This morning I had 10 minutes free so I decided to quickly whip up some sugar scrub for the shower. Originally I didn't plan to put it on my recipe site so I didn't even have my phone with me in the kitchen. At the last second I decided I might want to, so I grabbed my cell phone and snapped pictures - these are those.
Although there is a very basic 'idea' recipe for sugar scrubs... you don't really need a recipe. What you need is a few basic products (only two really... the rest are all optional) and other than that, additions are completely up to you and your nose.
A Basic Sugar Scrub
- 1 c white granulated sugar
- 1/2 c oil of your choice (olive, coconut and almond are popular choices)
- Essential oils
- Extracts
- Almond Oil
- Tea Tree Oil
- Dried orange/lemon peel
- Himalayan Salt
- Coffee Grounds
- Lavender etc. or spices like cinnamon
Blend the sugar and oil - add 15-20 drops of your favorite essential oil scent, and/or 1/2 t of your favorite extract and mix. Smell test and add according to your personal likes. If you think it's too dry, add a tablespoon of oil, if it's too moist, add a tablespoon of sugar, stir, and add until you are happy with the texture.
Spoon in to a jar with a tight lid. Small wide mouth mason jars are perfect.
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Here is when I first started to grab items from my kitchen.
I chose coconut oil for one blend because I have a lot of it and I really don't like cooking with it. I am low carb/keto and a lot of recipes call for it but I am one of those people who can taste coconut in anything... even if it's a small amount. I like some coconut candies but I really really don't like using coconut oil or coconut flour for the most part. So I decided to use it as the base of a sugar scrub.
To the coconut oil sugar scrub I wanted to use something with orange and lemon. I would have loved a lavender orange or lavender lemon but I don't have lavender oils or dried real lavender right now so instead, I went with....
1/2 c warmed coconut oil, a half cap full of dried lemon peel, a half cap full of dried orange peel, 1 cup of white sugar, and 1/2 t apple extract. I added the apple after pondering the lemon/orange/coconut. It needed one more thing to offset it just a touch and I decided apple was perfect.
It was. If I had to describe this one... it smells similar to an orange Julius drink.
I love the bits of dried lemon peel and orange peel. It's really pretty!
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But now, my favorite!
I didn't want to use coconut oil for this one so I used avocado oil as it was right in my pantry. I have peppermint oil on hand and I used the Watkins (good) vanilla from my cupboard. I used sweet almond oil in this one and would have loved to use the sweet almond oil for the whole base, but it's expensive and I didn't want to use my entire little bottle up, so I opted to use just 1 T. I also added a tablespoon of himilayan salt to this one. It has healthy properties but honestly I was hoping the pink salts would color the scrub as well; it didn't really, and I don't want to use food colors in my natural scrubs so I left it as is.
My Peppermint Vanilla Scrub
1 cup sugar, just shy of 1/2 cup avocado oil, 1-2 T sweet almond oil, 25 drops peppermint oil, 1/2 t vanilla extract and 1 T Himilayan salt.
NOTE: the difference in the consistency and texture. The top is more whippy and thick as it's made with a coconut oil base. The bottom is more liquid as it's an avocado and almond oil base. They make no difference in use, but you may prefer one over the other.