How to Make a Moisturizing Salt Body Scrub

A moisturizing salt, body scrub is a great way to keep your skin soft anytime of the year. There are so many different ways to personalize a salt scrub to make it perfect for you, that there really isn't a reason to go out and buy a pre-made scrub.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 1 cup Course Sea Salt
• A Carrier Oil
• Your Favorite Essential Oils
• Other Optional Ingredients(discussed in article steps)
• Wide-Mouth Jar or Container

1. First, you need to choose the type of carrier oil you want to use for a base. A Carrier oil is a mild vegetable oil that comes from comes from kernels, nuts or seeds. You also want to make sure that the carrier oil is cold pressed.
   
   Nice carrier oils for a salt scrub are apricot, jojoba, sunflower, olive, avocado, or macadamia nut oil. It really depends on your preference and how much you are willing to pay.

2. Next, think about what type of scents you would like to use. Some carrier oils have a mild scent, but the scrub will get the majority of its scent from essential oils. You can choose a single scent, or mix a few together to come up with your own personal scent. Other optional ingredients could be lemon, lime or orange zest, or ground vanilla beans. You can also add perfume oils as well, like cucumber, coconut, chocolate, or mango. Adding lemon, lime or orange zest will cut down on the self life.
   
   Some examples of a good combinations that I like, would be:
   
   Avocado oil with a lemon essential oil and a bit of lemon and lime zest.
   Sunflower oil with lavender essential oil and ground vanilla beans.
   Sunflower oil with cinnamon essential oil and orange zest.
   Olive oil with sandalwood essential oil.
   Olive oil with mint and lemon essential oils.
   Macadamia nut oil with chocolate and/or coconut essential oils or perfumes.
   
   It really depends on what your favorite scent combinations are, there are just so many options out there. You just have to experiment a bit with different scents figure out what works best for you. On the other hand, you don't need to add any extra essential oils or scents at all if you just want to make an exfoliating scrub without any scent at all or if you have sensitive skin.

3. Once you pick out your scent combination, mixing everything together is fairly easy. You will need a wide mouth jar, or other container that you can reach your hand into, but can still be sealed well.
   
   Mix together 1 cup of course sea salt, 1/2 to 1 cup of your carrier oil, again, this depends on your preference. Add essential oils, perfume oils or extra ingredient you choose and mix well. You will need 20-40 drops of oil total, depending on how many different scents you choose and how strong you want the scrub to smell. Some essential oils have a stronger smell, so you might not need as much to start out with. I always start with less when I first start out, and go from there. You might want to mix everything together, let it sit for a day and then once you have had time away from everything, go back and see if you really need more or not.

4. At the end of your shower, massage a comfortable amount into your skin, covering your entire body. Be careful, the oils in the scrub will make your feet and the tub very slippery. Avoid using this on your feet unless you are able to sit. Do not use on your face! Rinse off with water and now you have moisturized and exfoliated skin.
   
   You will not be washing this off with soap, as it will counteract the moisturizing properties, but you will want to avoid using your best towels.

5. Have fun experimenting with different scents, and enjoy your fresh, glowing skin!

Resources

• How to Make an Apricot Facial Scrub

[LisaSmegal]

on 3/21/2009 Great article! I absolutely love using salt scrubs, and they're so easy to make!