DIY Natural Home Made Exfoliators

Have you tried a simple olive oil and sugar scrub yet? If not, try it. This scrub is remarkably easy to make and moisturizers your skin as well as exfoliating it. Epsom salts and water are another option that I use regularly. Epson salts are really good for your skin and make an awesome exfoliator. If you want to try something more fancy/complicated, then how about ground coffee, lavender, and sugar? Lavender makes you smell wonderful and has a calming effect on the skin, and both coffee and sugar are great at exfoliating. That's just the start. When it comes to home-made exfoliators you have so many options! Enjoy experimenting!

Here are some things you might like to try:

- Brown sugar, lemon oil, lavender oil, and some water. For all skin types.
- Blueberries, strawberries, sugar and honey in the food processor, make a thick paste. This contains lots of antioxidants and makes your skin positively glow, as if you were applying a vitamin c serum, while also exfoliating.
- If you don't want sugar, then honey, oatmeal, and melaleuca essential oil. This works very well for dry skin.

Enjoy experimenting! Making your own scrubs is so much fun! Look up what various essential oils are good for too so you can tailor these to your own needs.

Salt and sugar, which both have exfoliating properties, are among the best scrub ingredients out there. Baking soda is another good one. I first started using salt on my skin, mixed in with a little Argan oil, in the shower after I had run out of my store bought tube of scrub and noticed a flaky patch on my skin. I was amazed to find that it worked just as well as what I had bought, and not only that actually left my skin feeling more fresh and clean than what I had bought from the store! So, those are the basic ingredients. You can add in anything you like to those, pretty much, according to personal preference and other skin needs. So honey, fruit (including berries and banana), oils like Argan, olive, or coconut, essential oils, calming herbs such as rosemary, and lemon for pore closing and lightening. Once you delve into the adventure of making your own exfoliators, it is really amazing what turns out to be possible for little money!!! Of course, there will be some scrubs you end up liking more, and others less. It is a bit of a question of trial and error, as of course with store bought products as well. But making your own exfoliators is a really excellent idea that can do wonders for your skin.

Hi Rosie,

I know you asked about home-made exfoliators, but I can't really help you there besides mentioning the tips that were already mentioned (honey is very good). I thought I would jump in with some store-bought suggestions you may like as well, if that is OK with you?

• Balance Me Cleanse and Smooth Face Balm. Oil based, especially for dry skin, cleanses without removing your skin's natural oils.
• Philosophy The Microdelivery Triple-Acid Brightening Peel. Philosophy has truly excellent products. This deeper scrub will not just help you combat that dry skin of yours, but will also brighten and even out your skin tone. What more could you ask for? Oh, it's anti-aging too!
• Indeed Facial Powdered Exfoliator. This is a powder, an unusual approach to exfoliation. All you need to do is mix it in with a bit of water. This will last you a long time and really works well against flaking. 

That is just exfoliators, of course. To truly combat dry skin, you will need to find an excellent moisturizer and night cream as well. Do you need tips, or do you already have products you love? If you need suggestions I would be happy to help you out. 

Mmmm.... I read this on the web and really like the idea of it:

- 1 cup olive oil, 1 cup sea salt, 1 tablespoon lemon zest, 2 drops grapefruit essential oil

That's I think meant for the whole body mind you, so it seems like a whole lot if you're only wanting to exfoliate your face... so I guess you can just halve it all? Anyway, that's meant to be refreshing for the morning, and I love the idea of natural vitamin C that's fresh too and makes you all awake and fresh feeling. The only dry skin fighting thing in there seems to the the olive oil, mind you, but maybe that will do the trick just fine?

Oh, here's another one. It's got fresh avocado in it, which sounds wonderful for truly dry skin. 

- 1 ripe avocado mashed up, 1/3 cup of ground almonds 3/4 to 1 cup of ground oatmeal

So I like to watch these weight loss programmes, not sure 'cause I'm not overweight, but I saw the other day that some chef was using avocado instead of butter. That stuff is really fatty, but also full of good stuff for the skin. Many folks use avocado oil on the skin. Almond oil too. And the oatmeal got that exfoliating component in the whole thing. So that sounds really appealing. Though mind you, you could also just scrub your face with sea salt first and then apply an avocado and almond mask afterwards I guess? Anyways, sounds like a good thing to try!

You are so smart to be looking into home made exfoliating products - the products you buy in the store are laden with chemicals and preservatives, and the basic ingredients should remain the same. So for a fraction of the price, you can get a better product! Most exfoliators are sugar based, and in this case the most important advice is to use brown organic sugar, not refined white sugar. Other than that, use the products best suited for your skin and you will get the results you are looking for in no time.

Exfoliation is of course a very important part of any good skincare routine, but I hope you are not forgetting about cleansers, toners and moisturizers either? I'm wondering if you have tried any of these recipes out yet, Rosie, and if you have what your experience was like. Also, what else you are doing as part of your skincare routine. Dry and sensitive skin needs a fair amount of TLC, doesn't it? And if you get the balance wrong, including with natural products, you can end up with quite the issues! Do let us know if you try any of these out and how you get on.