This homemade body scrub leaves my skin feeling deeply moisturized and nourished. More than that, it truly does bring on a state of exhilaration after I’ve used it. Add to that the feel-good factor of having put it together from basic kitchen ingredients – a self-satisfaction trifecta!
“In a society that says, “Put yourself last,” self-love and self-acceptance are almost revolutionary.” ~ Brené Brown
Self-care is about what makes you feel good, what grounds you and gives you pause, what tops up your bucket (sorry, that phrase has become so overused!). There’s a lot to be said for getting a massage or facial, but self-care is not just something that needs to be outsourced.
I feel great when the entire family is out of the house and I have time to tidy away everything (you know, those bits that lie around on countertops, the ones that have no designated place so just remain there?) and mop the floors. The feeling of achievement and freedom, yes freedom, I feel when I have a morning like that elevates me. This is part of my self-care toolkit. Something I do for me because the ritual and end-result tick just the right box in my wellbeing bank.
Something else that fills that bank is to get a spray tan. This has become a winter-to-spring ritual. When I know the first batch of warm weather is going to arrive, I’ll get that tan so that on sunny day 1 I can don a dress or shorts without cringing at the bloodless, alabaster flake-fest that is my winter skin. But before I do this, I must prepare …
EXFOLIATING
An Okanagan winter is a DRY winter. No matter how much moisturizer, oil or latest ‘miracle balm’ I slather onto my skin, it just gets sucked in. By the time spring comes, some groundwork needs to be done to get back down to my true skin. If you’ve read my body brush blog post, yes you could be saying to me “take your own advice and do this regularly”, but I’m not consistent enough with that.
Enter, exfoliation – to help create a perfectly smooth (OK, smooth-ish) canvas on which to deliver the first tan of the season.
When I think about exfoliating (usually the day before my spray tan appointment!) I need to “do it now”, so it’s handy to have a few exfoliation quick-wins on hand. One of my favourites is this homemade green tea and sugar body scrub.
WHY GREEN TEA?
Green tea has powerful anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties. When applied to the skin, it can benefit in many ways, like:
- Calming skin irritation or inflammatory conditions like acne or dermatitis
- Slowing the ageing process
- Calming puffiness around the eyes, due to its caffeine content
HOW TO MAKE TEA TREE AND SUGAR HOMEMADE BODY SCRUB
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3 tea bags green tea
- ¼ cup coconut oil, just melted
Directions
- Add boiling water to the teabags, until just covered – leave to steep and cool
- Mix the coconut oil and sugar in a bowl
- Once the water is cool (if it’s too warm you could melt the sugar), add the liquid to the sugar mixture
- Give the mixture a little while to thicken as the coconut oil cools
- Assess the texture – if it feels too crumbly then add more water or more sugar if it’s too runny
- Spoon into a container with a lid, so it’s ready to use when you need it
Tips
- I find the best way to use a body scrub is to get into the shower and apply it BEFORE you’re wet. This provides optimum exfoliation and also gives the coconut oil time to absorb before being washed off.
- Once you begin your shower, massage it in further and then leave it to be rinsed at the end of your shower so that you can enjoy the therapeutic benefits of the ingredients for as long as possible.
- Add the leaves of one of the teabags to the mixture, for additional ‘green teaness’.
- While the mixture cools, give your scrub the occasional stir to incorporate all the ingredients as they do tend to separate when they settle.
- I like my blend to have little chunks of coconut oil, so I don’t mix it fully.
- This scrub smells pretty awesome as is, but if you want you can add a drop of your favourite essential oil.
Safety considerations
- Do not use this on your face
- Don’t apply to broken, recently waxed or sunburned skin
- If you have reactive skin, do a patch test first to make sure you don’t aggravate it
I love hearing from you, so if you try this please let me know what you think.
If you’re looking for more ways to take care of you, you may find these posts useful:
