Luxurious Sugar Scrub Recipe for Silky Smooth Skin

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Homemade sugar scrub recipe
Wellness Mama » Blog » Beauty » Luxurious Sugar Scrub Recipe for Silky Smooth Skin

Sugar may not be good for your insides, but a sugar scrub can be very good for your skin. Those expensive scrubs in department stores and spas… they cost pennies to make! Sugar scrubs are a simple beauty recipe with countless variations, and they can be incredibly moisturizing and exfoliating to the skin.

I use scrubs on my face, body, and (especially) feet to slough off dead skin and moisturize. The result? Silky skin with minimal effort!

If you are new to making your own beauty products (or even if you are a veteran natural beauty alchemist) I highly encourage you to try out these homemade sugar scrub recipes.

Why Use Sugar Scrub?

Taking time out from mom-life to take care of ourselves isn’t always easy, but let’s face it… skin needs TLC to stay healthy. Switching to more natural cosmetics and beauty products may mean leaving some of your favorite products behind.

Not to worry! In my experience a natural skin care regime can work even better (and certainly is better for you). In many ways natural beauty products have simplified my routine since I can mix up what I need with simple ingredients I already have on hand.

Here’s the highlights of my skin care routine these days:

  • Dry brush before showering (here’s how to do it)
  • Exfoliate and moisturize with a scrub in the shower
  • Apply a natural lotion post-shower
  • Oil cleanse my face, adding a facial sugar scrub once or twice a week for exfoliation
  • Finish with a quality nourishing face serum (this one is my absolute favorite)

I make up for the money I invest in a few high-quality store-bought beauty products by making the rest myself at home. Sugar scrub is so easy and fun to make, it’s one item I’ll never buy.

These also make a great DIY gift idea! Just put them in a cute mason jar and apply a decorative label or tag. Now you have a pampering and practical gift for an expecting/new mom, or for Christmas gifts or Mother’s Day gifts!

Men get dry skin, too. Make a manly scented version by trying some of the suggested essential oil combinations in this post.

Homemade sugar scrub recipe
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4.07 from 48 votes

DIY Sugar Scrub Recipe

This is the perfect recipe for beauty DIY beginners. Fast, fun, and simple!
Prep Time5 minutes
Total Time5 minutes
Yield: 1.5 cups
Author: Katie Wells

Materials

Instructions

  • Combine all the ingredients and stir to combine.
  • Store in an airtight container, such as a wide-mouth mason jar.

Notes

To use:
In the shower, scrub your skin with 1 tablespoon of the mixture and rinse well. It will leave your skin feeling like silk. Goodbye dry skin!

Sound simple? It is!

Sugar Scrub Variations

Ready to mix it up? Change your sugar scrub to suit the season. All of these variations use simple ingredients found at most grocery stores.

  • Pumpkin Pie Scrub: 1 cup of brown sugar, ½ cup coconut oil, ½ tsp vitamin E oil, and ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice (or just ½ tsp cinnamon)
  • Vanilla Brown Sugar Scrub: 1 cup brown sugar, ½ cup almond oil, ½ tsp vitamin E oil and 1 tsp real vanilla extract
  • Lemon Sugar Scrub:  Great hand scrub for after washing dishes! 1 cup white sugar, ½ cup olive oil, ½ tsp vitamin E oil, 15-20 drops (or more) of lemon or orange essential oil
  • Gentle Lavender Sugar Scrub for Face: 1 cup white sugar, ½ cup almond oil, ½ tsp vitamin E oil, ½ tsp real vanilla extract, and 15 drops lavender essential oil. Or make this gentler oatmeal version.
  • Vanilla Latte Sugar Scrub: Need I say more? Seriously… make sure you have coffee on hand to make a vanilla latte because it will have you craving the real thing. Find the recipe here.
  • Sugar Cookie Lip Scrub: Better than lip balm, in my opinion, since it exfoliates and moisturizes in one step. Here’s the recipe.
  • Mint Chocolate Lip Scrub: I also recently came up with this flavor that will leave you with deliciously smooth lips. Get the recipe here.
  • Homemade Foot Scrub with Magnesium: Perfect for pedicure season, this foot scrub is therapeutic as well with the addition of magnesium.
  • Cumin Sugar Scrub for Face or Body: Not all sugar scrubs have to smell like dessert. This more exotic scrub is packed with antioxidants for glowing skin.
  • Himalayan Salt Scrub: Salt is typically coarser than sugar and slower to dissolve, which makes this salt-based scrub recipe great for heavy-duty exfoliation. (If you have sensitive skin, stick to sugar scrubs.)
  • Sugar Scrub Cubes:  Make this cute and compact version of a scrub in single-use cubes. No mess and you can even make them colored with purifying French rose clay. Here’s how to make them.
  • Chai Sugar Scrub: All the scents of your favorite chai latte in a luxurious moisturizing scrub! Here’s the recipe.
  • Gingerbread Body Scrub: My favorite recipe to give at Christmas. Get the recipe here.

How to Store

These last on the counter for up to 2 months (or more). Take care that extra water doesn’t get into the scrub when you use it as it won’t last as long or work as well.

One warning: these smell good enough to eat! Actually, they are good enough to eat, but don’t… sugar is bad for your intestines!

This article was medically reviewed by Madiha Saeed, MD, a board certified family physician. As always, this is not personal medical advice and we recommend that you talk with your doctor.

Ever made your own sugar scrub or facial products? What is your favorite combination? Let me know below!

This easy sugar scrub recipe is natural and chemical free. It naturally removes dead skin and leaves skin glowing and healthy.

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Katie Wells Avatar

About Katie Wells

Katie Wells, CTNC, MCHC, Founder of Wellness Mama and Co-founder of Wellnesse, has a background in research, journalism, and nutrition. As a mom of six, she turned to research and took health into her own hands to find answers to her health problems. WellnessMama.com is the culmination of her thousands of hours of research and all posts are medically reviewed and verified by the Wellness Mama research team. Katie is also the author of the bestselling books The Wellness Mama Cookbook and The Wellness Mama 5-Step Lifestyle Detox.

Comments

476 responses to “Luxurious Sugar Scrub Recipe for Silky Smooth Skin”

  1. Iremm Ngozi Avatar
    Iremm Ngozi

    I’m using Vaseline and white sugar…. I’m getting result already.

  2. Tracy Avatar

    Hi! I’ve always heard that you have to be careful of coconut oil going down the drain… that it will reharden and plug your plumbing. I love the idea of the scrub for face and in the shower, but I can’t help but wonder if it causes any plumbing problems? Would love to hear feedback on whether I need to worry about this or not. Thanks!

  3. Abby Perham Avatar
    Abby Perham

    I made two batches one with olive oil and one with coconut oil. Once I put of them on it separated and just left my skin feeling extremely oily and I have extreme dry skin and it just made me feel uncomfortable

  4. Jimmy Avatar

    Hello
    which water do we need to use for washing like cold water or warm? and also please mention sweet sugar scrub and DIY sugar scrub both are the same right? This remedy seems very effective to use for skin. Thanks for sharing this article.

  5. Madison Avatar

    I made these for me and my mom. I made a vanilla one and a pumpkin pie one. They work great! They smell nice too. I always smell like pumpkin pie 🙂

  6. Joshua Howard Avatar
    Joshua Howard

    I like homemade scrubs. My favorite one contains only coffee grounds, almond oil, and brown sugar. It works really great! Thanks for sharing this recipe!

  7. Laurel Greene Avatar
    Laurel Greene

    Thanks for the recipe! Just a quick question..does this clog drains?

      1. Shannon Avatar

        I would always used coconut oil on my face after washing and it DID clog the plumbing. My landlord lectured me and I stopped…for a while. I thought I could use less but the pipes still got clogged and my landlord yelled at me…”Shannon what did I tell you about using coconut oil?” I was using the same coconut oil that I cook with so I changed to the coconut oil from Trader Joe’s and I haven’t heard a peep out of my landlord!

  8. Brittany Avatar
    Brittany

    It lasts 2 months from the time it’s made or from when you open it from the container? Just curious because I want to make some and give it to someone.

  9. Anja Avatar

    Do you make activated charcoal and bentonite clay mask? Which is better to mix it with? Water or oil? Do you have ingredients?
    I made some and it caught mold .
    Appreciate it.

  10. grace Avatar

    HEY! Great stuff!
    i’m finding my skin to feel oily afterwards, I’m not using olive oil in the right proportions, is it because i don’t rinse off enough afterwards? or is this just the nature of these oil/sugar scrubs? i also tried shea butter and avacado oil but my face felt like a salad. does this sound right?
    thanks
    Grace

  11. Joanna Jaskula Avatar
    Joanna Jaskula

    Hello! I love this website! God bless Wellness Mama and co. I have gone down the path of making diys and there is indeed no turning back. The sugar scrub is a great thing to diy. Minimal effort and tons of savings. Additionally I was quite diaappointed the last time I bought a sugar scrub because it became unusably hard.
    Sooo, I made mine with 2T sunflower oil and 4T brown sugar and 4 drops sweet orange oil and 1/8 tsp vanilla extract. I have a rad name for it but I can’t tell in case I put it on the market.

  12. Cerise Paone Avatar
    Cerise Paone

    Hi there,
    I’m eager to try these recipes but have a few questions regarding the application process-

    Can/should I use the in-shower scrub on both my face and my body? Or just my body?

    Are all the scrubs recipes listed above strictly for wet application/moist skin, or will they work on dry skin as well?

    When exfoliating my face with a scrub using the OCM (oil cleansing method), …
    …should i dampen my face with warm water first or would the oil take care of that? (I saw on your ocm post that you recommended not wetting the face/skin prior to oil cleansing)

    … should i cleanse my face via ocm before exfoliating with the facial scrubs?

    Thanks for your post and/site! I love it!

    Cerise

    1. Katie Wells Avatar

      I’ve used scrubs on my face too. They do work on dry skin but are more abrasive this way. If using with OCM you don’t need to wet your face first and you don’t need to oil cleanse before using a sugar scrub.

  13. Tinah Avatar

    Hey wellness momma!
    I LOVEEE THE SIMPLE SUGAR SCRUB. I just made it for the first time for Christmas gifts and had to try a little 🙂 My hands feel amazing!! THANK YOU! I do, however, politely suggest that the Sugar Scrub Ingredients List of be change for the size of the mason jar, ONLY. I followed the recipe to a T and in your ingredients list you say to use a small wide mouth mason jar and it takes you to the link to show the size. I went to use that jar and it did not even fit a full half of the recipe you have there. I have a lot of different sizes on hand at home, so luckily I had a bigger one to switch over to, but it definitely needed the next size up to fit this recipe in the jar. The jar I used was 8 oz. They have them in tons of different brands, but it fit the recipe perfectly! 🙂 Thank you again for the wonderful recipe!! Have a blessed and Merry Christmas! and a happy New Year!!

  14. Elle Bent Avatar
    Elle Bent

    I made this for a friend and it turned out great! I made the full recipe, put it into two bowls, colored them differently, and layered them in a mason jar. My only complaint was that the mixture was too liquidy/thick. I added 1/3 cup extra sugar. Great recipe! Will be making again!

4.07 from 48 votes (47 ratings without comment)

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