Monday 24 January 2011

Homemade Skincare - Sugar Scrub

I've slowly become more conscious of what I put into and onto my body, especially in the last year. It started with my hair just under 2 years ago when I replaced my moisturiser with a home made mix consisting of shea butter, castor oil, extra virgin coconut oil and aloe vera gel. There are many advantages to it including:
  • I know exactly what it's in it, no weird ingredients that I can't pronounce or would have to Google to figure out what it does
  • It's cheaper 
  • It's been the best moisturiser I've used on my hair so far
So of course I've stuck with it :)

Last year, my friend Keris (of Fitter London) attended an eye opening  course, made some changes to her diet (more organic food less processed rubbish), hair/skin products (some ingredients were a no-no) and just generally more aware of everything she ate, used, etc. Lucky for me, I'd already adopted some of the new habits she formed a while back so I was happy to learn more.

Late last year, I went to the States to spend Christmas with my Sister and the first thing I noticed when she picked me up from the airport was how much her skin was GLOWING! My Sister has had on and off skin problems for years and she has tried so many skin products and treatments, not have been successful long term. Last year she started doing some research and followed some blogs of ladies who took care of their skin with natural, homemade products. Her skin has totally transformed, it's amazing!

Funny thing was I'd heard of these methods and had actually tried one of them but didn't keep it up for reasons I can't recall now. Some of them are:
  • Using oil to clean the face - yes, oil! This is another blog post in itself
  • Oil as a moisturiser... yep, you read right OIL.
  • Using a homemade scrub to exfoliate <--- Reason for this post.
  • Bentonite clay (this is an Indian earth powder) to fully cleanse the skin
Once I got back from my Xmas break, I went out and bought grapeseed oil to use as my face moisturiser and some bentonite clay from an indian store and decided to try it out for 2 weeks before blogging about it.

I'm loving the results! I know I didn't start out with spots but I have always had dry skin so no matter what soap/wash I use for my face, it always feels super dry after washing. Now sometimes I forget to moisturise until a couple of hours after!  For me, that's HUGE!
  • My face cleansing oil is a mix of Castor Oil and Sweet Almond Oil (I'll blog about this next week)
  • Moisturiser - Grapeseed Oil

My exfoliating scrub is a mix of Sugar and Extra Virgin Olive Oil and the first time I used it, I couldn't stop stroking my cheeks, lol! My skin was baby soft... seriously!
I aim to use this once a week.

I mix 5 tablespoons of Brown sugar with 7-8 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and store in a glass jar.



  • I apply to my dry face and gently massage in circular motions... I do this for a few minutes and rinse with lukewarm water. 
  • Then I soak a face towel in hot water and place it on my face for about a minute - during this time, the excess oils are being removed. 
  • I rinse the face towel and repeat a couple more times. 
  • Then I do a quick *cold rinse* to close my pores. 
  • Dry my face and apply my moisturiser (grapeseed oil).

There'll be more posts on skin and hair care from me :)

10 comments:

Ms zee said...

try jojoba oil to clean ur face esp after taking ur makeup off then follow by rose water - put rose water on cotton wool its an excellent toner and smells fab too. Jojoba is expensive but worth is for me. it is also great for hair and scalp. Rose water costs 2$ a pop at my Indian grocery store :) .
I love Brown sugar + olive oil scrub and use it 3x a week in the winter cos of my extra dry skin. I find for dry skin avocado oil, grapeseed, almond and oilve is fantastic Castor oil is too heavy for me :)

Thank u for sharing mama I love u

Ebun said...

I so need a breakthrough with my face. I have terrible pimples thus pay for facials every forthnight.

Can I still try this oil therapy with my oily face?

Adura, God bless you for always shaaring

Good Naija Girl said...

You have gorgeous skin, Adura.

Do you know if this regimen would work for skin that's oily in the t-zone and normal to dry on the cheeks?

Adura O. said...

Hiii :)

So sorry for being a stranger here. I had a busy couple of weeks but I'm back :)

Yes ladies, you can use this on oily skin. Be aware that - although you are applying oil to your face, you're using it to cleanse (help remove impurities and excess oils). My t-zone's oily, especially my nose and it's working great for me :)

Zed said...

This is great! Please post more tips on using natural home-made products on one's hair and body. I'll be trying these out soon!

Afropinay said...

Excellent Post. I can vouch for the oil theraphy. I used to use Virgin Coconut Oil way back in college. Rub on whole body before you go to bed & take a nice shower in the morning. Tried this for almost 6 months, my skin was glowing. The only set back with this, your washing machine will be very active because ur bedsheets will be soiled with oil :)

Nat. said...

This is great advice! Thanks for sharing.

Florence Carole said...

A lot of women I know also use olive oil on their skin since it is rich in antioxidants, vitamins (A and E), and polyphenols which is known to postpone aging. Will definitely try your recipe.

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manga mboa said...

i have a very oily/acne skin can i do this treatment? please need your advice;

Adura O. said...

Hi :)

I've just copy/pasted my reply to a similar question (last year):

Yes ladies, you can use this on oily skin. Be aware that - although you are applying oil to your face, you're using it to cleanse (help remove impurities and excess oils). My t-zone's oily, especially my nose and it's working great for me :)