This is our final week of the Homemade Holidays series! I hope you have enjoyed it! This week’s theme is “miscellaneous” and I get to host it. 🙂 That means anything that’s homemade that’s for the holidays, you can find here! I’ll be showing you how to make a Rosemary-Mint Sugar Scrub (I know, I know, it really fits in better with the ‘bath products’ theme but I couldn’t get myself together in time to do it). I’ll also be linking to some of my older random homemade ideas…like our wooden blocks. 🙂
But on to the sugar scrub!
Apparently it sounds intimidating. But it’s not! This is really super easy. I was excited to make it because lately, with the cool weather and the heat running all the time, my skin’s been feeling a little dry. I need something to clean it and smooth it and moisturize at the same time. A sugar scrub sounds perfect! Luxurious and wonderful. 🙂
You only need a few simple ingredients to make this scrub, many you might have in your kitchen already. It only takes about an hour to make, and most of this is wait time, not active time. It’s really so easy!
The herbs chosen are nourishing and healing. Peppermint is nourishing, healing, cooling and it smooths rough skin, reduces redness and swelling and irritation. Rosemary stimulates blood circulation, restores elasticity, and is especially great for oily skin. I also added nettles (which don’t lend any scent), which improve dry skin and hair, gently cleanses, and nourishes the skin.
Avocado oil is very nourishing and food-based. It’s easily and deeply absorbed by the skin and can combat dryness. It also helps produce more collagen, helping skin to look firmer and younger. Shea butter is rich and absorbs easily and naturally, helping to prevent dry skin and healing blemishes, evening out skin tone, and more. (However if you are allergic to latex, you should not use shea butter. Cocoa butter can be substituted.)
Rosemary-Mint Sugar Scrub
Ingredients:
- 1/2 c. avocado oil
- 1 tbsp. peppermint (I subbed lemon balm, which is also in the mint family)
- 1 tbsp. rosemary
- 1 tbsp. nettle leaves
- 1/2 c. shea butter
- 1 1/2 c. turbinado sugar (big crystals)
Directions:
Add your avocado oil to a small saucepan. The first step is to create an herbal infusion.
To this, add your herbs.
Stir it together and put it on the stove on low heat — very low. Let this sit for about 30 minutes. This creates your herbal infusion!
Strain the oil through a sieve and discard all the herbs. Look how dark green the oil is now, instead of light green/yellow!
Pour the oil back into the pan (wipe out any herbs that are left first). Then, add your shea butter.
Put this back over low heat and allow it to melt together, about five minutes. (I made up a batch of my liquid herbal multivitamin while I was waiting on this!)
Measure out your sugar. See how large the crystals are? You want it this way.
Pour the sugar into a 1-pint glass mason jar (or other 16-oz. glass jar). Pour the oils on top. That is it! You are finished. 🙂
If you like, you could add a couple drops each of peppermint and rosemary essential oils to the oil blend for extra scent. I was mostly interested in the healing properties and not as much the scent so I didn’t bother (although I have both of those essential oils).
Other Homemade Ideas
Here are some from my archives:
From our contributors:
- Dairy-Free Chocolate Truffles by The Spinach Spot
- Blessing Bags by Sharing My Dreams Marine Wife
- It’s Not Too Late for a Super Frugal Homemade Christmas by Riddlelove
- Homemade Herbal Bath Salts by Natural Living Mamma
- Homemade Lip Balm by Mexican Wildflower
- Peppermint Patty Hand Lotion by Mexican Wildflower
- Cinnamon Ornaments by Natural Living Mamma
- Infinity Scarves by Sharing My Dreams Marine Wife
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