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By request!

Materials: granulated sugar or sea salt; suitable light vegetable-based oil (avocado, sweet almond, grapeseed, jojoba, macadamia nut, pumpkin seed, safflower, sunflower, or wheat germ will work nicely);decent fragrance oils; disposable plastic container

Time: 5 minutes.

Cost: Less than $1 per batch

I've been disappointed in the quality of drugstore body scrubs recently. In my mind, a good scrub should do two things: 1) scrub, and therefore be sufficiently rough and granular -- none of these "exfoliating beads" thrown into bar soaps and body washes, thanks; and 2) be oily and moisturizing, not just soapy. And while making high-quality soaps and lotions at home requires a significant initial financial outlay for supplies, body scrubs are surprisingly easy, quick, and cheap to make at home without any shortcuts or compromise in quality.

Let's use the ever-popular ginger body scrub by Origins as a model. This page (scroll halfway down) breaks down its ingredient list nicely:

Ginger Body Scrub Ingredients: sea salt, soybean oil, cardamom essential oil, coriander e.o., eucalyptus e.o., ginger e.o., clove e.o., lime e.o., orange e.o., bergamot e.o, grapefruit peel, lemon e.o., grated ginger root, macadamia nut oil, kukui nut oil, avocado oil, almond oil, vitamin E. By law, ingredients have to be listed in order of predominance, so I would start with:

1 cup sea salt
1/2 cup soybean oil
1 tb. dried ground grapefruit peel
1 tsp. dried, ground ginger root
1 tsp. macadamia nut oil
1 tsp. kukui nut oil
1 tsp. avocado oil
1 tsp. almond oil
1 tsp. vitamin E Mix and set aside.

Mix the scent blend statrting with:
10 drops cardamom e.o.
10 drops coriander e.o.
5 drops eucalyptus e.o.
5 drops ginger e.o.
3 drops clove e.o.
3 drops lime e.o.
3 drops orange e.o.
2 drops bergamot e.o.
2 drops lemon e.o.

Dip a toothpick in and sniff. Does it need (for example) more lime or cardamom? Add each oil accordingly, test again. Repeat until the scent seems right to you. Add a total of 30-60 drops scent blend to the mixed scrub.

I think that the above breakdown is fairly accurate, and it illustrates that you basically need a whopping 3 main ingredients...

Scrubby thingies. Endless debates rage about the virtues of salt vs. sugar, but they're all but interchangable to me. I like a mixture of white and brown sugars because they have a nice texture, are dirt cheap, and you won't discover any accidental scrapes or cuts on your skin as you rub salt into them. Depending upon the size of your container, 1 cup is a good starting point.

Oil(s). Olive oil works better in your pantry than it does on your skin (largely because of price), and the same goes for any ubiquitous canola non-stick spray. But there are tons of other common oils that work well in these kinds of products, so check out an online catalogue for more detailed lists and descriptions. You'll notice that Origins uses soybean oil, which isn't even that great -- you can get better stuff for your scrub in the supermarket. (Our corner market carries a bunch of suitable oils near the olive oil, and the biiiig grocery store carries them in the organic/vegetarian section.) Regardless, you'll probably be able to find 12 oz of some oil or other in the store for under $5, which is cheaper than ordering it online unless you really like paying shipping. Stir the oil of your choice into the sugar to taste -- I usually shoot for the consistency of the kind of sand that would make good sandcastles.

Fragrance. Don't skimp on this part -- cheapo fragrance oils from your local big-box craft store or Wal-Mart will most likely be nasty and leave you smelling like the worst kind of synthetic air freshener. There are a number of soapmaking suppliers online who carry a mind-boggling array of high-quality fragrance oils. Alternatively, you could be adventurous and check out some place like BPAL, or do as the recipe above suggests and combine essential oils. Regardless, a little bit goes a long way, and I usually use less than 1/8 teaspoon per batch of scrub.

Use. This is where I should note that sugar and oil, stored in a warm and humid environment, are a perfect breeding ground for all manner of icky things. For this reason, I only make a week or two's worth of scrub at a time, and use a fresh container for each batch. (The resealable plastic tubs that our local Thai and Laotian restaurants use for leftovers are perfect, and I tend to have happy associations with squash tofu curry when I see them as well.) If you've put a lot of oil in your scrub, the sugar will inevitably settle at the bottom; give it a good stir before you use it, but be careful not to drip water into the container. Also, beware of the state of the bottom of your tub after you use this -- it'll be incredibly slippery, so consider yourself (and any subsequent users) forewarned.

Happy scrubbing!

I use brown sugar and usually put a little glycerin in . Good Stuff!

I have been making a home body scrub for approxamately 342 years. ( I am 46 and usually go for about 35 - so who knows??) I use sugar (all forms thereof - even cookie sprinkles when I am feeling festive), salt tends to dry one out.
I just keep a small jar in the bathroom. I use whatever oil is around after my daughters have finished their routines (nuetrogena, baby, mineral) and hot H2O.
Strip down and get in the (dry) shower. Coat yourself generously with the oil. Grab a handful of sugar and scrub top to bottom and then proceed towards your feet - haha! When you are sufficiently pink, rinse off with the hottest water you can and air dry. Swonderful!
I prefer to keep the oil and sugar apart for personal use, and mix in very small doses for gifts.I have made pretty versions of said scrubs and added essential oils for scent, but they are really unnecessary. Favorites have been cinnamon with brown sugar and mineral oil, vanilla with raw sugar, peppermint candy crushed with mineral oil, grapeseed and eucalyptus oil. Have fun.

I like to make a mixture of course sea salt and granulated sugar and sometimes put in some soapflakes for bubblyness. Honey is also nice for texture and it soothes the skin (honey and olive oil, for some reason, make a nice combination).
I do have problems with slippery shower floors/tubs after using a home-made scrubmix but some cheap shampoo and a hot shower usually get rid of that (once you're out of tub/shower, drizzle some shampoo on the slipperyness and rinse of with HOT water!)

Sincerely,
Nine

Body Scrub.

1 cup of sugar
Enough Sweet Almond Oil to make it moist-y
1/2 cup red river cereal (or sesame seads, or oats)
couple of drops of essential oils (my favorite right now, is Cranberry from the Body Shop)

Mix it all together in a disposible container.

Hi hello,
Would it work if you mixed sugar/salt/exfoliating part of ingredients with some pre-made shower gel stuffy?? Or would this just be a waste of time/homemadeness?
Star
.

A couple of extra notes:

1) I'm now advocating a mixture of white and (unclumpy) brown sugar, because the brown sugar gives it a nice texture and makes it look less like the Tasty Wheat slop in the first Matrix movie.

2) Cleaning the bottom of the tub with cheap shampoo will work to get the oil slick off, and I've found that if you use the scrub while standing in a tub filled with an inch or two of water you will get a ring around the tub, but little in the way of an oil slick on the bottom.

3) This stuff is like Rain-X for humans. By the time you're reaching for the towel, it's like "hey... I'm already dry!"

thank you. I received a jar of Origins as a gift, then wanted to get a new jar and found the price ridiculous and the availability limited in my area. I have some sweet almond oil for soapmaking. Is this the same thing?
Linda

Linda,

Sweet almond oil is supposed to be great stuff for scrubs. Go for it!

I just stumbled across this site but I was wondering if home-made scrubmix go bad? Do you have to refrigerate them? -Cindy