Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Tis the Season!



My gift to you: How to make your winter skin incredibly soft!

Have you ever heard of a sugar scrub? Once you try one you will be a convert. Gives you baby-soft skin for days!  They can be pricey to buy but are in reality very cheap and easy to make. I have a 2-cup plastic container with an airtight lid so I can make enough for 2-3 applications at a time.

At its most basic, a sugar scrub is just sugar and oil, maybe some scent or essential oil or liquid glycerin soap (easy to get at health food stores or organic markets, so is jojoba oil mentioned below). If you do a Google search for sugar scrubs you'll find a ton of homemade recipes. There are also salt scrubs but I have not tried those yet.

The latest concoction I have to admit is the best-smelling so far. Improvisation is best, and what I ended up with was about a cup or so of raw sugar, couple tablespoons of brown sugar, a little bit of fresh squeezed lemon juice, walnut oil, jojoba oil, Neutrogena oil, lemon oil, couple spoonfuls of white sugar (because yours truly put too much oil in the mix and it was far too runny hehehe) and a tiny bit of liquid glycerin soap. 

When you mix up a sugar scrub, it should be like cookie dough: kinda clumpy, not runny, falls apart easily. Have to say, that latest experiment smelled great!

A major word of caution, though: watch your step in the shower! That oily sugary mess on the floor can be more slippery than, well... oily glass. Stand on an old terrycloth towel, it'll give you traction and save your noggin.

Couple weeks ago I did a white sugar, olive oil, jojoba oil, glycerin deal with some lavender oil that was very nice. And no, I didn't smell like a Greek salad, but that was one slippery floor. Olive oil is considerably slippery on the skin, also, so just watch your footing and handholds.

Plastic airtight containers are best and avoid glass containers around your tub/shower (just in case it drops and breaks!). Sugar scrubs make excellent gifts too. Package several different varieties in containers, label and tie a ribbon or two around them, add to a gift basket of assorted spa-type things, and you have a unique easy-to-make gift.

Happy Holidays everyone!

© SamMarie Ashe 2011 All Rights Reserved

9 comments:

Judith Ashley said...

Thanks for the gift idea, Sami. We are doing more 'making our own' this year for many different reasons. When I was growing up, store bought gifts were extra-special and we didn't get many. I remember the pride in giving someone something I made and being ooh'd and aah'd over. Not that many thanks for a great store-bought gift isn't nice but there is something extra knowing I actually made the gift rather than bought it.

And the old towel on the shower or tub floor is critical! No need to spend the holidays in the hospital or on crutches!!!

Paty Jager said...

Great gift idea, Sam! I hadn't thought about making the scrubs myself but I like the idea. And I know my ingredient conscience daughters will too.

Sarah Raplee said...

Sam,
Thank you for the lesson in making these special gifts! I think I'll try this; it sounds like fun and something anyone would enjoy using to pamper themselves. :)

Diana McCollum said...

I know I will have to try making a sugar scrub. You said to get the recipe off the internet. Any particular site you could recommend? Or could you tell us how much of each ingredient (or aprox) you used. Thanks for the wonderful idea!

SamMarie Ashe said...

Thank you ladies! I have a few sites, they come and go as sites go, so these I found for you today:

http://www.tipjunkie.com/sugar-scrub/

(They show them packaged in glass jars for gifts, very pretty and easy. For myself I use plastic jars with screw-top lids. They are leak-free and washable/reusable and safer for bathrooms.)

http://www.spaplayground.com/spa-intoxication/post/brown-sugar-scrub-recipe.aspx

http://tipnut.com/homemade-sugar-scrub-recipes/

http://condo-blues.blogspot.com/2009/04/4-homemade-sugar-scrubs-that-go-from.html

All of these sites have some great variations. It's a complete experiment at my house. Sometimes the best scrubs are pure guess-work on what I have on hand that day.

Enjoy!! :)
-Sam

Sarah Raplee said...

Hi Sam,

Thought I'd add that this would be a fun activity with kids. I have a ten-year-old granddaughter who loves to do science experiments. making scrubs would be right up her alley!

SamMarie Ashe said...

Definitely a great kid activity! Thanks Sarah (kidless here). :)

Tam Linsey said...

Wow! I have purchased sugar scrubs before, and you are right - expensive! Making my own sounds like a fun project. Thanks!

SamMarie Ashe said...

Yes, Tam - really expensive. Then when you make your own you can do so very easily for not very much money at all. Change fragrances and textures. It's something that can't exactly go wrong. *grin* Happy Holidays everyone!!