While I firmly believe that cultivating inner beauty is ultimately more important than over-focusing on the physical, I am also a strong believer in developing a positive relationship with our bodies and our own unique beauty. More physically based self care and beauty rituals can have an important and beautiful role in nurturing that relationship. Additionally, there is something I find sacred about beauty rituals. They connect me to feelings of self-love, feminine power, and the ancient and magical traditions of the Goddess (more on this in the future!).

One of my favorite skincare rituals is regular exfoliation. Seriously, it brings me an almost unreasonable amount of happiness! Exfoliation sloughs off dead skin cells and leaves your skin smooth, soft, and ready for moisturizers or other treatments such as self-tanner or getting your closest possible shave. I especially love exfoliating after traveling…there is nothing like arriving back home and scrubbing your whole body to get the travel grime off and leave you feeling refreshed!

Both sugar and salt are all-natural ingredients that can form the basis of a good body scrub. Another great base for scrubs are coffee grounds. Which one I choose to use depends on what the focus of my skincare ritual is. If I am using a body scrub as partially a method of energetic cleansing in addition to skin exfoliation, I will choose to use a sea salt scrub as salt has purifying properties and is good for helping release lower vibrational energies. (I will discuss this further in another post but let me just say now that the one thing to note about salt scrubs is do NOT use one directly following shaving your legs…it will burn like crazy!) My general preference for just smoothing and moisturizing the skin and feeling wonderfully goddess-y is one with a sugar base. Revival Bodycare in my self care shop makes several great scrubs with coffee and sugar bases and various natural oils and skin benefits.

If you like DIY Beauty, another easy option is making your own sugar scrub right in your kitchen. Here is my current favorite recipe that leaves my skin super-smooth and ultra-hydrated!

1/2 Cup White Sugar

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

1/4 Cup Olive Oil

1/4 Cup Coconut Oil

Juice of 1 Lemon

Mix together in a bowl and then spoon into a plastic container to take into the shower with you and you are set! You can slightly vary the amount of sugars versus oils depending on how grainy you like your scrub and how much exfoliation you prefer…a little more sugar will make a rougher scrub, a little more oil will make it more gentle and moisturizing. The lemon juice helps brighten the skin and deal with any discoloration. If you are working on self-love and are using your skincare rituals as a time to focus on self-care, bonus points for using the time you are applying the scrub to send your body positive thoughts or focus on setting intentions for positive energies you want to call into your life!

Let me know if you give this scrub a try and how you like it!

xo,

Liz