One of the best and easiest ways you can give your skin a fresh glow is to remove your dead skin cells with these 5 DIY exfoliating scrubs.
Your skin is your largest and most noticeable organ, so it's essential to take good care of it. The sun's rays dry your skin and overexposure can lead to wrinkles, dryness, and premature aging.
Table of Contents
When you exfoliate, it lightens and brightens your skin, decongests pores, and allows other products to be more effective.
In a typical 30-day period a skin cell makes its way to the epidermis. But due to things like diet, age, pollution, and even weather, cell turnover can get sluggish and can use some help.
If You Can't Eat It…Don't Put It On Your Skin
There are many exfoliating products in drug stores, but many have nasty ingredients you definitely don't want on your skin. If you can't eat it, don't put it on your skin because everything you put on it will be absorbed by your body and used for future tissue building.
A better option is to make your own DIY exfoliating scrubs. If you want your skin to be naturally healthy without using harsh additives, dyes, fragrances or toxins at the barest minimum cost… You should consider making your own exfoliating scrubs. This will allow you to have full control over ingredients and get extra benefits at the same time.
Benefits to Exfoliating Your Skin
Why should you exfoliate your skin?
Again, it removes the dead skin cells on your skin. If you just use a regular foam cleanser every day, it will clean your skin, but dead skin cells remain on the surface until you gently scrub them away with an exfoliating product.
Removing dead skin cells from the uppermost layer of your skin will bring out the smoother new skin underneath. As a result, exfoliation will improve blood circulation so your skin naturally glows and appears healthier.
5 DIY Exfoliating Scrubs
DIY Exfoliating Scrub #1 – Honey & Sugar
This first exfoliating scrub is a simple one that will only take you a few minutes to make. The best part is, that it has some ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen.
You can make a small amount just for one use, or make a little more to add to a container for future use.
Why Honey and Sugar?
The main benefits of this exfoliating scrub have to do with the honey and sugar that you use.
The reason raw honey is so beneficial in the scrub is that it has anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties. This allows it to reduce bacteria in your skin while also lightening your skin tone.
It also uses white sugar, which is going to provide the coarseness you need to exfoliate your skin naturally. This can also brighten your skin, which is often desired during the summer.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup raw honey
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- Essential Oil 10-15 drops of essential oil of your choice – Good options are: Lavender, Rose, Geranium
(If you want to make a smaller amount, just use equal amounts of sugar, honey, and carrier oil based on how much you want to make).
How to Make This Scrub
These exfoliating scrubs are very easy to make! It is just a matter of combining the ingredients.
Use a bowl that will fit the ingredients you are using and start by pouring in the sugar, then adding in your honey.
Pour in the oil and essential oil drops and mix well. The honey is a bit thick, so it may take quite a bit of mixing until all the sugar is coated evenly. Make sure you keep mixing until there are no more clumps.
Store this and all exfoliating scrubs in an airtight container. When you are ready to use it, get a small amount from the container and carefully rub it on your skin. You can leave it on for a few minutes if you like. Rinse with cool or warm water.
DIY Exfoliating Scrub #2 – Rose-Lavender Sugar
The next exfoliating recipe is a rose and lavender sugar scrub. It is a pretty sugar scrub that looks just as good as it smells!
Why Rose and Lavender?
Both lavender and rose smell heavenly. Lavender is soothing and relaxing, (helping you to sleep if you use this scrub before bed) and rose has a feminine heart-opening effect.
Ingredients
You'll need the following ingredients:
- 6 drops of Lavender essential oil
- 8 drops of Rose essential oil
- 1/4 cup carrier oil – Almond or Jojoba oil
- 1/4 cup Coconut oil
- 1 cup White sugar
You can use any carrier oil you like, but sweet almond oil and jojoba oil are best for this combination. The coconut oil will add moisture to your skin and you can also add rose petals if you choose.
How to Make This Scrub
Start with the sugar again, then add in your carrier oil and essential oils. This should mix very easily since there are no thick ingredients. Once you have done that, add in some rose petals if you decide to use them.
DIY Exfoliating Scrub #3. Coffee Body
This next exfoliating scrub is a fun one because it uses coffee. Yes, coffee!
Why Coffee?
You might be asking yourself why use coffee grounds in a body scrub? The reason is that finely-ground coffee is the perfect consistency for an exfoliator. A coffee scrub is anti-inflammatory properties, improves circulation, and reduces eye puffiness to give your skin a flawless look.
Ingredients:
Three simple ingredients are used for the coffee body scrub, including:
-
1/2 C Finely-ground coffee
-
1/2 C Sugar
-
1/4 C Coconut oil
For this recipe, you can use brown sugar or white sugar. But I have found with coffee scrubs, brown sugar is usually preferred.
You can also choose to replace coconut oil with another type of oil if you want. It is best to use coffee grounds you made fresh, not instant.
How to Make This Scrub
To make this scrub, you first need to prepare the coffee grounds. It is best to grind them yourself, but at the very least, use ground coffee and not instant.
Brew a pot of coffee in a regular coffee pot, so don’t use a Keurig machine for this.
Once brewed, remove the coffee grounds from the pot and let them cool. When they are completely cool, you can pour them into a container, adding your sugar and oil. Mix well, then put the lid on.
As with all these scrubs, they should be in an airtight container with a lid and left at room temperature.
DIY Exfoliating Scrub #4 – Healthy Green Tea Scrub
How about trying out an exfoliating scrub that uses green tea? You probably know how beneficial green tea is for you, but not just for drinking. It happens to be excellent for your skin.
Why Use Green Tea?
Green tea is one of the very healthiest teas you can drink, but it is also wonderful on your skin.
Green tea is naturally anti-aging, so it can help smooth out fine lines and wrinkles, as well as provide antioxidants naturally. Green tea can help reduce the signs of age spots and sun damage when using this scrub on your face.
Ingredients
For the healthy green tea body scrub, you want to use the following ingredients:
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 TBS Matcha green tea powder
- 1 Green tea bag
- 10 drops of essential oil (Recommended Chamomile or Lavender)
- 1/2 Cup Carrier oil (olive oil, jojoba oil, almond oil)
Like the other scrubs, next, you are going to add oils to the scrub. The essential oils add scent plus whatever plant properties are in your chosen oil.
For the green tea scrub, use a light-scented essential oil, like chamomile or lavender. You don’t want it to be too strong. The matcha green tea adds even more health benefits, and the green tea bag or loose leaf tea just adds to the power of this scrub.
How to Make This Scrub
First brew your tea, since the tea bag is going to add to the scrub. Steep the tea till it cools, then remove the bag. Open up the tea bag and add it to a bowl with matcha powder, sugar, carrier oil, and essential oils. Mix it well and add it to an airtight container.
DIY Exfoliating Scrub #5 – Vanilla, Rose, and Lavender
This final skin-care exfoliating scrub is a nice, feminine scrub that is perfect for the entire body. This is currently my favorite body scrub! The mix of lavender and vanilla is such a relaxing scent and it's great before bed. If you use it in a bath you not only get the benefits from the scrub but the bath water at the same time.
Ingredients:
Here is a list of the required ingredients for the lavender, rose, and vanilla exfoliating body scrub:
- 6 drops of Lavender essential oil
- 8 drops of Rose essential oil
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 C white or brown sugar
- 1/2 C fresh lavender buds
How to Make This Scrub
Combine these ingredients in a bowl, mixing them well. Transfer it to an airtight container and use it as you would any other body scrub.
Have you ever made your own sugar scrub or facial products? What is your favorite combination? Let me know below!
Essential oils are versatile and can improve your health in many ways. Essential oils can not only nourish your skin, but they can also help tremendously with anxiety and make the perfect DIY cleaning products.
Making your own body care and household cleaning products can be rewarding, and even a bit addictive (in a good way ;).
Simply Earth helps you create a healthy and chemical-free home for you and your family. They also offer loads of free education.
Each month you get a box with everything you need to make healthy, fun, easy self-care and household products…inexpensively!!
If you enjoy DIY projects, read our recent review of Simply Earth and how it works, and get started today.
If you subscribe for the first time using Discount Code – MOHFREE you will receive their current Essential Oil Recipe Box, the Big Bonus Box (worth $40 alone), and a $40 gift card you can use toward future purchases. The $40 card will be emailed to you after making your first purchase.
Great and amazing list of some effective products