DIY: SUGAR BODY SCRUB

A body scrub is something I've been slowly implementing into my shower routine. It helps remove dead skin from my body and leaves it soft and smooth after use. Doing it yourself is also cheaper and creates less waste than if you were to buy portions of it from stores regularly. It builds on what can be assumed to be basic ingredients in most people's cupboards - sugar and oil. Please, don't use sugar scrubs in your face as it will create microtears. The scrub should be used fresh and preferably make a new one for each usage if you don't use it up in a few days' time. The moment you add water to the mixture you create a perfect breeding ground for bacteria. DIY products do generally have a short lifespan than shelf products as they can be without any or include natural (however, often) weaker preservatives.

The base (1 use)

The sugar does the exfoliating, the oil leaves your skin soft.

3 tablespoons refined sugar 

1,5 tablespoon oil (I use olive oil. You can change the oil after what you want it to do.)

Extras

If you want it to be a little bit more lavish you can add more ingredients to it. Here are some examples. You can keep it vegan if you want or decide to use ingredients like honey instead. Extras are not necessary for the scrub to work.

1 teaspoon honey. Honey is a humectant so it will help moisturize your skin. Honey does also naturally includes AHA which helps exfoliate and make your skin absorb more moisture. 

1 teaspoon lemon juice. Lemon can help with making scars less visible by evening out your skin tone, is antibacterial - but it is also acidic (while safe) something that could be okay to have in mind when you use it. For example, if you are going out in the sun right after you may not want to add lemon to it as it can lead to easier sunburns.

Essential Oils. You only need a few drops. It adds the properties of the essential oils you add as well as smell to the scrub. Essential oils can be good for a lot of things, but the amount you use as well as how long the product sits on your body will affect how much effect you actually have of the ingredient. (This goes for all the extra ingredients.) I am mentioning this because essential oils are generally expensive, but also prone to being adulterated. Make sure to buy them from a site you trust so you don't get any unsafe, unwanted ingredients in it you can't even spot. Essential Oils are created by distilling liquid from a big amount of (often aromatic) plants were even a little needs a lot of resources to create. Before you use essential oils you should always test it on your arm for about 20 minutes to make sure you don't react to it.