Homemade coconut sugar scrub experiment

I've been going online and searching for things that are going to help me to improve the tone and texture of my skin. I've learned about tons of pharmaceutical solutions like alpha hydroxy and retinol, but the price tag associated with these are more than I have to spend right now. So, I decided to try a more holistic and natural route to start off with.

There is a large community of bloggers online who believe in the almost magical properties of coconut oil. I guess it's not just for cooking anymore. People are using it in body moisturizers, lip balms and even bug repellents. One website I found gave 101 uses for coconut. It really opened my eyes to just how versatile this oil really is!

We went out grocery shopping today and bought all kinds of goodies I'll talk more about tomorrow. But for now, I want to talk about this huge tub of coconut oil I got. 

My husband is a great guy. And, after 16 years of marriage, he's pretty much gotten used to my quirky self. So when I wanted to put this huge tub of coconut oil in the cart, to his credit he didn't question me about it. This is one of the reasons I love him so much - he totally gets me.

Anyways, I got this huge tub home and went online for some ideas of what to do with it. After a little Pinterest searching I found a ton of recipes for a sugar scrub using coconut oil. If you aren't familiar with sugar scrubs, they are mixtures of sugar and an oil medium like coconut or olive oil. You rub this mixture on your skin and it exfoliates and moisturizes the skin all at the same time. So, I set off to make my own sugar scrub.

Coconut Sugar Scrub

2 T. Coconut Oil

1 cup sugar

Two simple ingredients - that's all. You can mix in things like Vitamin E oil and essential oils to give your scrub a scent, but for now I'm just sticking with the two ingredients.

I opened up my coconut oil and was surprised to see it was in solid form much like Crisco shortening is. After some reading I learned that it only liquefies when it's heated. So at room temperature it remains a solid that has the consistency of a body butter. Good to know! Also it has no scent to it. I don't know what I expected, maybe some tropical, Almond Joy type of overpowering smell. But when I held it up to my nose and took a good sniff, there was no smell what-so-ever.

I grabbed a fork and began to cut the coconut oil into the sugar. It took about 2-3 minutes to get it all worked in together. Then I grabbed a small Tupperware container to store my sugar scrub in and headed for my bathroom to give it a whirl.

I decided to try it on my hands first. I scooped out a little of the sugar scrub and bean to rub it into my hands; making sure I worked it into my cuticles. It felt grainy, like you were rubbing sand over your hands. It didn't hurt, but after a few minutes of scrubbing, I did feel the skin begin to get a little sensitive. So I rinsed off my hands.

One of the first things I noticed while rinsing my hands was the oil barrier that repelled the water I used to remove the sugar scrub. But what really shocked me what what happened after I dried my hands. I ran my fingers across the tops of them and couldn't believe how smooth and soft they were! Confession time...I spent the next 10-15 minutes just feeling my hands. I couldn't help myself - I must have looked so creepy :) If you are at all familiar with Mary Kay's magic hands treatment it felt exactly like that when it was done. So amazingly awesome!

Not only did the scrub exfoliate my hands, but it left them moisturized and totally as smooth and soft as a baby's bottom. So I thought that if it did such a great job on my hands, why not my feet and face? I have to say the results are remarkable. Rough, dry skin on my heels has been sloughed away and my face feels smooth and moisturized. Next I'm going to try it all over my body - or at least all the parts of my body that I can reach right now. It should help to get rid of that old, dead skin and keep the new skin moisturized.

The scrub didn't leave my skin feeling oily at all. At first you could feel the oil as you rubbed the skin, but after a minute or two, the oil completely soaked in and all you were left with was smooth, luxurious skin.

I won't be using this daily because I think it would be too harsh on the skin. However, I think 1-2 times a week should help keep my skin looking fresh and feeling amazing. Plus the bonus that the cost is minimal is probably one of the best benefits of all. I'll definitely be making this again and again!