Easy Homemade Beauty Treatments

Exfoliation is not a primary preparedness worry, but I’m vain. I want to look good while I’m growing my own food, distilling my own water, and otherwise living off the land. To buy something from the beauty aisle would be cheating – but making my own stuff is fine.

Body scrubs are one of the easier home beauty treatments. You can even get the men in your life to go for them. Each one of these scrubs has its own special features, so pick out one you like and join me in my moments of vanity!

General Scrub

For a basic body scrub that can be used on your face as well, stick with a general scrub. This scrub is gentle enough to use daily but is still effective at removing extra bits of skin. It works on all skin types.

To make this scrub, combine ½ cup of finely ground oats with ½ cup of finely ground almonds. This forms the master base, and it will keep for up to six months if you don’t let it get damp. When you are ready to use it, scoop out two teaspoons of the mix and combine it with some water or milk (milk is more moisturizing) to make a paste.

Use the paste to scrub your face or other body area. Small, circular strokes help the scrub get to work. When you’ve finished, rinse immediately if you need to get moving or let it set for a few moments to pass nutrients into your skin (more important if you used a milk base). Rinse well, and you’re done!

Moisturizing Scrub

This scrub combines something we’ve all got at home – sugar – with something a bit rarer – shredded dried coconut. The advantage here is that the shredded coconut brings a moisturizing element to the scrub. It’s a way of conditioning your skin even as you’re removing the dead, scratchy bit (and who doesn’t like a bit of multi-tasking?)

To make this scrub, mix equal parts shredded dried coconut and sugar in a small bowl. Use one teaspoon at a time to serve as a scrub for your hands, elbows, knees, feet, or even your face. Just wet the area to be scrubbed down, rub on the scrub, and rinse well. It can be used every other day on joints and every day on hands.

Polishing Scrub

This scrub is good for polishing up delicate parts or getting a good scrub into small areas, like the edges of fingers and toes. It doesn’t provide intense scrub action, but it will brighten up dull skin areas.

To make this scrub, you need two strawberries, a one-inch chunk of peeled kiwi, one teaspoon of honey, ½ teaspoon of olive oil, one tablespoon of cornmeal, and ½ tablespoon of ground oats (you can pulverize instant oatmeal for this). Throw everything but the cornmeal and oatmeal in the blender to puree, and then pour the mix into a small bowl. Blend in the cornmeal and oatmeal to get a pinkish, seed-filled fruit salsa.

Using your fingers, scoop out a portion and start massaging it into your dull area. Keep it up for two or three minutes, and then let the mixture set for ten minutes while you work on other areas. At the end, rinse well. You can actually eat any leftover mix, although the cornmeal is not to everyone’s taste.

Exfoliating Scrub

This scrub is great for places where dead skin has built up. However, do watch out for areas where the skin is raw as it can sting like crazy!

For this scrub, you need small slices of any fresh citrus fruit. Lemons, limes, or grapefruits work best, but use your favorite (or what’s on hand). Take a small, thin slice and sprinkle it generously with sugar (any color is fine). Scrub your dry patch for a solid minute, and then let the juice sit on the spot for another five minutes. Rinse well to ensure it doesn’t get sticky, and then follow up with a heavy-duty moisturizer.

There are dozen … hundreds of other scrubs out there, but these are my favorites. Try them and let me know what you think, or share your own recipes in the comments below!