Guest Post By Kim- DIY Sugar Scrub

Today we have a great DIY for your dry skin. This is a great way to replenish the moisture and exfoliate at the same time. 

Once again I have my sister, Kim, doing a guest post, which I love!! She is sharing a diy Sugar scrub, which is awesome. When I read this post I giggled because it is similar to the recipe that I use all the time. You can tell that we are sisters, haha.  I will post my version at the end.

It has been a while since I have done a guest post, you can read my last guest post here. I have a few in progress but this is one that is a great gift idea for the holidays. Also with so much focus on politics something to pamper ourselves is good.

First let me give you a little background on beauty products. Many exfoliating skin care products contain microbeads for the abrasive properties. These are plastic spheres that are less than 5mm in diameter. These are rinsed down the drain and cannot be captured by water treatment plants thereby they make it into waterways and interfere with fish and other wildlife. President Obama did sign a ban on these but it will not take effect until at least mid 2017 and only covers beauty products You can read about that here. They can also be found in cleaning products but that is another post.

I wanted to share with you one way that you can stop using micro beads right now and have great skin.

Disclaimer: I am not a dermatologist and have no skin care training. I just know this works great for me and I love how it leaves my skin.

About a year ago I started to switch out some of my beauty products for more natural versions. I wanted good results but to be friendly to my skin and the environment. I have some issues with skin sensitivity so I am careful what I use.

Here is what I started doing for an exfoliate.

I have used to different recipes and I have provided links to them here. Also I have pinned a bunch more on my “Go Natural” and “Skin Deep Beauty” boards on Pinterest.

The first one I tried was very basic as I wanted to see how it would work. Just 2 parts regular sugar and 1 part Coconut Oil. You can read about it here.

I don’t have any pictures but it was great and now I am excited to try different scents and combinations. Maybe a salt scrub also.

Next I tried another recipe for vanilla scented. You can read about it here.

This was a good recipe but I found The ratio to be off and I needed to add more sugar. I do love the vanilla scent when I use it. A better quality vanilla would probably have a stronger scent but I wasn’t going to use my good vanilla for a scrub and this was plenty for me.

Be sure that you melt the coconut oil before mixing with the sugar but you don’t want the oil too hot. I live in a warm area of the country so I only needed 10 seconds in the microwave to completely melt the coconut oil.

Then mixed together you can see that there is a lot of oil. So I added more sugar and the vanilla.

Next time I will be using the first recipe but adding vanilla or whatever oil or extract i am in the mood for. Also Coconut Oil is great as it doesn’t go rancid quickly. I had my last jar in the shower for a couple of months and it was still fresh and great to use to the last bit I could scrape out of the jar.

As we approach the holidays and the craziness of the end of the year remember to take time for you.

Linda’s version:

I love doing sugar scrubs. Here is how my version is slightly different than Kim’s

• I don’t use any vanilla, I like the scent the way it is
• I don’t even melt it, lol. (I try and stay out of the kitchen as much as possible, lol)
• I just dump equal amounts of coconut oil (I don’t melt it before hand because coconut oil melts in your hand and I am lazy as well, haha) and granulated sugar and brown sugar. I used brown sugar as well because if I use too much granulated sugar it is too rough on my skin.   (I usually make up my scrub as I wait for the water in my shower to warm up)
• Then in the shower I just take a scoop and smear it all over, but be careful it does make the shower slippery.