Sugar and Salt Scrubs~ and the unnecessary extras found in typical store-bought versions

Not to beat the dead horse of last week's blog.....but, well....the dead horse shall be beaten! Sugar and salt scrubs have been very popular for quite some time now. They feel like a luxury...an extra care we give to ourselves...or a gift that always seems to please. Put them in a pretty package with a hefty price tag and we smile and say 'sure....that's worth it!".

And I think scrubs ARE fabulous whether we use them ourselves or give them as gifts. They usually smell amazing, and they do a double duty of exfoliating our skin while infusing that soft, silky result that makes us tell everyone nearby to 'FEEL!'.

Commercially, though....they once again add ingredients that are completely unnecessary, that aren't particularly skin friendly....and they charge based on the idea of the product instead of the actual cost to make it.

So, let's do the ingredient comparison:

Cloud Scrub~ Garden Party

Glycerin, Water, Sugar, Apricot Kernel Oil, Macadamia Nut Oil, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Sorbitol, Vitamin E, Disodium Lauryl sulfosuccinate, Sodium Chloride, Sorbic Acid, Phenoxyethanol, Tetrasodium EDTA, Fragrence

More than half of the ingredients are not only unnecessary but are chemically based and require fossil fuels for production.

If this product were to be made with clean production and living in mind, you could use just raw sugar, apricot kernel oil, macadamia nut oil, vitamin e and, in this case, flower essences for the scent.

A more powerful version could be made with an oil infusion of those same herbs and flower essences....this can turn a luxury into something both fabulous AND medicinal.

Now, let's look at one that is CLEAN'ER'....but a close look at the order of ingredients shows its' downfall. AND it has a price tag that suggests a much higher cost to produce than the reality.

Origins~ Ginger Body Scrub

Ingredients: Dead Sea Salts; Soybean Oil; Ginger Root Oil; Cardamom Seed Oil; Coriander Fruit Oil; Eucalyptus Oil; Lime Oil; Orange Peel Oil; Bergamot Fruit Oil; Grapefruit Peel Oil; Lemon Peel Oil; Clove Bud Oil; Citral; Linalool; Eugenol; Limonene; Macadamia Seed Oil; Ginger Root Powder; Kukui Seed Oil; Avocado Oil; Sweet Almond Oil; Tocopherol; Tocopheryl Acetate; Essential Oils

The misfortune here is that they rely on Soybean Oil as their primary oil. Soybean oil is highly refined and is typically used in fast food frying and pre-packaged food. It has some limited potential as a skin moisture barrier but is not designed or lauded for skin benefits. It is cheap...and therefore, makes the product less expensive to produce.

Ironically, this scrub comes with a price tag of $43.

The actual cost of these ingredients for this 21 oz volume is about $5.

Sugar and Salt Scrubs can be individualized for your skin and physical/mental health needs without a magnificent mark up in price. They also can be simply fun and wonderfully smelly products that make your bath or hand washing experience just a little nicer.

Here are a few examples of simple, clean ingredient lists that I follow for our scrubs:

Mint Lavender Foot Scrub:

Sea Salts; Epsom Salts; Coconut oil; Sweet Almond oil; dried peppermint and lavender (homegrown); essential oils of peppermint and lavender.

A foot bath with this scrub provides not only relaxation and exfoliation, but pain relief, mental calming and reduction in overall inflammation/irritation that comes with heavy daily use of that part of our body.

Honey Rose Face & Body Scrub:

Himalayan Pink Salts; Apricot Kernel oil; local raw honey; and rose essential oil

The raw honey is antibacterial and benefits acne prone skin. It is also a natural humectant (keeps skin moist, but not oily). The apricot kernel oil improves skin tone, keeps it soft and provides that glow we all love. It is known to reduce the appearance of wrinkles. Rose oil has a wide range of potential effects from physical to mental health including easing menstrual pain, decreasing stress and anxiety, stimulating the sex drive and easing depression.

Pumpkin Spice Latte Sugar Scrub:

Raw sugar; Brown sugar; Sweet almond oil; Cinnamon; Allspice; Coffee grounds; Vanilla (Homemade); Nutmeg; Pumpkin Pie Spice

And this final example is just plain yummy and makes us revel in all that is fall! But even the straight up fun ones can still pack a skin-benefit punch. The sweet almond oil is known to improve skin tone, reduce long standing dryness, improve acne, reverse sun damage and reduce the appearance of scars. The coffee grounds are a natural remedy that reduces inflammation and the appearance of cellulite, reduces sun damage and produces a calming effect all while providing a gentle and extra exfoliation.

The moral of the story is the same as last week! Skin and body products are a billion dollar industry that would have us think that it actually takes that billion dollars to produce what our skin needs to make it healthy and beautiful.

Sticking to simple, clean and local elements will always lead us down the well beaten path of our ancestors.....which, in my opinion, pretty regularly leads us to a grounded, more healthful experience.