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You probably heard and read so many time that exfoliation is good for you. Lot’s of skin experts or wonderful bloggers tell you that you should use body scrubs to have beautiful glowing skin.
And they are absolutely right – exfoliating will help you to achieve soft, smooth, silky skin.
In today’s post we will explore how we can exfoliate out body using homemade scrubs.
What is body exfoliation?
Our skin constantly renews itself, meaning that every 3 weeks our “old” layer of skin dies off and the new layer replaces it. Old skin cells shed off our body completely unnoticed for us. It is a completely normal process of cells regeneration. Sounds nice? Yes, however, not everything works out perfect forever.
As we become older this cells renewal process slows down. Dead skin cells do not shed off as quickly and easily as in our younger age.
This creates dull looking skin, causes skin impurities and can even lead to some skin problems (acne, clogged pores etc)
And this is when’d exfoliation comes in.
Exfoliating speeds up skin renewal process and makes your skin look younger and glowing.
Should I exfoliate my body and what are the benefits?
Remember I mentioned that if you do not remove the layer of dead skin cells from the surface of your body, it might lead not only to dull and unhealthy looking skin, but also to some problems?
The truth is that dead skin cells can be trapped in our pores and cause dark spots, acne, clogged pores, inflammation, wrinkles, dryness and many other unpleasant surprise. Skin might feel rough and as if it is not breathing.
You skin will feel fresh, will look brighter and younger. Exfoliation improves blood circulation. And that means improved oxygenation, delivery of nutrients and improved overall skin condition.
In other words, exfoliated skin not only will make you look better, but will make you feel better and will boost your confidence.
Because everyone like to look younger and beautiful! 🙂
How to use body scrub?
There are many ways to exfoliate your body skin including physical and chemical exfoliators.
Physical exfoliation means that you use a product that has some rough ingredients that will scrub dead cells off.
Simply go in the shower and run warm to hot water for 5-10 minutes allowing your skin to soften and your pores to open up. Pause running water. Generously apply exfoliants all over your body. Spend good 3-5 minutes massaging exfoliant into your skin allowing it to remove dead cells.
Rinse exfoliant off with warm water. You could enhance exfoliating effect with by using bath sponge or exfoliating gloves.
After using the scrub, apply moisturizing lotion to your body skin. Remember, after all we did strip off some outer layer of skin protective barrier. Moisturizer will help to restore this layer fast.
Some scrubs have oils and butters as one of the ingredients; in this case you do not really have to worry about moisturizer.
How often should you exfoliate?
Body scrubs can not be used very often. If you have a rather mild remedy, then in the summer you can clean the skin with it 2-3 times a week. In winter, it is better to use the scrub only once a week. If you have a scrub based on salt or cane sugar, which are considered active ingredients, then try to use the scrub no more than once every two weeks.
You can exfoliate your body 2-3 times a week.
Consider the type of scrub that you use. For example, sugar scrub is not drying and can be used by those who has dry, thin and even sensitive skin. .
Salt body scrub is good for people who have thick oily skin. Just keep in mind that salt scrub will hurt you if you have skin rash, small cuts or irritation.
You can always buy exfoliators at the store but in this post we will talk about homemade body scrubs.
In this post we will explore different types of homemade scrubs.
Why homemade exfoliating scrubs?
First of all, they are natural and you can easily make them. Because you are making them, you can be sure that you are putting healthy ingredients in them and not using any chemicals.
You can also custom made them to your needs, consistency and smell.
Many body scrubs you can made from ingredients that you have at home, so you do not really need to make an extra trip to a store and spend money.
In addition, homemade exfoliators are good for the environment as you use eco-friendly products and reusable jars (meaning that you will not dispose any plastic into our landfill).
And there is that satisfying, rewarding feeling when you apply your own product made by you with love! It does feel like your energy is rejuvenating your own skin.
Coffee Body Scrub
There are so many coffee scrub benefits for your skin.
Relatively large size of coffee grounds is perfect for removing dead layer of the skin
Caffeine found in coffee improves circulation, increases blood flow, reduces appearance of cellulitis and wrinkles.
Antioxidants in coffee will help you to reduce inflammation and fight acne
It reduces puffiness and swelling
It smells delicious! Oh, yes, if you are a coffee lover, this scrub will be your favourite.
The only downside of coffee body scrub is that it can get messy. So, be prepared to splash your all bath tab and the walls with water to remove scrub leftovers 🙂 But believe me, this is a very minor inconvenience.
DIY Coffee scrub
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of coffee grounds (I use Keurig machine at home and collect coffee from used coffee pods)
1/2 cup of brown sugar (extra exfoliation)
1/2 cup of coconut oil (melted) (soothes skin)
1/2 tea spoon of cinnamon (to improve circulation even more)
1/2 tea spoon of ground nutmeg (improves circulation and removes dead cells)
Instructions:
Mix well together coffee grounds, brown sugar, melted coconut oil, cinnamon and nutmeg. Place mixture in the glass jar (I always use mason jars). Let coconut oil to harden.
Use scrub all over your body, but do not use on your face (coffee grounds are too harsh for delicate skin face).
I used store bought Coffee Jelly Pack exfoliator and loved it. This exfoliator should be used on the face according to manufacturer, but I found coffee grounds to bee too harsh for face skin, so I used it all on my body (especially hands and feet)
DIY Sugar scrubs
Homemade sugar scrub is also very popular and loved by those who prefers homemade body care products. White sugar is an excellent abrasive meaning that it removes dead skin cells extremely well.
Brown sugar is much softer than white sugar and will provide gentle exfoliation that is preferable for people with thin, sensitive skin.
You can add any other ingredient to sugar scrub to target specific problems and/or enhance the benefits of the exfoliation.
Vanilla Coconut Oil Sugar Scrub
Ingredients:
1/4 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 cup of coconut oil (do not heat, otherwise heated oil will dissolve sugar)
1 tea spoon of vanilla extract
Instructions:
Combine all ingredients and keep them in glass jar. It might not be good idea to keep this scrub in steamy how shower room, as steam could harden the sugar.
Brown Honey Sugar Scrub
This is an amazing moisturizing body scrub that also has anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of raw honey
1/2 cup of olive oil (could be liquid coconut oil or grapeseed oil)
2-3 drops of essential lemon oil (optional)
Instructions:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Transfer to a jar. Apply over your body with gently strokes and wash off with lukewarm water.
Lavender Sugar Scrub
Ingredients:
1 cup of granulated sugar
½ cup of oil (almond, olive or coconut will work fine). Please, note that you can adjust amount of oil to your liking.
½ tsp of vitamin E oil
½ tsp vanilla extract
15 drops of lavender essential oil
lavender buds – optional
Instructions:
Pour all ingredients into a deep plate and mix.
Store the finished scrub need in an airtight container. Since this recipe does not contain preservatives, its shelf life is up to two months.
Using a spoon, take a small amount of scrub. Apply to your skin and rub a little. Rinse thoroughly and dry with a soft towel.
Lemon Sugar Scrub
Ingredients
1 tablespoon liquid honey
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
4 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Instructions:
Mix all ingredients together and keep them in a tightly sealed glass jar.
Epsom Salt Scrub
Epsom salt is an amazing mineral that has so many benefits for human body.
Epsom salt is a natural mineral that was first mined in England, in the city of Epsom, from bitter mineral springs. This substance contains magnesium, sulphur, water and oxygen.
Epsom salt has a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular and nervous systems, improves sleep and memory, increases concentration, cleanses cells of toxins, relieves muscle tension and compensates for the lack of magnesium in the body.
Epsom salt is a real treasure for beauty.
You can see that epsom salt is often a major ingredient in many cosmetic products. In cosmetics and skin care epsom salt:
- Helps to eliminate acne
- Heals wounds, bruises and minimizes scars appearance
- Removes dead cells
- Promotes skin regeneration
- Makes skin very soft and smooth
DIY Epsom Salt and Ginger Scrub
Ingredients:
1 cup of epsom salt
1 table spoon of fresh ground ginger (or 1/2 table spoon of dried ground ginger)
1/2 table spoon of cinnamon
1 cup of olive oil (or almond oil, or jojoba oil)
Instructions:
Mix all ingredients and keep scrub in air tight glass jar.
This scrub is amazing as it improves blood circulation, removes dead cells and moisturizes skin.
Salt Scrub Recipe
Salt scrubs are very popular among people. Salt scrubs work best for people with oily skin. You can use both sea salt and table salt when making salt scrubs; both contain elements beneficial for our skin.
Salt supplies our skin with magnesium, iodine and iron. Salt scrubs can increase skin elasticity and reduce appearance of cellulite when used on a regular basis.
Salt, Oatmeal, Honey and Milk scrub
I would say this is my favourite homemade salt scrub. I cannot describe how soft and silky my skin feels after I use it in a shower.
Ingredients:
1 cup of salt
1/2 cup of honey
1/2 cup of grind oatmeal
1/2 cup of powdered milk
1/3 cup of jojoba oil (or olive oil, or almond oil)
2 table spoon of white or blue clay (this step is optional but strongly recommended)
Instructions:
Mix all ingredients together. I would recommend to cut all ingredients in half, because this scrub does not have a very long shelf life (maybe couple of weeks), so you do not want it to go to waste.
In conclusion I would like to summarize everything we learned about scrubs.
Body scrubs help to remove dead cells from the top layer of our skin thus promoting healthy, glowing, soft skin.
Physical scrubs contain some abrasive ingredients like sugar, salt, chopped nuts, grind fruit pits, rice, bran, coffee ground and so on.
You can buy scrubs at any store, however, they are expensive and they contain some additive to prolong products’ shelf life. Those additives are not necessarily healthy for you.
As you could see from this article it is not hards to make your own body scrub. And you can have some fun with it: you can add anything you want and make your scrub smell whatever smell you like
Stay beautiful!!!
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Is the clay you use powered clay???
Yes, powdered clay