Revitalize your skin with these 3 DIY Scrubs
No matter what skin type you have, you’ll benefit from exfoliation. So I want to focus on 3 easy DIY scrubs you can make at home on the cheap to reveal subtle skin.
Exfoliation helps with rejuvenating the skin, making it softer, decreasing fine lines and decreasing the chances of developing acne. So I'm a big fan and use these three scrubs constantly, which are:
- Moisturizing Whipped Shea Butter Body Scrub
- Gentle Oat and Chamomile Face Scrub
- Exfoliating Sugar Lip Scrub
2 kinds of exfoliation
But first, let's quickly chat about the two kinds of exfoliation!
The first is chemical exfoliation.
Chemical exfoliants remove dead skin cells with the use of chemicals (shocker, I know) to aid in cell turnover. Peels are chemical exfoliants, and are not only great for smoothing but also for brightening.
The second kind of exfoliation is manual exfoliation.
It’s pretty straightforward exfoliation with the use of small grains, a brush, or a scalpel. And this is the one I’ll be focusing on today because it’s easy to make/do at home!
Why you need to manually exfoliate:
Your skin is in a perpetual state of renewal, meaning that skin cells are created, they move through the layers of skin until they reach the top layer. Once there, it is rough, dry, flaky — what we consider a "dead" skin cell. Then it sheds off!
The frequency in which new skin cells are produced and old ones are shed is called the Cell Turnover Rate. And this rate of new skin cell production and shedding slows down with age, which can lead to lackluster, patchy, and even wrinkly skin.
Let’s look at the Cell Turnover Rates by ages.
Cell Turnover Rates
- 21-28 days for teenagers
- 28-42 days for adults under 50
- 42-84 days for adults over 50
The rate of an adult over 50 years cell turnover is double that of a teenager! That’s why teenagers have such a youthful glow; their skin is constantly being renewed.
With slower shedding, those dead skin cells end up piling up on top of skin, which produces a dull and lackluster look. That buildup needs help being removed.
And with that removal, the skin renewal process will increase, allowing smoother, healthier skin cells to take their place Not only will this help with fine lines and wrinkles, but it will help to ease discoloration as well.
So manual exfoliation is the bomb.
So let’s dive into three scrubs you can use to manually and naturally exfoliate your body, face, and lips.
Video Instructions here!
If you like these kinds of DIYS, check out the Free Content Library!
Now, onto the specific recipe instructions and measurements!
1. Moisturizing Whipped Body Scrub Recipe
This is great right before shaving your legs or whenever your skin looks a little dry and rough.
Ingredients:
-¼ cup Shea butter (another great substitute is mango butter)
-⅛ cup white sugar
-⅛ cup of brown sugar
Instructions:
-Place shea butter into a medium bowl.
-Lightly heat up in a double boiler until ⅓ of the butter in liquidy or heat in the microwave for 30 seconds. You don’t want all of the shea butter to be melted or it won’t be able to firm up and become whipped. If you do over melt it, stick it in the fridge for about 30 minutes until it gets a firm skin on top.
-Whip with a hand mixer or by hand until stiff peaks form.
-Sprinkle in the sugar and gently fold into shea butter.
-Scoop into airtight container and boom, you’re all done!
To get the most skin-loving benefits from this scrub, it’s best to use on damp skin. That’s because the shea butter will lock in the moisturizer on your skin while the sugar exfoliates it.
When done scrubbing, gently rinse off and pat dry.
You will still feel a light coating of the shea butter on our skin to keep you soft and moisturized for hours :)
2. Gentle Face Scrub
My favorite face scrub ever because it’s super gentle (I don’t want microtears in my skin that sugar will give you) and it’s cheap!
Ingredients:
-2 tbsp oats
-optional: 1 tbsp chamomile flowers
Instructions:
-Finely grind the oats and chamomile flowers in a spice grinder or coffee grinder. You want this to be as smooth and fine as possible.
-Once ground, store in an airtight container.
To use this, I’ll first get my normal face soap ready. If I’m using a face wash bar, I’ll get it wet and rub into my hands so it gets sudsy. If I’m using a liquid wash, I’ll squirt some into my palm.
Then I’ll sprinkle a tiny bit of the face scrub mixture in, run it around in my hands, and then apply to my face.
With a gentle touch, I’ll scrub onto my face for about 30 seconds and then rinse off.
I’ll use this about twice a week for smooth skin.
3. Exfoliating Lip Scrub
Possible the easiest recipe ever, this scrub leaves my dry Colorado lip exfoliated and ready for some heavy lip balm! No one wants crusty lips, ammiright?
Ingredients:
-1 tbsp brown sugar
-½ tbsp of olive oil (or any oil of your choice)
Instructions:
-Pour the oil over your brown sugar (you want a thick scrub so carefully pour the oil over until it barely saturated all the sugar granules).
-Rub onto your lips.
-Rinse or lick off!
Make sure to slather on lip balm right after to get super soft lips!
Wrappin' it up!
I hope that you can easily make these three scrubs in the comfort of your home! One of the biggest bonuses for me with these is that all in all, it ends up being a lot cheaper than buying the plastic tub alternatives because the ingredients are simple and stuff I already have on hand. Here's to soft skin! :)
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Hi, I'm Taylor
Amateur adult. Zero waste zealot. Personal finance fiend. Spicy food supporter. I’m an mid 20’s gal living in Denver, Colorado. My love of the outdoors has cultivated my zero waste lifestyle, which inadvertently fueled my passion for personal finance. Cheers to everyone interested in lessening their footprint while growing their wallet!