Pampering yourself with a homemade herbal salt scrub is as easy as mixing a few ingredients together in a bowl. Salt makes an inexpensive, readily available and effective exfoliating agent, while the herbs may soothe or stimulate, depending on which you pick. Besides the relatively low cost--this project can easily be done for just a dollar or two, while you'd spend dozens in the store--part of the pleasure of a project like this is personalizing a beauty product to best suit your own wants and needs.
Step 1
Pour 1/2 cup salt into a medium bowl. If you are using a coarse variety of salt, grind it down to a rough powder in a mortar and pestle, first. The large, irregularly shaped crystals will be too rough for most skin types if you don't grind them down.
Step 2
Finely chop, shred or grind between 1 tsp. and 1 tbsp.--according to your taste--of your favorite dried herb. You may choose the herb for its pleasing scent, (mint or eucalyptus, for example, would make a refreshing scrub), for aromatherapeutic properties, (linden and chamomile are both reputed to sooth nerves), or for medicinal properties (calendula and comfrey both soothe skin irritations).
Step 3
Sprinkle the chopped herbs into the salt. Mix together with your hands, a spoon or a tongue depressor.
Step 4
Add about 1 tsp. of your favorite oil to the salt-and-herb mixture. Olive oil, jojoba oil, grapeseed oil and sweet almond oil are all good choices. Mix the oil in with the salt and herbs to create a "slushy" texture. Add more oil, as needed, to adjust the texture to your preference.
Step 5
Store any unused portion of the scrub in a tightly covered, opaque container in a cool, dry place, and use within a few days. The refrigerator is ideal.
Step 6
Use the scrub. Moisten your skin. Massage the scrub into your skin. Let it stay for a few minutes, and rinse clean.
Things You'll Need
- 1/2 cup salt
- Medium bowl
- Mortar and pestle
- 1 tsp. to 1 tbsp. dried herb
- Spoon or tongue depressor
- 1 to 2 tsp. oil
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