Sugar Scrub Attempt #1

If you have never tried a sugar scrub, you are missing out! Sugar is a natural source of glycolic acid, which is a type of alpha hydroxy acid that both exfoliates the skin, and acts as a humectant to draw moisture into the skin. Sugar scrubs are especially nice on your legs before or after shaving to help with ingrown hairs and irritation, and also to make your legs super smooth and irresistibly soft. 

Now, I have made sugar scrubs in the past with many different ingredients added such as finely ground coffee or oatmeal, but I wanted something simpler.  I have seen many different recipes for sugar scrubs, some are 50% oil to 50% sugar, while others have a higher proportion of oil to sugar or sugar to oil to achieve different consistencies.  I have found that when you add more oil than sugar, say 2/3 oil and 1/3 sugar, the sugar begins to dissolve and loses some of it's scrubby texture, so for this recipe I wanted to try using a higher proportion of sugar.

Sugar Scrub Recipe #1
9oz Brown Sugar
2oz Sunflower Oil
1oz Grapeseed Oil
14 Drops Rosemary Essential Oil
14 Drops Lavender Essential Oil
14 Drops Tea Tree Essential Oil
.10oz LiquaPar Oil (preservative, optional)

You will also need a scale, a small bowl, and a spoon for mixing.  I also like to add a preservative to my scrubs so that it will last longer.  You don't need a preservative for this recipe because it is an anhydrous mixture, meaning there is no water, and being that it is so fabulous, you will probably use it up before anything has a chance to grow in it. However, since most people like to use sugar scrubs in the shower, water will likely get introduced to the mix at some point, and if it sits long enough, bacteria or other yucky things can and will take up residence in your lovely scrub.  So, for safety's sake, I added LiquaPar Oil preservative at .8% of the total ingredients.

I prefer to use brown sugar for sugar scrubs because I like the sweet molasses scent it has, but you can easily substitute white sugar.

I chose sunflower oil as the main oil in this scrub because it is a very light oil that absorbs quickly and hardly leaves a film on skin at all.  It also has very high amounts of vitamin E which give it anti inflammatory and skin softening properties, and it's a 0 on the comedogenic scale which means that it's highly unlikely to clog pores (something I am always worried about).

For the secondary oil in this sugar scrub, I chose grapeseed oil simply because I had it on hand, and it is a slightly heavier oil than sunflower oil. It also contains small amounts of phytosterols which helps our skin repair itself, and can reduce inflammation and itchiness.  It is also on the low end of the comedogenic scale at 2, which means it can clog pores but is unlikely to do so.

I especially like to use sugar scrubs in the shower after shaving to help with ingrown hairs and irritation. I chose my essential oil blend specifically knowing that I would be using this sugar scrub mostly on my legs.  First, I chose Rosemary essential oil because its said to increase cell turnover and help improve circulation.  Lavender is said to have skin soothing anti inflammatory properties, and it is said to help regenerate skin cells and repair the skins moisture barrier, and lastly I added Tea Tree oil for it antiseptic properties.

Now that I've explained my ingredients, let's get started...

Directions

1. Put bowl on scale, and tare scale to 0.
2. Add 9oz of brown sugar to bowl.
3. Add essential oils to brown sugar, and stir until well incorporated.
4. Tare scale again, then add 2oz of Sunflower oil to the bowl.  Mix this into the sugar until well incorporated.
5. Tare scale again, then add 1oz of Grapeseed oil to the bowl.  Mix until well incorporated.
6. Finally, if you are adding preservative do it now and again... mix thoroughly!

As a side note, I like to tare the scale each time I add a new ingredient. Sometimes things get bumped or moved a certain way so that the reading becomes inaccurate, and I find that it's just easier for me to tare the scale between ingredients to ensure accuracy.






After you are done mixing you ingredients, you should have something that looks like this... Yes, it looks a little strange, but believe me, it will make your legs feel like butter!

Finally, you will want to store your scrub in some kind of container for your personal use.  I have purchased some containers for this purpose, but you could easily use a small plastic food storage type container, you know, the kind you put your leftovers in! Just don't accidentally eat your sugar scrub...

And that's it! Now you have a wonderfully exfoliating sugar scrub made from simple, wholesome ingredients... Enjoy!

In the future I may try adding an emulsifier to the mix, to get a finished product that has a more appealing appearance, but that will be for another post...