Skin Care: Make Your Own Body Scrub

I’ve always had quite sensitive skin. Harsh chemicals and fragrances irritate, my skin can become very dry and I can get break outs of eczema on my hands. Because of this, I try to make sure the products I put on my body are natural, but I don’t always know what ingredients are going on in the things I buy. I still want to smell nice, I still want soft skin and I don’t really want to have to worry about some weird chemicals hanging out in the stuff I buy at the shops.

So I thought I’d have a go at making my own products at home using natural and organic ingredients and I couldn’t believe quite how simple it all was. You’re basically mixing up a few things, melting others in a bain marie, adding essential oils for fragrance and you’re good to go. If you can make a simple recipe, you can make your own beauty products, I promise.

I made three different products – a salt scrub, a body butter and a bunch of lip balms. It was all so surprisingly easy and I had such fun making them. Not only that, but my house smelled absolutely AMAZING! I couldn’t wait to use it, and smell that good myself.

Rosemary and Lemongrass Natural Salt Scrub

We’ll start with the body scrub. Let me tell you: this is so ridiculously easy that you’ll never buy another store-bought scrub again. This is a salt scrub which is a little coarser than a sugar scrub so you want to just use it on your body (not your face), but it’s great for exfoliating dead skin, leaving you with gloriously soft, glowing skin that smells absolutely divine. Because I use a fake tan (I try to stay away from burning myself to a crisp in the sun!), this is great for getting rid of any patchy areas or removing it completely when you are ready to start afresh with your tanning.

The main ingredients in this particular scrub are salt, of course, and sweet almond oil. I used a Himalayan Pink Coarse salt really for aesthetics more than anything else (I mean, it’s PINK!) but you can use a kosher salt or any larger grained salt for this. Hey, you could even try table salt at a pinch, it will just give you a much finer scrub.

I chose to use almond oil as it’s an emollient and will smooth and soften your skin. It’s packed full of Vitamin E which will heal as well as protect. It doesn’t last quite as long as some other oils but it’s so beneficial for your skin that it’s worth its shorter lifespan. Just remember to pop it in the fridge when you aren’t using it to keep it fresh for longer. You can use other kinds of oils as well – coconut oil, jojoba oil and olive oil all work well too. Just don’t use any kind of mineral oil (like baby oil) which tend to clog the pores and can lead to breakouts.

I wanted a really fresh clean smell and so I used rosemary and lemongrass essential oils, which I think works equally well for males or females. Obviously, you can use whatever essential oils take your fancy. I also chopped up some fresh rosemary to add further texture and colour but this is, of course, up to you.

Here’s how it’s done…

Combine all ingredients and stir. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

When in the tub or shower, simply take a handful in your palms and apply in a circular motion to your body paying special attention to areas like the heels, knees and elbows. Take care not to scrub too hard in delicate areas like the neck, chest and stomach. When you’re finished, simply rinse off. Your body will smell great and be nicely moisturised.

Now because these contain some natural ingredients (especially due to the almond oil content), they are best stored in the fridge, although you’ll still get a couple of months use out of them before you would need to throw them away – and believe me, you’ll definitely use them up before you have to do that!

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