How to Make 3 Body Scrubs - Basic Sugar Scrub, Foaming and Scoopable

 

This week's video is on body scrubs.  I expect there will be more, as I'd like to focus on making some that are a bit more complex and experiment with different exfoliants.

However, for now, I will focus on some basic recipes to give beginners a starting point.

First, we have the basic sugar scrub formula.  You can simplify this further by just having oil and water (eg: Sweet almond oil 25%, Sugar 75%), but the addition of vitamin e will keep the oil fresh and I am partial to a nice fragrance.  I added sweet orange essential oil to this as it's one of my favourites.

The oil choices can be whatever you like.  All oils offer various skin benefits, and some are lighter and more easily absorbed into the skin than others.  I chose to mix Fractionated Coconut oil with Jojoba.

Basic Sugar Scrub - 100g Batch

Phase A

23% (23g) Oil (whichever you like) 

1% (1g) Vitamin e 

1% (1g) Essential oil

Phase B

75% (75g) Granulated Sugar  

You can adjust the sugar to oil ratio to a consistency you like.

 

Next, we take the above recipe and up its game a little!  If you've seen my past videos you'll already be aware of Lumorol, so let's add that to make a foaming oil scrub!  This makes the product easier to rinse off, but you still get the benefits of the oils.  Lumorol is also very gentle and non-irritating.

Foaming Oil-Based Sugar Scrub - 100g Batch

Phase A

20% (20g) Lumorol   

Phase B

10% (10g) Oil (make this up with whatever oils you like) 

1% (1g) Vitamin e 

1% (1g) Essential Oil

Phase C

68% (68g) Granulated Sugar  

 

You can adjust the sugar to oil ratio to a consistency you like.

 

The final scrub of our 3 is an emulsified sugar scrub.  The reason that you'd make an emulsified scrub rather than an oil scrub is that an emulsified scrub contains emulsifiers that combine the scrub with water when you use it in the bath or shower.  This causes the texture of the scrub to evolve into a more lotion-like creamy texture which makes it easier to use and rinse off.   Emulsified scrubs make that lovely scoopable droppable texture that ASMR enthusiasts go made for.

Emulsified Scoopable Sugar Scrub - 400g Batch

Phase A

20% (80g) Oil (any blend of choice) 

10% (40g) Shea Butter, refined 

5% (20g)Emulsifying Wax 

2% (8g) Cetyl Alcohol

Phase B

2% (8g) Fragrance Oil 

1% (4g) Phenoxyethanol EHG (preservative) 

1% (4g)Vitamin e 

0.5% (Up to 2g) Mica or pigment

Phase C

58.5% (234g) Granulated Sugar  

You can adjust the sugar to oil ratio to a consistency you like.

 

And those are your 3 scrubs.  There is obviously way more you can do when making scrubs, so I'll revisit them in a future video - one where I remember to turn the camera on! haha!

As a side note, I know in my whipped soap videos I have mentioned at the end that you can turn them into a scrub by adding sugar.  A lot of people message me and say 'won't the sugar dissolve over time because of the water?' and the answer to that is 'sort of'.  

Whilst, yes, water does dissolve the sugar over time, the other ingredients in the scrub help to slow this down.  The amount of water compared to the amount of sugar is also a factor.  I have whipped soap scrubs that I've made that are nearing a year old and still have sugar dispersed evenly, not dissolved and not clumping, whereas I have others that have a syrupy dissolved sugar residue on top.  The noticeable difference between these is that the one with the residue has more base ingredients than sugar, whereas the scrub where it has not done this has a larger proportion of sugar to base ingredients.  So just something to consider if you want a scrub that is creamy like whipped soap, but exfoliating like a scrub.

Patrons  Get early access to YouTube Recipes, Exclusive monthly guides and recipe videos.