Easy DIY Body Scrubs

Tuesday, December 7th, 2021

I love a great body scrub recipe to help my skin feel luxurious and pampered! And they are the perfect healthy personal care products for quick and easy Christmas gifts.

In minutes you can bring a wonderful scrub recipe with just a few simple ingredients to life. Usually most of the items are already in your home and you control the ingredients and their quality. Also they are so MUCH cheaper than fancy store bought scrubs.

I love using my essential oils to give it a bright scent, but you can reduce the number of drops, so the scents feels right to you. The best part of making a homemade body scrub recipe is that you can truly adapt it to your own preferences.

And a body scrub recipe can be made in bulk to save time. Double or quadruple the recipe, divvy up to customize for the individual receiving the gift, or right into attractive jars, and add a handmade tag for a great gift for anyone. Be sure to get therapeutic grade essential oils to create the best product for your skin as well as organic carrier oils.

I am a metric girl, that’s why my measurement are in g. But don’t worry if you’re not used to it, the scales can normally switch. And I like to write down the percentage of the ingredients, so you can easily transform it and create a different batch size. To convert: Percentage of ingredient [divided by] 100 [multiplied by] batch size by weight = weight of ingredient.

Let’s start with the basic recipe: 200 g batch (100 %)

160 g Sugar or salt (80 %)
39 g Carrier oil(s) (19.5 %)
1g (appr. 30 drops) Essential oil(s) (0.5 %)

If that isn’t easy, I don’t know what.

I prefer less oil in my sugar scrubs, but the most recipes out there go for more oil. My tip is try a small batch to find out your preference.

Start with a little bit of oil and add more oil until the consistency is how you like it. Don’t forget to write down your preference.

But have in mind after it sits a while the oil will break down some of the sugar or salt and it will be a wetter consistency, so make it slightly dryer than you think you want.

Combine the ingredients in a large bowl and stir until thoroughly combined. Next step is adding essential oils. Beginning with 5 drops of each kind, continue adding to get the intensity you prefer.

Store in a clean, airtight jar. If essential oils are used, it is best to store the scrub in a dark cabinet to prevent oxidation. You can add an antioxidant such as Vitamin E to extend the shelf-life by delaying oxidation of the oils.

Ready for some recipes?

Table of Contents

Peppermint Sugar Scrub

160 g Sugar (80 %)
39 g fractionated coconut oil (19.5 %)
1g (appr. 30 drops) 20 drops Peppermint EO + 10 drops Lime EO (0.5 %)

Optional:
Lime Zest
Dried peppermint

Lemon Sugar Scrub

160 g Sugar (80 %)
39 g fractionated coconut oil (19.5 %)
1g (appr. 30 drops) Lemon EO (0.5 %)

Optional:
Lemon Zest

Vanilla Brown Sugar Scrub

160 g Brown sugar (80 %)
39 g Almond or Coconut oil (19.5 %)
1g (appr. 30 drops) Lemon EO (0.5 %)

Don’t have any vanilla EO by hand? Don’t worry, I have you covered.

160 g Brown Sugar (80 %)
30 g Almond or Coconut oil (15 %)
10 g Pure Vanilla extract (5 %)

Optional:
Fresh Vanilla Bean

Lavender Sugar Scrub

160 g Sugar (80 %)
39 g Fractionated coconut Oil (19.5 %)
1g (appr. 30 drops) Lemon EO (0.5 %)

Optional:
Dried lavender buds
Violet mica

Coffee Sugar Scrub

125 g Brown Sugar (62.5 %)
35 g Coffee Grounds (17.5 %)
39 g Fractionated coconut Oil (19.5 %)
1g (appr. 30 drops) Vanilla EO (0.5 %)

Variations

Orange and Vanilla – Add fifteen to twenty drops Orange EO and ten to fifteen drops vanilla EO.

Sugar Cookie Body Scrub with Sea salt

120 g Brown Sugar (60 %)
40 g Sea salt (20 %)
30 g Coconut oil or Almond oil (15 %)
9 g unscented Castile Soap (4.5 %)
1 g (appr. 30 drops) vanilla EO (0.5 %)

Variations

Orange and Vanilla – Add fifteen to twenty drops Orange EO and ten to fifteen drops vanilla EO.
Lavender, Lemon and Peppermint – Add ten drops of each EO.
Citrus Boost – Add 8 drops Orange EO,
14 drops Grapefruit EO, and 8 drops Lemon EO

Orange Sea Salt Scrub

160 g Sea Salt (80 %)
13 g fractionated coconut oil (6.5 %)
26 g Grape Seed oil (13 %)
1g (appr. 30 drops) Orange EO (0.5 %)

Optional:
Orange Zest

Pink Himalayan Body Scrub

180 g Himala pink salt (90 %)
14 g Grapeseed oil (7 %)
5 g Almond oil (2.5 %)
1 g (appr. 30 drops) essential oil (0.5 %)

Variations

Peppermint and Vanilla – Add fifteen to twenty drops peppermint EO and ten to fifteen drops vanilla EO.
Pure Peppermint – This makes an amazing “wake up” scrub.
Pure Orange – It just smells so yummy.

How to Use DIY Body Scrubs:

Be careful not to get any water into the container when you use a scrub.
Water means bacteria growth, and your scrub will not last long.
I recommend a small spoon for scooping the scrub out so that it doesn’t get contaminated with water.

Apply to damp skin and gently rub to exfoliate.
Allow to sit on skin for 5-10 minutes (or less as time or your schedule allows!)
Rinse with warm water and pat skin dry.

A piece of advice for this and any other DIY you make at home:

Make an effort to find good quality and preferably organic ingredients. For the masks we only need around three and all of them are really inexpensive, so getting them from reliable sources is worth every penny.