9.24.2012

How To Make a Body Scrub from Your Kitchen

I am such a girly girl.  I love feeling beautiful and experimenting with my "look".  I adore make-up, fragrances, and playing with my hair.  Unfortunately, these things add up in terms of money, storage space, and time.  I have gone through many phases where I purge all or most of my products to reduce inventory down to my absolute favorites.  However, in no time, my tastes change and I am in want of a new product.  I really try to buy quality products over quantity, one reason why I love my Birchbox subscription.  I love trying new things without regretting a full-size purchase.  When I'm having a bad day or need some alone time, I enjoy locking myself in the bathroom and spending hours re-styling my hair, trying out new eyeshadow, or giving myself a manicure.
Recently, I have also found a new love in creating things, such as artwork for the walls or painting furniture.  I decided to try my hand at spa products, specifically, scrubs.  It seems the easiest to start with, and I wanted to see if I could things I have on hand, that way in case I failed I wouldn't have wasted too much money.  I started by doing a Google search, then altered to recipes to what I had in my kitchen.

Face Scrub
Brown sugar
olive oil
honey
Honestly, I didn't measure anything.  I used a spoonful or two of sugar and added in a bit of honey, then the oil.  More oil then honey.  I mixed it in a small gladware container to take with me to the shower.



I chose sugar over salt because its supposed to be gentler on the skin.  I slathered it on my face while I was in the shower.  I scrubbed a bit, then let it sit while I did a different scrub on my body.  After a few minutes, I rinsed it off.  My skin was super soft and smooth.  I don't think its something I should do everyday, but maybe once or twice a week.  I might try it with a different oil, maybe coconut, almond or grapeseed.  I could even add essential oil if I feel fancy and want fragrance.  I'm certain I will try this again.

Body Scrub
coffee grounds
white sugar
dash of cinnamon
splash of vanilla
olive oil
Again, I didn't really measure this out.  Have you figured out I don't have the patience for precision?  I suppose because my job requires it I throw it out the window at home.  Anyway, I used about half as much sugar as I did coffee grounds.  Just a bit of cinnamon and vanilla for scent, and enough oil to coat it all.  My mixture was not soupy by any means, just clumpy.  Both the sugar and coffee grounds act as an exfoliater, but the caffeine in the coffee is a vasoconstrictor and cellulite re-distributor.  It helps diminish the appearance of varicose veins  I'm not sure how much of this is true, but it definitely softens this skin and smells awesome in the shower, as long as you like coffee, I suppose.
However, I will warn you, this made a mess in my shower.  There are coffee grounds EVERYWHERE.  While sugar and salt will dissolve in water and be flushed away, the coffee grounds will not.  Plus, the dark color against my white shower make the evidence all the more obvious.  Point being, don't plan on keeping this a secret from your hubby unless you also block time to clean the shower afterwards.  But that erases all relaxing/spa-like quality time you just had.  Just sayin.
Overall, I really liked the outcome of both treatments and have made a second batch of almond oil and brown sugar. Let me know if you try these or come up with a better recipe. I'd love to hear your beauty secrets.

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