This easy sugar scrub recipe is perfect for beginners. Just 2 ingredients needed for the basic recipe, then customize your scrub however you like. Customizing tips and ideas for customizing are included in this recipe!
You wanted to simplify your beauty routine by going green, and making your own DIY products. Instead you’ve got thirty-three browser tabs open with DIY beauty tutorials that require obscure ingredients you’ve never heard of, pricey additives, and a PhD in cosmetic chemistry to create.
This sure seems complicated!
Save those more complex recipes for another day, my friend, because I’ve got the perfect easy, inexpensive project for you, even if you’ve never made a DIY skin care product before.
- This recipe eliminates dry ashy legs, and smoothes rough feet and bumpy arms.
- It’s crafted with everyday ingredients I guarantee you have in your kitchen right now.
- And is so simple that at my daughter’s nine-year-old birthday sleepover, when a gaggle of giggling girls spontaneously decided to make some “spa stuff,” this is the project I whipped out,.
The Easy Sugar Scrub Recipe for Softer, Healthier Skin
Sugar scrubs are so super simple to make. You nearly can’t mess them up, and if you do you can always fix them. So if you’re a little timid with DIY, they’re the perfect product to start with.
Sugar scrubs come together in just seconds and use ingredients you already have on hand. No need for specialty ingredients or tools. Just stir together sugar and oil and boom! You’ve made an awesome sugar scrub.
But Does Easy Mean Ineffective?
Even if this is your first foray into handmade skin care, you’ll get an impressive, pro-quality product. It’s so effective, that it’s one of the products I teach all my students to make in my free online course Handmade Skin Care for Beginners.
This easy sugar scrub recipe gives soft and silky skin after just one use. After several uses, your skin will be more supple and moisturized.
Start with just two ingredients to make this easy sugar scrub recipe, then customize it the way you like. In the instructions below you’ll get ideas for how to customize the basic recipe.
Whip this up for an easy, all-natural way to exfoliate and soften your skin. This recipe also makes a fun girl’s night project, or an easy and inexpensive sleepover craft for teens and tweens.
Follow this ultra easy recipe to get a swoon-worthy, professional quality body polish—no cosmetic chemistry PhD needed.
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Easy Sugar Scrub Recipe
This recipe makes just over 8 ounces of scrub, or enough for approximately 4 whole-body scrubs or 20 hand or foot scrubs. A custom version of this recipe is featured in my free Handmade Skin Care for Beginners e-course. Shelf life of this scrub is about 6 months.
Note: This recipe is formulated for at-home, personal use only. It is NOT for retail sale. In order to be appropriate for retail sale, an emulsifier and conventional cosmetic preservative must be added, and stability testing required by your locale must be done.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil (such as olive oil, sunflower oil, sweet almond oil, etc. Use whatever you have in your pantry)
Optional Ingredients for Customizing:
- 25 drops essential oil (some favs to try are lavender, juicy blood orange, spearmint, eucalyptus, or bergamot. If you can’t decide, consider this essential oil sampler kit so you can have a few to experiment with.)
- 1 teaspoon dried herbs or dried flower petals
- 2 to 5 drops food coloring in your choice of color
Needed Supplies:
- Small mixing bowl
- Silicone spatula or mixing spoon
- Measuring cups
- Jars or containers to package your scrubs
Instructions:
Step 1: Combine base ingredients
Place sugar into a bowl. Add in 1/3 cup of oil and stir until well blended.
If the sugar scrub seems too dry for your liking add more oil, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you get the consistency you like. Remember, this is personal preference so don’t worry about “messing up.” You won’t, I promise.
Step 2: Customize your scrub
If you’d like to dress up your sugar scrub, you can add optional ingredients now. This is completely up to you, though; the scrub is lovely as-is.
- Stir in essential oils of your choice for scent.
- Mix in dried herbs or dried flower petals (they must be dried, not fresh).
- Add cocoa powder, dry clay, or ground coffee beans—1 teaspoon measurement for each.
- Stir in 2 to 5 drops of food coloring. (You can add a few extra drops to get the color you’re looking for.)
Note: When used at just a few drops per ounce of scrub, food coloring won’t stain your skin or tub. Kids in my children’s crafting classes have used wayyyyyy more food coloring than I’ve suggested above, without a stained-child among them.
Step 3: Package your scrub
When you’re happy with your scrub, package it in a small container with a lid. I often use mason jars and upcycled jelly jars, but I also have a freakin’ obsession with these jars and wooden scoops. They look so cute lining the bathroom counter, and the 8 ounce size is perfect for this sugar scrub.
How To Use: Massage over the entire body in the bath or shower, using circular motions. Rinse well with warm water.
Please take care; this scrub can make the tub or shower floor slippery!
Important Note: Never store your sugar scrub in the shower or dip into the jar with damp hands. Water will cause bacteria, mold, and yeast to grow in your product (ewwww!) Instead, scoop out a single use (several tablespoons) into a shatter-proof container and take that into the shower with you. Leave the full jar nicely dry on your shelf.
Want More Easy DIY Skin Care Recipes?
Are you amazed at just how easy that sugar scrub was? There are sooo many homemade skin care products you can make, just with ingredients you have in your pantry.
If you liked this recipe, sign up for my FREE course Handmade Skin Care for Beginners. In it you’ll learn how to make 7 more easy, all-natural skin care products with simple kitchen ingredients. I’d love to count you as a student, my friend.
