It’s very important to take care of your skin. After all, your skin is one of the most prominent features on your body. Many people fail to realize that it is not only the skin on your face that needs to be taken care of—the rest of your body needs as much attention. One of the most important things you have to do to take care of your skin is exfoliation. Exfoliating gets rid of all the dead skin cells on the surface of your skin that causes dullness and dryness to reveal smoother, softer, younger skin underneath. Using body scrubs is one way you can efficiently exfoliate your skin. Instead of buying an expensive, overpriced body scrub, why not make your own? Homemade body scrubs are just as effective for exfoliating as store-bought ones and at a cheaper cost. Plus, you get to customize the scrub according to your preferred ingredients and scents. Here’s how you can make your own homemade body scrub.
All body scrubs, including those you can find at stores, essentially have three main ingredients:
- The Exfoliant
The exfoliant’s job is to slough off the dead skin cells on the surface of your skin. Thus, your exfoliant should be slightly abrasive in order to efficiently do the job. There are a lot of options for this but oatmeal, salt, sugar, and ground coffee are most often used.
Oatmeal: Oatmeal is perhaps the gentlest exfoliant of all. Unlike other ingredients, oatmeal exfoliates your skin without drying. In fact, it even softens and hydrates your skin. Thus, you don’t need to use oatmeal with carrier oil as it works with just water instead.
Salt: Salt is a very abrasive exfoliant. If you choose salt as your exfoliating ingredient, make sure you use the fine-grained variety such as table salt, or you can grind coarse-grained varieties yourself. Many prefer to use sea salt because of its wider variety of trace elements and minerals since it is less processed than table salt, and it is believed to be kinder on the skin. Salt is also great for relaxing your muscles.
Sugar: Sugar is gentler on the skin than salt but should still be coupled with a carrier oil as it can still be quite drying if used on its own. Either white or brown sugar will work.
Ground coffee: Ground coffee will not only make your skin smell heavenly, but it offers some benefits as well. It can brighten and rejuvenate your skin, and it can temporarily reduce varicose veins.
Others: There are other exfoliating ingredients you can use apart from those mentioned such as ground nut shells, almond meal, rice bran, wheat bran, and flax meal.
- The Carrier Oil
The carrier oil will moisturize your skin while it’s being exfoliated. Most body scrubs use 1/3 cup of oil for every cup of exfoliant. To keep your skin from becoming greasy, choose an oil with a thin consistency unless your skin is very dry. There are many carrier oils you can choose from including sweet almond oil, sunflower oil, hazelnut oil, grape seed oil, and many more.
- Fragrance
The fragrance will give your body scrub and your skin a pleasant smell. Avoid using fragrance oils since those are synthetic. Use a combination of essential oils instead. Different essential oils have different effects so choose those with your desired benefits. Remember to dilute the essential oils in about 1/3 cup of carrier oil since they are too concentrated and may irritate your skin. Here are some essential oils and their effects:
Lavender: soothing, calming, relaxing
Lemon: refreshing, uplifting
Geranium: balancing, mood-lifting
Rose: romantic, uplifting
Cypress: purifying, balancing
Eucalyptus: purifying, invigorating
These are the basic ingredients you need to make your own homemade body scrub. You just have to mix your exfoliant, carrier oil, and fragrance together. You can also add other ingredients which you find pleasing or beneficial to your skin. Here’s a simple body scrub recipe to help you get started.
Vanilla Coconut Sugar Scrub
Ingredients:
- ½ cup coconut oil
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
Procedure:
Combine all ingredients together and transfer in a small jar. Gently massage on your skin in a circular motion while in the shower. Rinse.
