One of my favorite things in the world is Origins ginger line. That stuff is definitely better than a lot of other ‘natural’ products out there, but still has a lot of unpronounceable stuff in the ingredients list that make me anxious, and besides, it is silly expensive. I attempted to recreate their yummy ginger sugar scrub, and can happily say – quite successfully! It has the exact same fresh ginger fragrance that warms me all over, and the combination of sugar, salt and olive oil leaves my skin so silky soft… I was never happy with the fragrance when using ginger oil or dried ginger, they both smell kind of fake to me so using fresh ginger is the perfect solution.
Sugar is natural humectant, which means it draws moisture from its surrounding to the skin. So it hydrates the skin and allows the moisture to stay within. It is also high in glycolic acid (or AHA). It encourages cell turn over for younger looking skin. Something to keep in mind: brown sugar is softer than granulated sugar, and can be used on the face, and unprocessed sugar is most coarse so better leave it for the rough spots.
Salt helps slough off the dead skin cells to make skin feel more smooth. I like to add it to my scrubs because it takes longer to melt during scrubbing, as opposed to sugar.
Olive oil is rich in vitamins E and A, antioxidants like polyhenols and phytosterols that neutralize the free radicals that cause skin damage. I don’t care for olive oil in my food because of its strong taste but love it on my skin.
Castile soap tones down the oil in the scrub so that you don’t feel too greasy, just right. You can find Dr. Bronner’s liquid soap at most grocery stores.
Limes are a natural astringent, tightening pores for smoother look of the skin; they are also high in citric and glycolic acids, which help exfoliate and even out skin tone.
This scrub will easily keep for 2 – 3 weeks, since it has salt to keep fresh ginger from spoiling. If you are able to chop the ginger very fine you shouldn’t have a problem with letting it go down the drain, but it might be a good idea to use a drain catcher.
- 3 inch piece of ginger root, unpeeled
- 1.5 cups of cane sugar (or other sugar of your choice)
- 1/2 cup very fine sea or [url href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HVJHXGC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1http://” target=”_blank”]Himalayan salt[/url]
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Juice of 1/2 lime
- 1 tablespoon liquid [url href=”https://www.drbronner.com/DBMS/BABYMILD/OLBA08.html” target=”_blank”]castile soap[/url]
- Cut ginger into little pieces and put it in a mini food processor like [url href=”http://www.kitchenaid.com/shop/countertop-appliances-1/countertop-appliances-2/food-processors-3/-%5BKFC3511OB%5D-401109/KFC3511OB/http://” target=”_blank”]this[/url].
- Pulse until it’s chopped finely. At some point, it’ll just spread on the sides of the processor bowl and you won’t be able to do much else with it.
- That’s when you should add 1/2 cup sugar and olive oil. Process everything until very smooth.
- Add remaining sugar, salt and lime juice, mix well.
- Enjoy!
3 comments
Have you tried to incorporaate Bergamot into the recipe? It lists this ingredient online. (The print is too small on the back of the tube) 🙂
Oh yum!! Bergamot is a perfect scent to go along with this concoction, thanks for the tip! I haven’t tried it!
This sounds fabulous. Will definitely be trying it. Just need a new food processor first, as mine just broke. But I suppose I could possibly just grate or mince the ginger with a mortar & pestle.