also be lowered

with hot bathing, by putting
my body to the test.

I am a bit nervous, actually. OK...

First, he measures my
blood pressure at rest...

..and my heart rate

to help us compare them later.

OK.

We also need to measure
my core body temperature.

And for that, I have to
swallow a high-tech thermometer,

hidden inside this pill.

Are you kidding me?!

OK, so, three, two, one.

Down the hatch.

Oh, God. I'm officially a cyborg.

A receiver will read
the transmitter through my body.

Let's go. I'm all set
for that 30-minute hot bath.

After you. Thank you.

But it's not quite the spa
experience I had in mind.

Oh, oh! That is pretty hot.

The bathwater is a steamy
39 degrees Celsius.

Go in.

Oh, my gosh. That is warm.

Two degrees hotter than
my usual bathwater at home.

I'm sweating.

I'm really hot and starting
to get a bit uncomfortable.

I can feel the heat
getting my heart pumping.

So, what is going on
in my body right now?

So, your resting heart rate was 62,

and now we're, after ten
minutes in the bath only,

it's 75, because all the blood
of your body will be directed

to your skin to try
and cool the body.

So, it's having to work really hard
to get that blood around my body,

so that it can find somewhere
to cool off. That's right.

I feel like it's time to
measure my little robot friend.

That's right. I'll read it.

So that is 38.13.

Oh. So, you're up by a degree.

One degree doesn't sound much,
but, for my core temperature,

it's a big increase that my body
is working hard to try to correct.

Let's get your blood pressure, yeah?

So, your blood pressure
is now 103 by 50.

So, the lower number has gone down,

and the lower number is

basically a measure for how
open your blood vessels are.

So, they're all open now, right?

Your blood rushes to the surface,

and that's quite a decent
drop that we find here.

So, my blood vessels
have all opened... Yes.

..to let the blood through,
to go to my skin... That's right.

..to try and cool it down?
That's right.

My blood pressure lowers and my
heart rate continues to increase...

106, 107.

108, 109.

..over the course
of the 30-minute bath.

Is it time to get out?
Let's go. But take it slowly.

Sometimes people feel
a bit light-headed.

I do. I actually do
feel a bit light-headed.

Whilst I dry off,
Dr Christof analyses the data.

What did these results show about
what's going on inside my body?

In the bath, basically,
that heart rate goes up...

..in order to distribute the
blood towards the skin's surface.

And what's quite interesting
as well is the blood pressure.

In the bath,
that decreases blood pressure

because all your vessels open up.

So, from these results
and the research you've done,

what would you say is the overall
benefit of having a really hot bath?

I think what your results show,
quite nicely, was that

decrease in blood pressure.
So if you were to repeat these baths

three times weekly, over
six to eight weeks or so,

then even your resting blood
pressure could come down.

And that's, in general,
a very good thing.

High blood pressure is
a risk factor for many

cardiovascular diseases
like heart-related issues,

stroke and so on.

Can I swap exercise for hot baths?

A bath doesn't replace exercise.

It may be a very good solution for
people who can't exercise,

for whatever reason,
for disability, frailty.

But if you can exercise,
you should do exercise.

So, hot baths cannot
replace exercise,

but they can be quite good
for your heart. Absolutely.

But before you run a really
hot bath,

make sure it's not over
39 degrees Celsius.

And it's not useful for those with
existing low blood pressure,

so check with your GP
before you take the plunge.

Here at the factory,
I'm hoping to raise the bath-time

heart rate with
some fizzy surprises.

One tonne of
sodium bicarbonate is locked

and loaded onto a giant hopper...

..in a department
they call Ballistics.

So, that's where I'm headed,
to prep the explosive

powder for my bath bombs
with compounder Paulo Silva.

Mate, you have got a great factory.

I've got the best job in the world.
Paolo, good to meet you.

Nice to meet you.
What is a good bath bomb?

A good bath bomb is going
to lift your spirits,

make you feel happy, joyful.
Mate!

That's the most inspirational line
I think I've heard in a factory.

Well, I do appreciate that.

So, first, we have to fill our
mixer with our main ingredient,

sodium bicarbonate.

Now, I'm going to press a button.
Press the button, Paolo.

Press the button.

So, now, vacuum is created and
our bicarbonate is coming through

this chute and into our machine.

800kg of sodium bicarbonate
enter the mixer.

Enough to make 6,000 bath bombs.

This factory can use up
to 67 tonnes every week!

But there's no
citric acid for fizz yet.

This is all about creating colour.

Right, it's completely white.

It is. Are we going
to add some colour?

Yes, we are.

The factory uses more
than 100 unique blends of colour.

My Intergalactic bomb calls
for three super-bright pigments.

Blue...

..pink...

..and yellow.

The mixes are all made in
separate batches, transforming them

from the snow-white sodium bicarb.

Today, we're going to
be doing the blue mix.

So, would you kindly...
Take a bucket over.

..bring the bucket into our
mixer, please? That's heavy.

This synthetic pigment is similar
to food colouring for home baking.

But for bath bombs,
it comes by the bucket-load!

Oh! Everything is going from
white powder to a turquoise blue.

Yes. And it will just
get darker and darker.

Is that right? Yes.

Usually, we wouldn't be using
this mixer with a lid open

but, today, we'll make an exception
so that you can have a better

understanding of how
our ingredients are mixed.

Through the clouds, you
can see it turning colour.

Very smart. Very nice.

120cm-long paddles
spin at a leisurely

26 rotations a minute
to stop clumps forming.

And in just 40 minutes, the dye
is fully mixed into the powder.

What's the next big bit?

Fragrance. And for that, you're
going to go to the fragrance room

to speak with Emma.
Emma in the fragrance room. Yes.

Thank you, Paolo.

To ensure its bath bombs are
sweet-smelling as well as colourful,

the factory has its own
perfumier, Emma Vincent,

who has an expert nose.

Emma. Hello.

Can you show me what's going to make
up the fragrance in my bath bomb?

I can.

So, the recipe is a secret, but
we've got four key ingredients here

that make up the
majority of your mix. OK.

White grapefruit oil, vetiver oil,

cedarwood oil and peppermint oil.

Tell me, how do you make
an essential oil from a grapefruit?

Well, from the grapefruit,

the essential oil
exists in the membrane.

So when you're cooking
and you zest your grapefruit,

what you can smell
is the essential oil.

So, the fragrance of
anything is its essential oil?

So, they sort of grate it off
and the oil is cold-pressed,

or steam-distilled,
and that captures the essential oil

and pulls it out of
the plant material.

Basically, you are trapping the
natural smell of every ingredient.

Mm-hm. Brilliant.

20 grapefruits go into
this one small bottle.

So, we have grapefruit
essential oil.

Have a sniff.

Oh. Oh, that's good.

You know what that
smells like to me? Clean.

Yes. That's clean. Yes.

Well, it's very
cleansing on the skin.

So, that's kind of part of
what's in the bath bomb, it is

in the design to cleanse your
skin when you're in the bath.

Oh! This is good, this.

Right, what's the next one?

Cedarwood, which actually
smells like pencil shavings.

This Cedarwood Virginian
is extracted

from the red cedar tree,

native to North America.

Oh, hang on a minute.

That's almost like smoke.

Why do you want that smokiness?

It helps with relaxing
your muscles within the bath.

Mint.

Let me tell you, mint, I think,
is my favourite, favourite herb.

But there's spearmint, of course,
and there's peppermint.

You've got peppermint. Yes.

Mm!

What does mint do for
us in the bath, then?

So, it contains menthol.

Sniffing it now, you
can see it sort of clears

your airways, so it perks you up and
gets all those sensories tingling.

OK. And now we have vetiver.

A bird's nest? Yeah. Enjoy!

SHE LAUGHS

This is actually grown in Indonesia.

It looks like long blades of grass,

but you have to take it
out of the ground to get the roots.

And that's where the
essential oil is.

Vetiver is similar to better-known
fragrant plants lemongrass

and citronella.

Oh!

It's almost a colour in a smell.

It's dark, liquorice, brown.

So it's quite an earthy scent.

It's a warming oil.

It will kind of relax all those
muscles when you're in the bath.

Oh, how lovely.

All these essential oils
are carefully trialled

and blended by Emma and her team.

Now, what happens
when you mix them all together?

We can smell the finished product.

Oh, lovely.

Oh, that's good, that.

This now smells
like a luxurious bath. Mm-hm.

I need a large bucket
to scent 6,000 bath bombs.

Emma, thank you so much.

That was educational
and a great deal of fun.

Take this to the mix? Yes, please.

One hour and ten
minutes into production,

our blue bath bomb mix is ready
for me to add my exotic aromas.

Paolo! I've got something
quite special here.

Oh, that is amazing.

That is a deep, deep blue, isn't it?

It is like a midnight sky blue,
I would say. Yeah.

So it is ready for our fragrance.
So if you can, please.

Gram for gram, the fragrance is
the most expensive part of the mix.

You're a natural, Gregg.

GREGG LAUGHS

And it also has the
longest-lasting effect.

When you go home on the bus, do
people say you actually smell nice?

Yes, they do.

I get quite a lot of compliments.

Really? Yes, I do.

My bath bomb mix is absolutely
full of fragrance,

but Ruth's been investigating a time

when perfume wasn't just
about smelling sweet.

Nowadays, a lovely bottle
of scent is a simple pleasure,

but here, in Britain,
during the 17th century,

perfume was taken deadly seriously.

I'm meeting Professor
of Sensory History

at Anglia Ruskin University,
Will Tullett, in the beautiful

surroundings of the
Chelsea Physic Garden,

founded in 1673.

Aroma's always been important
to people, but what is it,

specifically, about the 17th century
that makes it draw our attention?

Well, firstly, there is a huge
influx of new, fragrant plants

and spices and herbs and aromatics
that are coming into England

from the colonies, from trade.

And one of the reasons they are
doing that is because they're

having to deal with some big
issues, one of which is plague.

Over 300 years, outbreaks
of plague ravaged Britain,

from the Black Death in the 1300s

to the Great Plague of London
in 1665.

Although we now believe
it was spread by fleas,

at the time, this deadly
disease was thought to be

transmitted by foul smells.

So, to protect themselves,

people used sweet-smelling
herbs to purify the air.

So, I've got rosemary there
and lemon balm, and myrtle.

So, these are the sorts of plants
that people are turning to.

Particularly in periods of plague,

stuff like rosemary
becomes expensive.

It would be six shillings
for a tiny handful -

which, in today's money,
is about sort of £40, £45.

And so you could wear
it in your pocket, in your hair.

This is it, then.
I've got my myrtle.

Shove it in my hair. There
you go. In the 17th century,

breathing a smell in is
basically like eating it.

You're incorporating
it into your body.

If you're surrounded by
dead carcasses and stagnant

pools of water and faeces, the worry
is that all of those horrible,

putrid materials would
cause your body to rot as well.

Whereas nice smells, they
help the body to fight back

and take the poison of the
plague and push it out again.

As well as buying expensive herbs,

the wealthy could afford
something rather more fancy.

You might use what's
called a pomander,

which is a little ball of
perfumed paste, basically.

And we're going to have a go
at making one of those now.

Great. So, we've got a recipe
here from Sir Hugh Platt,

who was an agriculturalist
and inventor, and he published

this book called The Delights
For Ladies, which went through...

"Delights For Ladies." Yeah.

So, I'm making a delight
for you, Ruth.

Fragrances came from the
natural world in various forms.

Our first ingredient
is calamus aromaticus,

an exotic powder made from the roots
of a fragrant grass common in India.

Oh, now, that's a weird smell.

It's almost like smelly socks.

Next is a blend of resins
made from dried tree saps.

They'll kind of form the
glue that binds it together.

And now we're moving on to some
slightly different ingredients.

We're moving on to the kind of
animal ingredients of the recipe.

"Animal ingredients"? Yeah.

Throughout history,
perfume makers used the secretions

from animals to produce
long-lasting, powerful scents.

Ambergris gave off a musky smell.

It came from the sperm whale,

which expelled it in huge lumps
that floated in the ocean.

Our sample has come from the
collection of a perfume historian.

In the 17th century,
they had no idea what it was.

So, some people thought it was
a special mushroom that grew

under the sea, for example.

But, today, we know
it comes from whales.

One small lump of
whale regurgitation.

And we're also going
to put some musk,

which is a glandular secretion.

Our musk is synthetic,

but historically it

came from the Asian musk deer,

and added a leathery, spicy note.

So, in a sense,

it's just the powerfulness of these
scents that made them medicinal.

It's not like each individual
plant is doing something separate.

It's just like, because
they're strong. Yeah.

The ingredients are heated until
they combine into a sticky paste.

If you pick a bit of that off
and then roll it in your hands,

into a ball. It's warm.
It's not hot.

It's not hot. And there we go.

That's it? That's it, essentially.

We've got our pomander.

How would you describe it?
What's your best effort?

That is seriously complex,
isn't it? Yeah. Yeah.

I... I... Like, pine and...

..strawberry and...

I don't know.
There's loads going on.

Pomander balls were often carried
in a small, decorative globe.

We'll just pop it in.
Put the top on.

And I suppose if you walk,
every time you move,

you're going to make it...
Exactly. ..bounce about.

So it jogs the scent, releases a
bit more from it around you. Yeah.

It sounds so ridiculous, but
I can also see why it made sense

to people at the time, when they
hadn't got the modern science.

Good smells will drive away
infection, keep you safe.

And we shouldn't be too sniffy about
these strange early concoctions.

They are, after all,

the origins of today's

multi-billion-pound
perfume industry.

Back at this most
fragrant of factories,

I'm enjoying the colours and
smells of bath bomb production.

After one hour and 20 minutes,

I'm back with Paolo and his
perfumed, bright blue mix.

Now we need to add
the fun part of it.

So, I would like you to
try this one first, please.

Salt? Is it sugar?

That's popping candy. It crackles
up and down on your tongue.

It is. Why have you...?

You're not going to put popping candy
in it, are you? Yes, we are.

Why? It's just going
to make it crackle.

Just a little bit of fun.

So, shall I sling that in there now?
Do you feel strong? Yeah.

OK. Good.

Used mostly for sweets,

popping candy is solidified sugar

with carbon dioxide trapped inside.

They get through nearly ten tonnes
of the stuff here every year.

It's cracking as it goes in.

It is.

It will crackle much more once
you put it in contact with water.

Anything else, Paolo? Yes.

This ingredient.
It's a shimmering lustre.

And it's going to
look like stars in your bathtub.

What's lustre?

It's a mineral made to replicate
glitter, but it's plastic-free.

Lustre is like glitter
without plastic?

Exactly. It is the same effect,

but it's much healthier
and is much better for nature.

But doesn't it stick to your body?
No, it won't.

I'm not going to have a bath, am I,

and come out looking like I've
just landed from Mars?

No. As you can see,
it's tiny particles.

It will dissipate in the water.

So this lustre will add a little
bit of extra sparkle to our mix.

Most certainly will.

I think I might end up looking
like a glam rock guitarist.

This might get a bit messy.

Whoa!

I think you're going
to be ready to go out.

That's amazing!

Hooray!

GREGG LAUGHS

This gold lustre is a
chemically-bonded structure

that includes iron, titanium,
and tin oxides,

and will sink as a
harmless sediment in water.

Now we just have to close the
lid again and wait a little bit,

until the mix is ready.

All that lustre, colour

and scent combines with the
fizzy base for five minutes.

Thank you, my friend.

You have covered
yourself in stardust.

Thank you so much, Gregg.

After nearly an hour
and a half, my blue powder

whizzes down a tube
into a big tub...

..ready to be moulded
into bath bombs.

But the factory doesn't
buy in their moulds.

These clever clogs make them
themselves, as sustainably

as possible in the factory's
very own moulding department...

..where I'm meeting
Moulds Room Manager Patryk Biernat.

Patryk. Hello, Gregg.

I need moulds.

You are in the right place, Gregg.
That's what we make today.

So how many moulds
will we make today?

Today, we're going to make
about 100,000 of these moulds.

Very good. How many
times do you use them?

About five times.
Then they can break.

So, where is this plastic from?

Recycled plastic.

All our waste,
broken moulds - recycled.

You make your new moulds
out of old moulds?

Exactly.

We shred them,
process, back to the machine.

Very impressive.

That means your moulds never die.

Never die. Never die.

The 0.6mm-thick recycled
plastic sheet

is heated to
100 degrees Celsius,

making it soft and malleable
as it moves into something

called a pressure box.

This is where the magic happens.

So, the material goes
through the forming station.

This machine is pushing the shape?

Yeah. Fabulous.

Inside the pressure box are rows
of aluminium moulds known as dies.

The plastic sheeting is
fed above the dies...

..and a plate pushes down
with the force of four bar.

At the same time,
air is sucked out from below through

holes in the dies,
creating a vacuum,

making 14 perfectly formed
moulds every time.

The whole process takes
just over a second.

As the moulds emerge,
they quickly cool and harden.

Then blades heated to 60 degrees
punch out 14 individual moulds

at a rate of 400 a minute.

Hey!

Hey. Fabulous.

That's the box for you,
Gregg. You can grab some.

Is that it?
I think we are all sorted now.

Do you use bath bombs?

Yeah. Every night or once a week?

Once a week.

THEY LAUGH

Thank you, Patryk.
That's all you need.

Thank you very much.

Moulds done,
I'm ready to make my bath bombs.

I can't wait to get in
the bath and try them out.

But any product that touches
our skin has to undergo some very

serious testing,
as Cherry has been finding out.

We expect a lot from the lotions
and potions in our bathroom cabinet.

We trust that all the products
we use have been tested

so that they're safe.

Ones like these, with
the bunny symbol on,

have had absolutely
no animal testing.

But some have.

So, what are the alternatives?

I'm in Cheshire to meet
Dr Carol Treasure,

founder of biotechnology company
XCellR8, to learn about a pioneering

form of animal-free testing - now
available to the cosmetics industry.

What we do is we use human cells
and human reconstructed tissue,

so things like artificial skin.

That is absolutely mind-blowing.

So, you make skin,

human skin, in a lab

and that's what you
test the products on? Yes.

Well, that's the coolest
thing I've ever heard.

Can you show me how it works?
Of course.

So, this is where it all starts.

In there, we store hundreds
of millions of human skin cells.

Where do you get human skin cells?

They actually come
from a tissue bank.

People donate skin when they have
cosmetic surgery, for example.

I see. So what does it look
like when it comes to you?

It's just a piece of skin in a box,
in a special solution,

to keep the skin
alive during transport.

And what we do is we
then use a substance that

breaks down the skin into the
individual cells by breaking

the bonds between those cells.

The cells come from the outer layer
of the skin, known as the epidermis,

and are stored in liquid nitrogen
at minus 196 degrees Celsius.

When the lab needs cells,
they are woken up by warming them

to 37 degrees Celsius -
body temperature -

turning their storage
solution to liquid.

So, can I see them?

Yes, of course. Let's take
a look under the microscope.

Oh, wow. I can see all
the tiny, little cells.

That's right. And you can also
see it on the screen to the side.

Oh, look! Here we go.

These cells are from the epidermis,

which is the very top
layer of the human skin.

Why do you use cells from the
epidermis for your research?

Because we want to understand

if a cosmetic ingredient or
product is causing damage

to the cells of the epidermis,
which would lead to skin irritation.

So, these are human skin
cells, just like this? Yes.

Adults have over
a trillion skin cells,

and shed millions of them every day.

So, remaining skin
cells are constantly dividing to

replace those we lose naturally,

or to help form a healing layer over
an injury if our skin is damaged.

Each square centimetre of skin
given to the lab provides

more than 250,000 cells, which
the XCellR8 team can then grow

using a special pink solution
that provides energy and proteins.

We place them
into plates like these.

With this lovely
cocktail of nutrients,

we then need to
expose them to the air,

because our skin
is exposed to air.

What happens when they react
to the air? What's going on?

These skin cells are
essentially trying to cover a wound

and to create a piece of skin.

After 21 days exposed to air,

the cells have multiplied to form

a layer of skin
just 0.01 of a millimetre thick.

It's the size of a
5p piece, and transparent.

OK.

Oh, my God, I'm so excited.

And here is the magic product.

So, is this skin ready for testing?

It is indeed.

The skin cells are so thin,
they're virtually invisible

to the naked eye.

They float on the surface of the
pink liquid nutrients in the pots.

What are we testing today?

Today, we're going to test a
chemical that's widely used

in cosmetics and bath products.

We're looking to discover

whether the chemical
causes any skin irritation.

The chemical we're
testing is commonly used

for bubble baths and soaps.

So, how do you test it?

What Mike's doing now is putting
the chemical onto the skin,

and then we're going to incubate it.

The incubator is set at body
temperature, 37 degrees Celsius,

to provide optimal conditions
for the skin cells to survive.

So, if they die, we'll know
it's the fault of the chemical.

So, it's been in the incubator.

What's happening now?

The skin samples are placed
into a special dye,

which is converted, by healthy
cells, into a purple colour.

So, you can tell if those cells are
still alive and thriving,

and happy... Yes. ..because
they will convert that dye,

they'll change the
colour of the dye? Yes.

That's very clever.

So, we've put the dye on.

And this is what it
looks like three hours later.

Right. So, it's purple, which means
that the cells are still alive.

Yes. Which means that
the chemical is fine.

Yes. So, it's great news.

So, this chemical
is not an irritant.

It makes total sense to
use human skin to look for

human skin irritation.

The animal tests
have been around for more

than 80 years now.

So, they're very, very old
technology, in addition to the

ethical concerns that
we have about those.

So, these products, which
we buy to make ourselves feel good,

not only are we going to know
that they're not going to

irritate our skin, but actually
we can feel good about them

in every way because we
know animals weren't hurt.

Yes, absolutely.

Some of the ingredients at the
bath bomb factory are already

tested on human skin cells
at the XCellR8 lab.

Just one hour and 50 minutes
into production,

both the blue powder and
the plastic moulds

I made are arriving at
the heart of the factory...

..the 450 square
metre assembly area.

Here, 80 people are dedicated
to pressing every single one

of the 14 million bath bombs
they produce each year by hand.

My blue powder is joined
by 100-kilo tubs of yellow

and pink to make the multicoloured
Intergalactic bath bomb.

Aiste Samaite is showing
me the art of filling.

Aiste? Hello.

You work in a really lovely, smelly,
lovely-coloured environment.

You know that?
I still love the smell.

I don't think I've ever seen
a factory that is this hands-on.

Everybody doing it by hand.

A day, we're making
around 30,000 bath bombs.

All by hand? Everything by hand.

I know. We keep telling people.
Nobody believes us.

This hand-filling
has remained the same

since the bath bomb was first
invented over 30 years ago.

Today, they make
61 different varieties!

All right, so let's get
started laying down our moulds.

Keep them next to each other.

We can get our powders now.

And if you could put, in
a bucket, 6.4 kilo, please.

That's a lot, 6.4.

Yay! Amazing!

So now we need to get
our citric as well.

This is the citric acid that creates
the fizzy explosion in the bath.

Brilliant!

So, we can pour it on a table.

As soon as we put that citric in,
we need to crack on straight away.

So, we've got to work fast because,
as soon as this acid goes in here,

it's going to start to harden? Yes.

And you're going to start feeling
the difference

in your own hands as well.

The white citric powder
is a weak acid.

When combined with the coloured
sodium bicarbonate mix,

it reacts to the moisture in
the fragrance and colouring,

resulting in a powder that's
easier to shape

whilst it's still moist, but
will harden up as it dries out.

What a lovely job this is!
Isn't this great?

So, we want to mix till we
don't see any white bits left.

It reminds me of playing
in a sandpit as a child.

So, I think our mix is ready,

so we can sprinkle a
little bit in each mould.

Wow! Let me, let me, let me,
let me! Let me, let me, let me!

Ha-ha, ha-ha-ha! Ha-ha!

We just need to
cover all the bottom,

and we need to do the same
with the other side as well.

What a lovely job this is!

Oh, look at this!

It's a fabulous thing.

It really isn't precise
at all, is it?

You're doing it all by eye?

Every bath bomb is made by hand,

and the people making it,
so every one is different,

with their different
personality and size of hands.

Every single bath
bomb is individual?

Yes. Just like people who work here.

Everyone is unique. Exactly.

Another benefit of human hands
over machines

is that they can retrain
to make new products

as and when they're invented.

OK, so we're going to do exactly
the same with the pink.

Just grab a pink and sprinkle
it out to cover all the edges

around because that's
what's going to create

your Intergalactic colours.

What sort of image are we
trying to create with this bomb?

A galaxy. Oh, really,
like a night sky? Yes.

So, this is our yellow. Yellow!

I really like this.

This is one of the nicest processes

I've ever done in any factory ever,

honestly.

Right, am I sprinkling again?

Yes, we do exactly the same.

Isn't that lovely?
Isn't that absolutely lovely?

Last thing to be added is a lump
of white bicarb and citric mix.

So, what effect will that give you,
then, if a load of white comes

out at the end? It's going
to give you,

like, white stars in the night sky.

Mate, this is bath-time poetry.
SHE LAUGHS

You're all little bath
artists. Yes!

So, now, our bath bombs are ready,

all we need to do to push them
together, create a round shape.

So, this is where our
blue comes back in,

just need to secure the sides
with a lot of powder.

All right. So, once you're ready, we
can just put two halves

and put them together.

Push it till the edges
are nicely rounded.

Leave me here, I'm happy here.

This is therapeutic.

That, my friend, is a
Gregg Wallace bath bomb.

I am so proud of that!

And it looks amazing. Mate, look!

Perfect.

Each bath bomb
weighs around 225g.

One down, just another 48
to complete a tray!

What happens to these now, Aiste?

They are ready to go in our
hot room to spend the night.

Thank you. Listen, I really
enjoyed that. That smelt nice,

and that was actually
good fun and therapeutic.

Thank you very much for your help.

30,000 bath bombs at a time
enter the hot room...

..where they sit at a temperature
between 22 and 28 degrees

Celsius, hardening the powder
into the shape of the moulds.

And while they rest, I'm off to
test a sample

with none other than
the bath bomb inventor

and co-owner of the company,
Mo Constantine.

Hello, Mo, nice to meet you.
Lovely to meet you.

What are we doing here?
This looks like fun.

Are we going to test the bombs?

Yeah. Drop it in?

Gently.

Whoa! Look at that for fizz!

What's happening here, Mo?

Now it's in the water,

you're seeing the effect of

the sodium bicarb and citric acid
being saturated by the water,

and that causes everything to
burst apart.

And then colours start
to separate out into

one big galaxy of colour.

Right now, I'm getting quite
a heady, lovely fragrance.

It's lovely, isn't it?

I've got colours but, also,
I can see little sparkles.

It's lovely, isn't it?

Tiny, little sparkles, almost like
sunlight reflecting in sea water.

Yes. Yeah, yeah. Very nice.

The fizzing action from the release
of carbon dioxide diffuses

the gold lustre, colours
and essential oils,

a clever and quirky idea
for perking up bath-time.

So where did the
inspiration come from?

Well, in 1989, I invented the first
bath bomb.

I'd got kids by then, and I knew

that they wanted to have
some fun in the bath.

The idea of having a fizzing
bath I thought was great, so

I was thinking about things that
dissolve in the water, that fizz.

You know, you can
get medications that fizz.

Did you get the inspiration
from maybe, like, a dissolvable

tablet that you drink?

Did you have a hangover, Mo?

That's what I'm asking.
Well, sometimes I wonder.

SHE LAUGHS

So, I started to work in my shed,

and you've got your head down and
you're literally just pounding away,

making, pressing, sending
out the door, everything.

And we actually got to a point

where, by the time we finished in
the shed, we'd got two shops.

So, I was making everything in my
shed and then shipping it out.

That's a very inspiring story.

Now, you are the
highest authority here, Mo.

Has this bomb passed the test?

Yes, I think you've done
a pretty good job.

- HE LAUGHS
- Thank you, Mo. OK.

For most of us, running a bath is
as simple as turning on the taps,

but Ruth's heading back to a
time when filling your tub

could be a treacherous process.

MALE VOICE CHOIR SINGS

Throughout Britain's
industrial history,

people took on
back-breaking, dirty jobs,

but one type of work in
particular was notoriously grimy.

Back in the late 19th century,

coalminers were spending 14 hours
a day in underground shafts,

accruing a thick layer of grime
and dirt on their clothes,

on their skin and in their hair.

At the peak of coal production in
1913, more than a million miners

were employed across the country,

in pits like this in South Wales.

At the end of a long day, hundreds
of men would emerge, blinking

in the daylight, desperate for
just one thing - a good wash.

To get the dirt on
getting clean,

I'm at the Big Pit National
Coal Museum in Blaenavon

to meet former
miner-turned-historian

Ceri Thompson.

Ooft! Hello, Ceri, nice to meet you!

Bore da, good morning. And you, too.

So, what did miners do,
back in the 19th century?

They'd emerge out of a pit...

They'd walk home, basically,
don't they, you know?

They're filthy, their
clothes are filthy.

They're probably wet as well,
cos there's a lot of water,

especially in some of
the earlier mines,

so they've got to
get home like that.

But like many working people
in the early 20th century,

miners' homes didn't have bathrooms

or even running hot water.

Bathing was a much
more basic affair.

Ah-ha!

The famous tin bath.
Famous tin bath.

And not exactly what people think
of when they think of a bath,

but most of the
photographs that we see

the late 19th, early 20th
century of miners bath-ing,

it tends to be something
a bit smaller.

Right, do you want to fill
this full of water?

Well, it's not much good empty,
is it? No, not much.

THEY LAUGH

Filling the tin baths with hot water
was a job that fell

to the miners' wives.

With no bathroom, the bath was
set up in front of the fire.

And after fetching cold water, often
from a well, or even rivers,

it had to be heated on the stove,

ready for their husband's
return from the pit.

Hang on. That's hot.
Oh, my pan's hot, too.

Fetching the water, boiling the
water, keeping it on the go

until your man comes in,
it's a lot of work!

There's a whole process in doing
this, and it's a heavy process.

You know, it's a dangerous process.

Were there accidents?

The doctor in Aberdare in the 1930s
wrote a report on the area

and said it was more likely that
a woman would be injured in the

kitchen than her husband
would be on the coalface.

Right. A lot of children were
scalded in the house. Yeah.

Even in my mother's time,

she remembers children being
scalded because of hot water.

♪ Down yonder green valley
where streamlets meander

♪ When twilight is fading... ♪

This dangerous daily bathing routine

continued well into
the 20th century.

It wasn't until after the
First World War

that the Government set up a
Royal Commission to investigate

living and working
conditions in the coalfields.

As a result,
the Miners' Welfare Fund

was set up in 1921,

and they eventually put a levy on
coal to fund the provision of

washing facilities at the mines,

known as pithead baths.

The baths here, at Blaenavon,
were built in 1939.

The baths are through here. OK.

This is a long way from a tin
bath in front of a fire.

Now, you said "baths",
but these look like showers to me.

Yeah, they are showers, they were
always known as "the baths".

I even call showers
"baths" in the house.

Do you really? Yeah.

It must have seemed like such a
luxury to have plentiful hot water,

heated by coal-fired boilers,

instantly available after a
hard shift down the pit.

So, how many men are bath-ing in
here all at once, then?

Well, there's room for just under

100 people, one way or the other,
you know? Right, OK.

There was times when
the baths was busy that

two people would be bath-ing
in the same shower,

but they had to be good
mates to do that.

So, this must've made a huge
difference, as a working person,

to be able to have this element of
cleanliness.

Enormously important.
Enormously important

for the miner's wife as
well, obviously,

because she's the one that's got to
deal with all this stuff now.

You know, these gallons
of dirty water,

you're washing it all
away, aren't you?

By the time the mines were
nationalised in 1947, there

were 366 pithead baths
across Britain

giving a good wash
to 400,000 miners...

..and ending the demanding and
dangerous practice

of wives preparing the
tin bath in front of the fire.

The closure of the last deep coal
mine in Britain in 2015

saw the final pithead baths shut.

Life in mining communities was
always tough

but, for almost a century,

these palaces of cleanliness
brought better health and dignity

to the men who worked so
hard to power the nation,

and to the wives who
supported them back home.

Thankfully, things have moved
on from those old tin baths.

These days, we have the luxury
of adding colour, fizz

and fragrance to our bath-time,
just for fun.

Here, they make
bath bombs with names

like Twilight and Unicorn Poop.

I've mixed, filled and tested
my Intergalactic bath bombs,

and now a batch of 3,000
is heading over to Packing...

..ready for the expert
attention of Charlie Cutler.

Charlie? Oh, hello!
What do you reckon to them?

They look very good. Would you
like to learn how to pack them?

Yeah, I really would.

The first thing we need to do is
remove the mould. I know why you

take the moulds off, you recycle
them, don't you? Absolutely, yep.

Oh, you've taken all the
tops off first? Yep. Wow!

Would you like to pop them
in the box? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So how many go in a box?
So, these ones, it's 50 in a box.

Two rows of 25.
Why do you pack them naked?

To reduce our waste footprint,

we're selling as much
of our products naked.

Do you actually call it
"naked", do you? Absolutely!

To be fair, they had
see-through costumes on anyway.

THEY CHUCKLE

For a company that makes a ton

of these bombs every day,

nearly everything's hands-on.

Well, we do like to pride
ourselves on being handmade.

The balls are tightly packed so
they don't get damaged in transit.

If you want to put two more
pieces of paper on the top.

And protected by recycled paper,

they have a shelf life of six months.

And then you can seal the box up.

So, we've got one more
last thing to do.

We like to put our faces on things,
so we had these made for you.

Oh, look at them! Ha-ha!

Look at that, look.

That is fabulous! It's spot-on.

Charlie, you're a star.

Where's this going now?

All ready to go down to
Dispatch, down that way.

Thank you, Charlie. Thank you very
much indeed. Thank you very much,

it's been a pleasure.

My personalised boxes of bath bombs
are finally heading to Dispatch.

It's a huge building,
the size of two football pitches.

Even the dispatch smells OK.

This is now my favourite
factory, it's official.

I'm meeting up with Chris again.

Hey, Chris. Ah, Gregg.

Good to see you, man!

Good to see you.
I have got some top bath bombs here.

Where do you want them? Wonderful.

If you can get it on here for us?

Is that now a complete pallet?

That is a complete pallet ready to
send out to our Liverpool store.

Well done, old son.

Come on, let me give you a hand.

Cheers, Gregg.

My pallet of Intergalactic bath
bombs is ready for shipping.

The bath bombs I made,

how many of those
do you send out every day?

We send out 3,000 of those.

Wow. Seriously? Yep.

Is that one of your...?
Is that the bestseller?

That's one of our bestsellers, yes.
3,000 a day? Yeah.

So what's that - five days
a week, 15,000 a week? Yeah.

Over our peak season, we send
out over 120,000 a week.

And when's your peak season?

Our peak season goes from the end
of November through December,

ready for Christmas.

Wow, that's impressive.

There's one box that has got
some special stickers on it.

Much sought-after.
Limited edition. Collector's item.

HE LAUGHS

Somebody, somewhere in the country,

is going to be having a bath
with Gregg Wallace.

That's a nice-smelling truck.

Is it ready to go? It's ready to go.
Ready? Yeah. Bombs away!

After 28 hours and ten minutes,

my bath bombs are heading
266 miles to Liverpool...

..and they're transported to more

than 100 stores across the UK,

enlivening the bath time of people

as far as Belfast and Inverness.

It seems we've all gone
crazy for a fizzy bath.

I have thoroughly
enjoyed my time here.

But what's really surprised
me is just how hands-on it is,

not a single bath bomb
made by machine.

I've never been to a factory
that is so fragrant, so colourful,

and so much fun.

The factory has come a long way
from its first early assembly lines.

But how did we get
from there to here?

Explore the history, and future,
of the factory

on an interactive timeline.

Go to...

..and follow the links to
The Open University.