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Thursday, April 14, 2011

SCRUB A DUB

It's that time of the year, when your skin is dry, but it's almsot short weather.  Time to scrub up!  You can buy salt scrubs for $30, or you can make your own salt scrubs at home for a fraction of the cost. Salt scrubs are one of the easiest home spa products to make -- and a great gift if you put it in a pretty jar.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:
•1/2 cup oil. Use sweet almond, grapeseed or another light-textured massage oil. Don't use simple cooking oil from your pantry.

•1 cup fine sea salt. Baleine is a good choice. Don't use simple iodized table salt -- it's too harsh. If you have sensitive skin you can substitute sugar, which is gentler.

•5-15 drops high quality essential oils. The essential oil you choose for your salt scrub depends on the result you want. Lavender is relaxing, lemongrass is refreshing and rosemary is stimulating. You can experiment and do your own blend.

Preparation:

Put the salt (or sugar) in a small bowl.


Add the oil, mixing well with a spoon or wooden stick. The texture should be moist enough to hold together, but not overly oily. You can adjust the amount of oil to achieve that texture.

Gently tap in the drops of essential oil and combine well. If you get more interested in aromatherapy you can customize your recipe using different essential oils.

So now you're ready to use your home-made salt scrub -- once a week is plenty. Here's how to give yourself a salt scrub at home.

This recipe should get you through three salt scrubs.