How do you make a sugar scrub? It is often the first DIY skincare recipe people try and it’s pretty easy to see why. They are quick and simple to create and they are totally nourishing and rejuvenating for your skin.

Body scrubs are made to exfoliate your skin to leave it feeling fresh, clean and renewed. They are simple to make and they will provide you with big results.

There are two types of body scrubs you can make- those made with water and those that are oil based. I personally make my body sugar scrub recipes oil based.

I experience dry skin but I still like to use body scrubs. They are pampering and I find the ingredients I use super nourishing and moisturising while still effectively exfoliating and cleaning my skin.

The ingredients I like to use in my sugar body scrub recipe include shea butter, coconut oil, lavender essential oil and more. I find body scrubs to be a pampering treat for my skin and I love to take the time to use them once a week – it’s almost like a full body massage.

I find the addition of shea butter helps to nourish and create a glow to my skin. Most of the recipes for body sugar scrub you will find contain just oils, sugar or salt but adding shea butter takes an ordinary body scrub to a whole new level.

Body scrubs are a great way to remove the top layer of dead skin, leaving your skin glowing and healthy.

In this guide, I cover all you need to know about how to make your own white or brown sugar body scrub DIY answering questions like how to make a sugar scrub, what is a DIY sugar scrub and why you should be making your own DIY sugar scrub for body.

What Is A DIY Sugar Scrub?

A DIY body scrub sugar recipe is made to exfoliate the skin. It is a formulation of ingredients that provide mild abrasion to help in the removal of dead skin cells.

Sugar and salt scrub recipe are usually the most popular and vary in their level of abrasion, however coffee and other ingredients can also be used. These abrasive ingredients are combined with other ingredients like oils to form a thick cream-like consistency that is easy to apply and spread onto the skin.

Dead skin cells do shed by themselves. However, using a recipe for sugar scrub on the body will help to speed this process up. They can also prevent ingrown hairs and potentially prevent acne due to their ability to clean out the pores.

Areas of the body where you shave or wax the skin can benefit from the use of body scrubs as dead skin cells tend to build up in these areas. They can also help to enhance the look of dry skin by brightening it.

Weekly use of a natural sugar scrub recipe for exfoliation can help the general look and feel of your skin while keeping you feeling pampered and fresh.

You can use this recipe for sugar scrub on your feet, elbows, legs, anywhere you would like. However, I do not advise you to use this homemade sugar body scrub on your face as it can be too abrasive for such a sensitive area. I also only recommend that you use brown/white sugar in this body scrub as other ingredients can be too abrasive.

You can create different sugar scrubs for different parts of your body, from your lips, to your hands and feet. If you would like to see my recipe for a lip scrub you can click here.

Why Make A Homemade Sugar Scrub Recipe?

There are plenty of benefits to making your own recipe for sugar scrub with essential oils. To begin with, it will provide the skin with a great exfoliation while leaving it nourished, smooth and healthy. It may help prevent ingrown hairs and acne as well as other great benefits that I go into below.

It’s All Natural And Chemical Free

When making your own sugar scrub exfoliation recipe, you can choose ingredients that are all natural and chemical free.

Branded body scrubs can contain a range of chemical additives and when you make your own, you have the peace of mind that you know exactly what is going on your skin.

You Can Customise Your Body Scrub

Another great benefit when making a sugar scrub for body recipe is that you can customise it to suit a range of different needs. You could use a brown sugar scrub recipe for more delicate parts of your body and white sugar for areas like your heels and elbows.

You could also create different scented body scrubs with the use of essential oils such as making a mint sugar scrub recipe or a rose sugar scrub recipe. You have the option to pick and choose your faves.

It Is Cheap And Easy

If you already know how to make sugar scrub for body recipe then you will know just how easy it is – and how cheap it can be!

High quality body scrubs made from only natural ingredients are often very pricey and making your own is a cost effective option.

It Makes A Great Gift

DIY sugar body scrub makes a great gift for friends and family. You can easily create different scents and formulations suited to the different needs/likes of your loved ones.

It’s Refreshing And Soothing For The Skin

This all natural sugar scrub recipe is full of nourishing ingredients for the skin that will help to refresh and soothe your skin.

The sugar and other ingredients combined make for an effective exfoliator while still hydrating and moisturising your skin.

It’s Great For A Pamper Night

Body scrubs are a great way to give yourself a full body pampering. They feel like a full body massage and leave your skin feeling well taken care of.

Ingredients For The Best Sugar Scrub Recipes

One of the best things about this easy sugar scrub recipe is that you don’t need many ingredients for an awesome result.

eBay and Amazon Australia are quick and easy places to buy ingredients and all the gear you need. Below, I direct you to the best place to buy each ingredient or you can click here to buy now on Amazon or here for eBay. This is how I buy all of these ingredients.

Shea Butter

If you have dry skin like me, shea butter will probably be an awesome product for you. I love using shea butter in my oil sugar scrub as it if full of skin nourishing nutrients, vitamins and minerals, essential fatty acids and antioxidants that soften, moisturise and soothe your skin.

It provides a thicker consistency to the body scrub, it is easy to spread and it has emollient and anti-inflammatory properties.

Shea butter isn’t always recommended on oily skin as it can create break outs. You can always perform a test patch if you are concerned.

I personally love shea butter and I use it on my skin everyday in the form of creams.

If you are not a fan of shea butter, some alternatives include mango butter or cocoa butter.

Click here to buy shea butter now.

Sugar

Sugar is the key ingredient in this oil and sugar body scrub recipe, so picking your choice of sugar wisely is a good move.

The granules of sugar do most of the work in this recipe when it comes to exfoliating your skin.

I personally choose to use granulated sugar for my shea butter sugar scrub recipe and this works for all skin types.

However, if you have sensitive skin or you would like to use something less abrasive you could make a brown sugar coconut oil scrub rather than a white sugar scrub.

You can also choose to make a raw sugar scrub recipe. However, this will be more abrasive than granulated sugar and you may find it too rough for your skin.

Coconut Oil

Coconut oil is a great all round ingredient in skin care, hair care, cooking and more. It is also a great ingredient in this recipe for sugar scrub with coconut oil as it has a heap of benefits to offer your skin.

Coconut oil cleanses, softens and moisturises the skin. It contains an essential fatty acid known as lauric acid that holds anti-fungal and anti-bacterial qualities that can help keep the skin clear of infections.

In this recipe, the coconut oil will work to soften and moisturise while the sugar is exfoliating your skin. A great match.

If you want a sugar cube scrub recipe without coconut oil, you could switch the coconut oil for olive oil, sunflower oil or almond oil. Or if you are simply looking for a sugar olive oil scrub, for example, switch the coconut oil for olive oil.

Click here to buy coconut oil now.

Brazilian Purple Clay

Clay holds a heap of beneficial qualities for the skin. Brazilian clay, in particular, is said to hold the highest mineral content due to the rich conditions of the environment. Containing minerals like calcium, iron oxides, magnesium salts and more.

Brazilian purple clay is great for anti aging, reducing oil on the skin, re-mineralising the skin, natural skin exfoliation and can help improve the blood flow to the area applied.

It is very absorbent and has soothing properties that can help irritated skin. It also creates a lovely purple colour to the scrub.

Brazilian clay has a heap of minerals that are cleansing, moisturising and exfoliating for your skin. Its a gentle product that is suitable for the use on sensitive skin.

This particular clay is rich in magesium which is great for soothing and moisturising the skin.

This is optional and you could leave it out if you want.

Click here to buy Brazilian purple clay on eBay now.

Lavender Essential Oil

Lavender essential oil is one of my favourite essential oils and it has a heap of benefits to offer the skin.

It is antimicrobial, fungicidal, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory and more and can be used on all skin types. Although overuse can cause dermatitis.

Lavender essential oil can be used to help heal cuts, scars, rashes, bites and burns and for soothing conditions like psoriasis and eczema. It also holds the ability to promote the growth of new skin cells, making it a great choice for mature or aging skin.

Lavender oil may also be a good choice for those with acne prone skin as it can unclog your pores and kill any bacteria living on the surface of the skin. It can also be used to smooth out the appearance of wrinkles, scars and stretch marks.

Last but not least, lavender oil has the ability to ease inflammation, muscular aches and joint pains and reduce depression, insomnia, stress and anxiety.

You can also switch the lavender essential if you are looking for a different scent or different benefits. So if you want a DIY lemon sugar scrub recipe, you could switch it for lemon essential oil. Or if you want a vanilla sugar body scrub recipe, you could use vanilla extract instead.

Click here to buy lavender essential oil on eBay now.

How To Make Sugar Scrub

How to make a body scrub with sugar? Here it is! My lavender sugar scrub recipe.

Whipping shea butter and coconut oil in sugar scrub

If you are looking to use this scrub on your face, I’d recommend you use only brown sugar. However, some people find even brown sugar too abrasive on their face. You can try my face scrub recipe here instead which uses oats.

If you would like to use this scrub for the rougher areas of your body like your foot heels, you could consider using raw sugar for that extra exfoliation.

Generally, though, plain granulated sugar is best.

Mixing in the purple clay in sugar scrub

After you have made your body scrub you should store it in an airtight container, making sure to keep it away from any moisture to help make it last longer. I recommend using your homemade sugar scrub within a month of making it.

I have an average build and the recipe below makes enough for me to have about four exfoliation treatments. Which means it lasts me about a month anyway.

Lavender Sugar Scrub Recipe

Yield: 1.25 cups

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

This homemade sugar scrub for body is great for leaving your skin exfoliated, healthy and soft. It's easy and lush to apply and feels great!

Ingredients

1/3 cup Shea Butter
2 tablespoons Coconut Oil
2/3 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Purple Clay
20 drops Lavender Essential Oil
Jar/container

Instructions

Add the shea butter and coconut oil to a bowl
Mix with an electric mixer at low speed until it's thick and well mixed. This usually takes a couple of minutes
Mix in half the sugar until it's well combined and then mix in the other half
Mix in the purple clay
Stir in the essential oils
Place in an airtight jar or container

Notes

This will last about 6 months depending on your ingredients. It's important you don't get water into your coconut oil sugar scrub as it can introduce bacteria. I recommend you only take into the shower the amount you need each time you use it.

How To Use This Sugar Exfoliating Scrub Recipe

Once you have made your DIY body scrub, it is time to use it.

To use your body scrub, this is what you need to do for great results:

Start by wetting your skin in warm water, I personally stand in the shower and wait until I am soaked. You can have a quick soak in the tub if you prefer. This helps to prep the skin by opening the pores and softening the skin.
Turn off the water in the shower or stand up in the bath tub. Pretty much, remove yourself from the water.
Take some of your body scrub into your hands.
In a circular motion, lightly rub it into your skin.
Let the scrub sit on your skin for one or two minutes.
Thoroughly rinse off the body scrub under the shower or in the bath, rubbing it off with circular motions until removed.
Once removed and you are dry you can moisturise your skin as usual – Personally, I find my skin does not need a moisturiser as this scrub provides me with enough.

It is totally pampering and good for your skin to exfoliate it regularly. However, it is not recommended to do it more than once a week. It can be damaging to the skin if you use your exfoliator too often and remember – oily skin needs more exfoliation than dry skin.

Frequently Asked Questions

How To Make Christmas Sugar Scrub Recipes

For extra fun at Christmas time, why not make Christmas themed coconut oil and sugar scrub recipe?!

You can do this by editing the recipe above in a minor way.

I recommend you use an essential oil with a Christmas related scent like peppermint. Simply use it instead of the lavender essential oil. This will create a homemade peppermint sugar scrub recipe. You could also add some pink mica instead of the purple clay and then call it a candy cane sugar scrub recipe.

Or you could make a cinnamon sugar scrub with cinnamon essential oil.

Your choices are endless really.

How To Make A Homemade Foot Scrub

If you specifially want to make a homemade sugar scrub for feet recipe, I recommend you just follow the same recipe above and use it on your feet.

The only thing you may want to alter is to use raw sugar in the recipe instead of white sugar if you are using the scrub on the harder base of your feet. This makes the recipe coarser which is appropriate for harder skin.

Final Words

I hope you have enjoyed reading this guide to making your own body scrub. I hope you have a better understanding of what is a body scrub, how it can benefit your skin and why you should be making your own.

It is a pampering treatment to use on your skin weekly and this recipe is totally lush, exfoliating and rejuvenating.

It can be fun to play around with these recipes and try out different oils, essential oils and sugars.

Whatever you choose to use in your body scrub, I hope it leaves your skin looking and feeling great.

You can also learn how to make lip scrub here and coffee scrub here. Find all my fantastic DIY skincare recipes here.