Five Simple, Natural Homemade Facial and Body Scrubs for Men and Women

Break that dull, uneven-toned skin without breaking the bank!

Rejuvenate your skin through trying any of these five inexpensive, natural, easy-to-make homemade scrubs. 

Whether you have oily, dry, or mixed/combination dry-oily face, exfoliating once or twice a week can do wonders in reducing breakouts and giving you soft, smooth skin that glows like summer.

Why Exfoliate? Some Beautiful Benefits

Facial and body scrubs are great ways to exfoliate the skin. But why exfoliate? 

Skin cleansing has evident benefits of removing dirt, while exfoliating has some additional advantages too. Exfoliating once or twice a week can enhance the results of your skin care routine by deeply cleaning your skin. 

Exfoliation removes dry skin by scrubbing out dead skin cells from the epidermis. Without these dead cells, your skin will feel refreshed and cleaned. 

You need to prevent clogged pores through regular (NOT daily) exfoliation because blocked pores can cause some of the most hateful skin problems- acne, whiteheads, and blackheads.

Clogged pores can also make your pore size bigger. You can lessen the size of your pores through exfoliation.

Furthermore, removing dead skin cells can hasten the process of skin renewal, helping your skin replace dull cells with healthy new skin. Skin renewal can ease the formation of fine lines and wrinkles, as well as prevent skin discoloration too.

These benefits are not just for women, they're good enough reasons for men to exfoliate too. 

Five Natural, Simple Homemade Scrubs

There are numerous natural homemade scrubs, but these are the ones I've tried so far and they all worked well with my mixed dry-oily, sensitive skin. They are practical because you can usually find the ingredients in your kitchen. They are also safe because they come from natural ingredients. 

Virgin Coconut Oil Sugar Scrub

Virgin coconut oil is good for the skin because of its moisturizing, antifungal, and antibacterial properties. Like sugar, it can lighten age spots and skin discoloration. Virgin coconut oil can also help infected skin heal faster.

Sugar naturally exfoliates the skin. It has Alpha-Hydroxy that can help produce glowing skin. Repeated use of sugar scrubs can result to healthier and uniformly textured and colored skin.

Ingredients

• 2 parts (example, two teaspoons) of brown or white sugar
• 1 part of virgin coconut oil
• Optional: 1/2 teaspoon of Vitamin E oil

Instructions

1. Mix 2 parts of sugar (regular white or brown sugar) with 1 part of coconut oil (you can also use almond and olive oil). Add Vitamin E oil if using. 
2. Scrub gently on your face. You can also use this as a body scrub.
3. Rinse thoroughly. I noticed that warm water rinses it better, though cold water would do.

Note: Using natural oils might seem oily at first after washing them with water, but after patting your skin dry, what's left is non-oily soft skin.

Olive Oil Oatmeal Scrub

This recipe is based on the oatmeal scrub of Jennifer Nelson of Mother Nature Network.

Oatmeal has avenanthramides, which are antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds that heal itchy, dry and irritated skin. Oatmeal can do wonders for acne-prone skin because it can absorb extra oil from the skin.

Olive oil has four different antioxidants, which can help "neutralize damaging free radicals that can lead to skin aging and skin cancer." 

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of ground, uncooked oatmeal
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• 1/2 cup of sea salt

Instructions

1. Mix oatmeal, olive oil, and sea salt.
2. Use as facial and body scrub.
3. Rinse thoroughly.

Coffee Grounds Scrub

Honey is a natural moisturizer. It can also prevent acne and reduce wrinkles.

Coffee scrubs can naturally exfoliate skin.

Ingredients

• 2 parts of coffee grounds
• 1 part of virgin coconut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon raw honey

Instructions

1. Mix coffee grounds, oil, and honey until well-blended.
2. Use as facial and body scrub.
3. Rinse thoroughly.

Vanilla Brown Sugar Scrub

This recipe is from Wellness Mama.

Vanilla extract can help your skin feel smooth and soft.

Ingredients

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup almond oil
• 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon Vitamin E oil

Instructions

1. Mix sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and Vitamin E oil.
2. Use as facial and body scrub.
3. Rinse thoroughly.

Vanilla Lavender Relaxing Facial Scrub

This recipe is from Wellness Mama.

Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup almond oil
• 1/2 tsp Vitamin E oil
• 1/2 tsp real vanilla extract
• 15 drops lavender essential oil

Instructions

1. Mix sugar, almond oil, vanilla extract, and Vitamin E oil.
2. Add lavender drops.
3. Use as facial and body scrub.
4. Rinse thoroughly.

Expiration Date

Because of the oils in these recipes, these homemade scrubs can last on the counter (dry location and far from sunlight) for two months, sometimes even less depending on the weather/climate of your location. You can make smaller batches if you want them fresh every time you use them.

Scrubbed Goodness

These homemade scrubs are so natural that you can even eat them, but of course, don't do it! Save it for your skin, so that you can save your bellies!

These are just some of the natural, simple homemade scrubs we can make at home using basic food materials. They are great exfoliators for men and women with different skin types. 

Reminders: Every skin is different, so you have to test what is best for your skin. You can manipulate the ratio of the ingredients until you find out the best natural homemade scrub recipe for your delicate skin. You can also try different natural ingredients. Also, be mindful of your allergies, and if you're pregnant, make sure you avoid essential oils that are not good for you and your baby.

What's your favorite homemade scrub?