About

Cost
$ $ $ $ $
Difficulty
• • • • •
Time
15 mins

The Hands-On Home
Spring clean your skin with a polishing scrub customized for your skin’s needs. Body scrubs are easy to make as needed and last for several months. Make this basic all-purpose scrub, which is great for all skin types and doesn’t require any exotic oils or fine clay powders, or play around with polishing agents, oils, and essential oils that are just right for your skin type. If you want to experiment, I’ve found using about two cups of dry scrubby ingredients to half a cup of oils or moisturizing ingredients gives me the firm, scoopable consistency I prefer in a body scrub. If you like a thinner, more pourable scrub, just add a bit more oil to the mixture. For skin-specific scrubs, see the variations that follow.

Makes about 2 cups

Posted by GMC Group Published See GMC Group's 304 projects » © 2024 Erica Strauss / Sasquatch Books · Reproduced with permission. · (c)2015 By Erica Strauss. All rights reserved. Excerpted from The Hands-On Home: A Seasonal Guide to Cooking, Preserving, and Natural Homekeeping by permission of Sasquatch Books. Photography by Charity Burggraaf
PrintEmbed
  • Step 1

    In a medium bowl, stir together all the ingredients. Transfer the scrub to a pint-size mason jar or other moisture-proof container. If water isn’t added to the mixture, the scrub will last for about 6 months, though the essential oil scent may fade over time.

  • Step 2

    To use:
    In the shower, scoop about 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 cup of the scrub into your hand and rub all over your body, avoiding your face and delicate areas. Be careful if your shower floor gets slippery from the scrub. Rinse your body with warm water and pat dry.

  • Step 3

    Body scrub variations:

    Try these variations for skin-specific body scrubs. Follow the same directions for the Everyday, Everybody Scrub, but substitute these ingredients.

    FOR OILY OR ACNE-PRONE SKIN:
    11⁄2 cups fine sea salt
    1⁄4 cup baking soda
    1⁄4 cup kaolin clay
    6 tablespoons grapeseed oil
    2 tablespoons castor oil
    20 drops tea tree essential oil
    10 drops peppermint essential oil
    10 drops rosemary essential oil
    10 drops lemon essential oil

    FOR SENSITIVE SKIN:
    1 cup granulated sugar
    1 cup light brown sugar
    6 tablespoons sweet almond oil
    2 tablespoons apricot kernel oil
    1 tablespoon vitamin E oil
    20 drops lavender essential oil
    10 drops Roman chamomile essential oil
    10 drops jasmine essential oil

    FOR VERY DRY SKIN:
    1-3⁄4 cups sugar
    1⁄4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
    2 tablespoons avocado oil
    2 tablespoons shea butter, melted
    1 tablespoon honey
    1 tablespoon vegetable glycerin
    20 drops chamomile essential oil
    12 drops cedarwood essential oil
    6 drops lemon essential oil

    FOR MATURE SKIN: 1 cup light brown sugar
    1⁄2 cup baking soda
    1⁄2 cup kaolin clay
    1⁄2 cup jojoba oil
    1 tablespoon honey or vegetable glycerin
    1 tablespoon castor oil
    1 tablespoon borage seed oil
    16 drops lavender essential oil
    16 drops clary sage essential oil
    8 drops bergamot essential oil

Made this project? Share your version »

Comments

Square 2019 03 25 011222 cc9ff255 1e21 4b39 bbcd 7ea9dec8db8f

More Projects