DIY: Grapefruit Sugar Scrub

A man’s grapefruit got lost in my purchases at the grocery store, to which I was irked because I hate the taste of grapefruit. So I put the produce to good use and made a facial/body scrub out of it. Here’s how you can salvage your unwanted fruit into an exfoliant superior to most drugstore brands for a fraction of the price.

You’ll need:

• 1 Grapefruit
• 1-2 cups of Brown or Raw sugar
• 2-3 tablespoons of Baking soda
• 1 tablespoon of Honey (Manuka or Raw is best)
• Jojoba oil
• Sweet Almond oil
• Avocado oil (optional)
• Saffron oil (optional)

Steps:

1. Squeeze the juices of the grapefruit out into a medium-sized bowl. Filter out the pulp how you desire. A full-sized grapefruit should fill at least a cup and a half of juice.
2. Mix together all of the ingredients above.
   1. Note: I have a personal bad habit of eyeballing ingredients, particularly the Jojoba and Sweet Almond oil in this recipe. Gauge how much of these oils you want to include in your scrub by evaluating the texture on your hands.
3. The Baking Soda and Sugar work as the actual exfoliants in the scrub. You can choose to substitute one wholly for the other or find a balance between the two, depending on your preference.
4. Store in the refrigerator to preserve the grapefruit juice.
5. Before use, stir the mixture to get an even distribution.

Review:

I was pleasantly surprised by the results of this scrub. The baking soda and sugar are remarkably effective at removing makeup, dirt, and other impurities. There have been times where other exfoliants have still left my skin with remnants of makeup, leading me to wash a second time. Not with this! In addition, Jojoba and Sweet Almond oil leave your skin moisturized with vitamins and nutrients. My skin has rarely felt so smooth and soft after washing. I don’t anticipate I’ll go back to a store-bought exfoliant anytime soon!

Notes:

• The oils included in this recipe are essential ingredients to include the moisturizing nutrients for your skin, so don’t skimp on them. The more different types of oils you add, the wider range of benefits you’ll receive. With that in mind, be sure to balance the quantities of each you choose to incorporate.
  • On Coconut Oil: There are extensive debates online about whether to use coconut oil in skincare or not. While some claim it to be a miracle ingredient, others rival it as a more pore-clogging oil than most others, citing it as potentially causing more harm than good. No skin is the same, and so it can be tricky to predict how an ingredient is going to affect yours. As someone with naturally oily skin, I’ve avoided adding coconut oil in my skin care for safe measure. I encourage users to research how certain ingredients may particularly affect them.
• Some other DIY scrubs suggest adding food coloring dyes or raspberry juice to adjust the mixture’s brown color to a rosier shade. Missteps in this can cause temporary pigmentation on your skin.
• In addition, the ingredients will settle in layers on top of each other. Normally this is avoided in drugstore products by including chemicals to keep everything mixed. I try to avoid artificial ingredients in my skin care as much as possible, so I just stir the scrub with a spoon prior to use.