In Hot Water

* How to do it: To minimize cleanup, try placing three to five of your favorite herbal tea bags under the faucet as you run your bath. Or create your own bath sachet by placing half a cup of herbs in a muslin bag or cheesecloth and letting the herbs steep in the water. A third--and even easier--option is lying back and luxuriating in one of the many prepackaged herbal-tea infusions now on the market, such as Harney & Sons' Soothing Blend Bath Infusion, Tub Tea, or Bulgari's Tea Bags for the Bath.

Vinegar Baths to Prevent Infection

* What it does: OK, so it won't leave you smelling like a rose. But a vinegar bath can help makes the skin's pH level slightly more acidic so that certain bacteria won't grow, says Alan Blaugrund, M.D., assistant clinical professor of dermatology at the University of New Mexico. For example, a vinegar bath can help curb persistent foot odor. And doctors often recommend vinegar baths as a preventive measure against possible vaginal infections when taking antibiotics, Blaugrund says. "If you're taking an antibiotic for bronchitis, for example, you're also killing off the good bacteria (in the vagina)," he explains. "A vinegar bath helps restore the slightly acidic mantle to the skin that allows the good bacteria to flourish."

* How to use it: Add about a pint of plain white vinegar to a warm bath. "Just be sure to shower off with plain water--no soap--after your bath so you don't smell like a salad," Blaugrund adds. And see your doctor if symptoms continue.

Pain-Relieving Sitz Bath

* What it does: A warm-water sitz bath--in which you sit in a sitz-bath seat that fits over the toilet rim--can help soothe and shrink hemorrhoids, according to John Edward Swartzberg, M.D., and Sheldon Margen, M.D., authors of The UC Berkeley Wellness Self-Care Handbook (Rebus, 1998). Warm sitz baths are also used to help cleanse and heal the outer vaginal area during the first few weeks following childbirth, especially if an episiotomy was performed. Sitz-bath seats are available at pharmacies.

* How to use it: Take a warm sitz bath two or three times daily to relieve hemorrhoids or to help cleanse, heal, and improve circulation in the outer vaginal area. While a sitz-bath seat is convenient for such frequent bathing of a specific area, a bathtub also can be used.

Kathy Sena is a medical writer and columnist.

What Not to Add To Your Bath

Not every addition to the bath is good for your skin. Here are some you may want to avoid:

* Bubble bath If your skin is blistered, burned, or cut, or if you tend to suffer from vaginal or urinary-tract infections, you'll want to skip bubble baths. That's because most contain detergent, which removes oil from the skin. (Picture those dish-detergent ads that show the greasy food being lifted from the pan. Then imagine the same thing happening on the surface of your skin.) Also, some ingredients added to bubble bath (such as sodium laurel sulfate) are added to create a nice foam. Unfortunately, these are the very same ingredients that irritate and dry sensitive skin.

* Scented products If you tend to have skin allergies or frequent vaginal irritation, you'll want to avoid scented bath salts and oils or other bath products that may be perfumed.

* Products containing alcohol Alcohol can be very drying to the skin, says dermatologist Marsha Gordon, M.D., co-author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Beautiful Skin (Alpha Books, 1998). She notes, however, that some ingredients, such as alcohol esters and cetyl alcohol, sound like alcohol but lack its irritating effects.