In recent years I have been making a conscious effort to reduce waste in our home and trying wherever possible to use products that are kind to the environment.
A little while ago I had been looking for a sustainable body scrub and noticed that their ingredient lists mostly consisted of sugar or salt, mixed with different oils. I did some research and found that making your own scrub is really simple - so simple, that I already had all the ingredients at home.
I decided to give it a try and chose a combination of white sugar, coconut oil, and peppermint and clove essential oils. I wanted my scrub to be quite thick (not runny) so used one part oil to two parts sugar, with 10-15 drops of essential oil. I mixed it all together and stored it in an airtight container.
The verdict? I really enjoy using the scrub; the sugar works really well to remove dead skin and the coconut oil leaves my skin very soft. Though, I do tend to only use it at night as I don't want any of the leftover oil on my skin to rub off on my clothes.
Also, the scent of the coconut oil is very strong, and in the past I have found some essential oils don't come through (jasmine, for example, didn't show). This combination of peppermint (10 drops) and clove (3 drops) smells great.
Another thing I like about this recipe is I can make a conscious effort to reuse and recycle the packaging from the ingredients too, by recycling the paper sugar packet and cleaning and reusing the glass coconut oil jar.
I'm definitely going to continue to make my own scrub. I've tried a few different sugar/oil combinations but the white sugar/coconut oil blend is my favourite.
YOU WILL NEED
1 cup coconut oil
2 cups white sugar
10-15 drops essential oil
An airtight container (many recipes use a Mason jar but I don’t like the idea of glass in the shower, so I reuse an old vitamin container with the label removed).
HOW TO
1. Mix the coconut oil and sugar together in a bowl.
2. Add 10-15 drops of your preferred essential oil.
3. Mix well.
4. Add more sugar/oil to your preference. More oil will create a runnier scrub, and more sugar will create a coarser scrub.
5. Store in an airtight container.
All images by Harrington Creative