MAKING NATURAL & ZERO WASTE BODY SCRUB 3 WAYS

Last year a friend gifted me two jars of homemade body scrubs, and ever since I started using them (and my boyfriend started using them), I realized that they were a necessity during the dry Calgary winters! Essentially, the scrub’s job is to gently exfoliate skin while adding moisture through the use of oil. Rubbing the scrub on skin during a shower helps prevent your skin from drying out or becoming itchy during the winter. Not to mention, these three scrubs all smell delicious, are made of all natural ingredients, and are edible! I only add that last part because I have definitely tasted all of them, however, since they are mostly made of sugar and oil, you should probably refrain from eating spoonfuls at a time and use it on your body instead!

These three body scrubs are incredibly easy to make from ingredients you probably already have in your pantry. If you are purchasing ingredients specifically for these scrubs, make sure to try shopping in bulk with your own containers to keep this recipe low waste.

This is also a fun way to reuse food jars you may just recycle otherwise. If you are looking for more ways to reuse jars, check out my post Rethinking Jars for a few clever ideas. 

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Natural Body Scrubs 3 Ways

Orange Sunrise

Ingredients

75g coconut oil
150g granulated sugar
1 tbsp orange zest (zest from one orange)
Optional: orange essential oil

If you enjoy citrus scented things you will love this one! The zest blends well with the oil and sugar, creating an orange colour without any additives or the essential oil. Essential oil will make the scent stronger, however, I found the zest made it a refreshing soft citrus scent by itself. 

Gentle Green Tea

Ingredients

75g coconut oil
150g granulated sugar
2 tsp dried green tea leaves
1-2 tsp lemon zest
Optional: 1 tsp jojoba oil, 1 tsp green tea powder

This scrub has a very light and fresh scent, not at all overpowering, and would be a great choice for a relaxed shower experience. If you want the scrub to look greener in colour, the green tea or matcha powder will increase the colour saturation. Jojoba oil is a great natural product for treating skin conditions such as eczema, it can act as a carrier oil for essential oils, and it is great used as a moisturizer for anywhere on your body including your face. This makes it a great additional ingredient in the body scrub if you already have it at home!

Spiced Cinnamon

Ingredients

75g coconut oil
150g brown sugar
50g granulated sugar
1 ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
⅛ tsp ground cloves

This one is a favourite as well, as the spice amounts are very flexible and it smells like homemade apple crisp for your body! Add more spices if you desire a stronger scented scrub, starting with extra cinnamon. You could also try adding spices such as allspice, pumpkin pie/apple pie spice, or even ground ginger. You may have noticed that this spiced scrub has more sugar than the other two. Brown sugar seems to melt into the coconut oil quite easily, making the mixture smooth. Adding granulated sugar creates a grainy texture that will be a more successful exfoliant.

Directions for all 3 Scrubs:

1. Cream the oil and sugar together first, just as you would butter in a baking recipe. If your oil is particularly hard, you can put it in the microwave for a few seconds just to soften it up a little bit.
2. Once your oil and sugars are creamed, add in the extra ingredients that scent the scrubs, orange zest for example. Make sure the spices, tea, or zest is well mixed, meaning it hasn’t formed a clump anywhere in your scrub mixture.
3. Lastly, load it into your jars. It will be ready to use right away! 

If you’d like, you can also store most of the scrub in the fridge and keep small amounts in your shower at a time. I made all three at the same time, so currently I am keeping one in my shower and the others in my fridge. 

These scrubs are a great idea for homemade gifts that are zero waste, use ingredients available in bulk, and can be used to repurpose food jars, making them a great addition to your’s or a friend’s bathroom routine!