I am a little freaked out by the idea of chemicals in beauty products. So to avoid some of those chemicals I like to make my own products as I learn how to prepare them. I make homemade mouthwash and tooth paste which I have blogged about previously. Somehow I forgot to post the homemade sugar scrub. This is a very quick and easy recipe for a homemade scrub.
Combine equal parts of sugar and vegetable glycerin. If you don’t have glycerin you can use olive oil. The glycerin is much easier to clean up which is why I use it instead of oil. Mix the two together with a spoon. Add a couple of drops of essential oil if you want fragrance. Use your hands to scrub the sugar onto your skin. Allow the mixture to remain on your skin for a few minutes and then remove it completely with warm water. Your skin will be noticeably softer and tighter. After I use the sugar scrub I put a light coating of olive or almond oil on my hands to seal in the moisture. My hands stay soft for days. I use this sugar scrub two or three times a week on my hands and once or twice a week on my face.
I will warn you this sugar scrub can be addictive. It leaves your skin so soft you will want to use it on your entire body. That is why I started using the glycerin. The oil leaves an unpleasantly greasy and slippery shower that needs to be scrubbed out immediately for safety reasons. Enjoy.
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I love this, it looks great! I also love homemade personal products in order to avoid all those chemicals. Thanks so much for sharing it!!
ReplyDeleteJanet,
ReplyDeleteThanks! I have been using this one for so long I forgot about it until you posted your soap and cream the other day.
BTW, can't wait to try your hand cream. When I run out of mine I am making yours. :)
Alicia
Oh how nice. I could certainly use an at home spa day!
ReplyDeleteHeather,
ReplyDeleteA spa day does sound good. Great idea! I may have to do that tomorrow, with all the snow we will be getting I think I may need it.
Alicia
I'm actually really interested in your homemade toothpaste. But I'm curious about flouride. This is probably uninformed, but it's always been drilled into my head that it's an important chemical for dental health. What's your take?
ReplyDeleteThanks
Shannon,
ReplyDeleteGreat question about fluoride! Commercial toothpastes contain a number of harmful ingredients one of which is fluoride. I read that some European countries have banned many forms of fluoride and are considering banning toothpastes that contain it. Fluoride is said to be a hormone disrupter which has been implicated in hormonally dependent cancers. Are you aware that if you live in a large city in the US there is probably fluoride which was intentionally added to your tap water?
There are commercial fluoride free toothpastes if you would rather go that route. I don’t get too worried about fluoride but many others are very anti-fluoride. At the very least make certain you don’t swallow the commercial toothpaste. Also check your mouthwash, it may contain fluoride too. From what I have read Americans get far more fluoride than is necessary (assuming you believe that it is helpful, which I am not convinced is true). I do my best to reduce our exposure without making myself nuts.
I hope that helped,
Alicia
Oh, I love this post SO much, thanks for sharing such a wonderful recipe, Alicia! I can't wait to try this sugar scrub, my whole body needs it real bad:)
ReplyDeleteOraphan,
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely something that I use more in the winter time. I hope you like it as much as I do.
Alicia
This sounds delicious, and I can't wait to try it as soon as I get some glycerin and some less-expensive sugar! I've bought things like this but they are so expensive!
ReplyDeleteAndrea,
ReplyDeleteI have bought these types of things before too and you are right they are expensive. That is what gave me the idea.
I used raw sugar for this because we aren't eating it, so I thought why not. Regular white sugar does have a finer grain so it is less abrasive which is good when used on the face.
Alicia
The same phrase Andrea used is what popped into my head when I saw this post.. this does sound delicious! :-) I intend to make some right now so I can try it in the shower I'm about to take! It'll be perfect in our dry climate, especially this time of year.
ReplyDeleteA friend of ours whose wife was a pharmacist happened to fill his prescription for a skin cream for some rash he'd developed, and she typed up the label to say, "Apply twice daily to your scaly, snakelike skin." LOL - I think I'll affix the same directions to my jar of your sugar scrub and see if BW notices! ;-)
Lalo,
ReplyDeleteLOL, scaly snake-like skin. I love that! She sounds as though she has the same sense of humor as my pharmacist friend. Please do let us know if BW notices your label.
This does actually taste pretty good, if you manage to get a little in your mouth ...... which tends to happen when I am removing it.
Alicia
This is wonderful stuff! I added sweet orange and lavender essential oils to it and loved using it. My skin is as smoooooth as a baby's butt, and I feel terribly pampered! :-) *The "pharmacy" label is now affixed to the sugar scrub container and sitting on BW's vanity). ;-)
ReplyDeleteLalo,
ReplyDeleteYay! So glad you liked it. Thanks for posting a review. You made my afternoon.
Alicia