Quite a long time ago, the folks at Tropical Traditions sent me a jar of Extra Virgin Coconut Oil to try out, along with a book about the benefits of coconut oil. The book itself I did not find very helpful because it was mostly talking about how great the coconut oil is and how many ways it could be used but then not giving instructions on how to use it (i.e, “it is great for the hair” but no instructions on how to effectively apply it to hair to receive these benefits).
So it sat in my pantry for quite a while before I read a brief blurb in Glamour magazine about how some celebrity (I believe either Gwenyth Paltrow or Cate Blanchett) makes her own body scrub made of sugar, coconut oil, and lemon juice. There was no recipe, just those ingredients mentioned in the article.
I went online looking for coconut oil body scrub recipes, and found several. The ones with more than 5 ingredients I disregarded. I tried a few but actually did not like any. Then I decided, what the heck, I will just throw the 3 ingredients mentioned in Glamour in together to make my own recipe. I messed with my ratios some and this is my end result:
Jenny’s Lemon Coconut Oil Body Scrub
3 parts organic sugar
1 part organic lemon juice
extra virgin coconut oil as needed
drops of essential oils, as preferred (I used Sweet Orange and Sandalwood)
I found that the rough organic sugar I keep in my house was actually too rough on my skin in the first batch, so the second batch I put the sugar in a coffee grinder for a few minutes to make it finer. I would highly recommend doing this if you use rough organic sugar, to avoid irritating your skin. For the coconut oil, add only as much as is needed to make the mixture moist. This varies by the amount of sugar you use.
As with previous body scrubs I’ve used, I apply after body wash, rinse it off, and it leaves a thin coat of oil which absorbs into my skin before I dry off. I like that I can customize it with my own essential oils as well.
*NOTE: I did receive a free jar of coconut oil from Tropical Traditions for this recipe
That sounds nice.
I love coconut oil although I mostly use it in cooking. Skinny Bitch in the Kitch has tons of great recipes that call for it. My favorite is the butternut squash sage pesto with whole wheat pasta which is perfect now that butternut squash is in season again.