DIY Coconut Lime Sea Salt Scrub
Updated: Nov 3, 2021
You polish your nails, your shoes and even your car...what about your skin? Sure, summertime is when skin gets all the attention, but it certainly isn't the only time you could benefit from an amazing body polish. Besides, aren't all the beach vacation posts popping up in your FB feed making you envious of that glowing, shiny skin? Today we'll show you how to make your own coconut lime body scrub with sea salt, in 5 easy steps.
5 steps to the perfect DIY body polish
1. Choose your salt. (Of course you are using salt, not sugar, because you are one smart cookie and you know that salt works a lot better than sugar for scrubs. It doesn't immediately dissolve on wet skin like sugar does, plus it imparts mineral benefits you just don't get from sugar or, god forbid, microbeads that will end up polluting our waterways for generations). Keep in mind why you're doing the scrub: to remove dry, dead skin, exfoliate out any accumulated toxins, and reveal younger, softer skin beneath.
We chose fine sea salt, but you might want to choose superfine if you plan to use the scrub on your face or if you have very sensitive skin. Or, you might want to use a coarser grain if you will be scrubbing your feet, knees and elbows, but be careful...coarse salt can be scratchy!
2. Choose your oils. Because this is a coconut scrub, we naturally chose coconut oil as the base. To provide the lime fragrance, we chose lime essential oil. Be aware that this oil can be very pungent, to the point that it can smell almost like a household cleaner depending on the brand! (We find NOW brand to be fairly mellow). That's why we like to temper it with a softer aroma, like vanilla. In our SaltZ&Co coconut lime scrub, we also use a naturally derived coconut extract to punch up the fragrance, as well as lemon essential oil for complexity.
A word of caution: While your nose will probably be the only guide you'll need in terms of how much aroma to use, if you're using synthetic fragrances, be careful not to exceed the recommended amounts listed on the bottle for scrubs - as you'll be rubbing this mixture directly into your skin! Unless you have virtually no sense of smell, it is very difficult to exceed the suggested amounts.
3. Zest a lime. In a salt-based scrub, you're not doing this step to provide an exfoliant since the salt is already plenty scrubby, but rather to add aroma, texture and colour. You can also add lemon zest or really, any other citrus fruit that takes your fancy! Grapefruit is a great one to use because grapefruit stimulates the lymphatic system for even greater detoxification.
Mix your lemon zest in with your melted coconut oil and add the essential oils or flavourings. At this point you can let the mixture infuse for an hour or two if desired.
4. Put de lime in de coconut and then you add the salt.Well really, it's the other way around - pour your coconut oil-lime mixture into your sea salt. A good ratio is 2 parts salt to 1 part oil - then you can take it from there. That is already oily enough for some, but others will prefer their salt to scrub to cling better rather than remaining separate grains and little clumps. Keep on adding oil as desired - it's basically impossible to overdo it here, because if your salt mixture ends up suspended in oil, it won't dissolve - you just scoop out what you need for your body polish treatment. Plus, you can always add more salt to achieve a drier texture! The only caution with adding too much oil is that your oil is your biggest cost in the recipe.
If you're not a fan of that oily shimmer on your skin, just shower off with your usual body wash post-scrub, or leave the shimmer be and skip your moisturizer...a great time-saver in the morning!
5. Package your scrub. Glass jars are great for this, or you can wash out a plastic tub with a tight-fitting lid and pack your salt scrub inside. A word of warning with plastic though, unless you're buying cosmetic-grade plastic jars, you don't want to keep products containing essential oils in there for too long because they break down the plastic over time.
All done making exfoliating body scrub!
Voila! Get ready to look, feel and smell like you just returned from the tropics. If you stage some fake-bake pictures for your news feed, we won't tell!
No time for DIY? We do stock a wonderful coconut-lime body scrub made with this recipe, and it's popular all year long.
Quick question: How long do you think an 8-oz jar of body scrub like this would last you? We're always looking to improve our packaging, sizes, and delivery systems for all our products to better serve you. Let us know in the comments below!