Facial Scrub

[RawPaw]

I'm looking got an organic alternative to the popular St. Ives Apricot Scrub. That's what I've been using, and I have to admit that I really like it, but I'm concerned about all of the chemicals in it.

[Raw Joy]

Mix up a little baking soda with water in the palm of your hand. It needs to be pretty watery but don't worry. You'll still feel the grittiness. Don't scrub too hard. Rinse, and then get the rest off with a wet washcloth.

I have dry skin, so I can only do this about once a week or so. More tends to dry it out a little too much.

I've also heard of oatmeal, or crushed almonds or walnuts.

[WendyLouWho]

finely ground adzuki beans are a wonderful scrub and/or mask. I tend to use them as a scrub in the shower because they can be a bit messy, but it's nice to let the paste sit on your skin for a while and draw out impurities.

Adzuki beans have been used as a beauty aid in Japan for centuries. I believe the Body Shop used to sell "Japanese washing Grains" years ago which was no more than ground azuki beans :p

[Revvell]

Fill a short, wide mouth jar w/ sugar. Add an oil.. almond is good; add an essential oil for fragrance. Scrub your body while dry, scrub your face after wetting.

A few of us talked about this in the "Abundance" thread here if I remember correctly ~ awhile back.

Revvell

[cara4art]

You might want to be careful about abrasive scrubs on the face, because at first they might appear to work, but end up making the skin rougher because of sharp edges which create microscopic tear in the skin, disturbing the skin's barrier and leaving it open to irritation and roughening. The St. Ives product is notorious for this, although it makes a good commercial body scrub(but you can do far better and cheap with a simple olive oil, coffee ground and sugar scrub with some vanilla added for a homemade spa treat!).
What's better and less compromising to the facial skin barrier is something that's finer-textured along with something acidic. A simple mask that can be left on for 20 minute is 2 tsp. of finely ground oat flakes, a teaspoon of honey, and a teaspoon of raw apple cider vinegar. A more powerful mask is the Aztec Secret bentonite clay mixed in equal proportions with the ACV, and left on for 20-30 minutes.
For myself, I found the baking soda too harsh on my skin, but I really wanted to like it because it's cheap and always available.

[RawPaw]

Thanks for the recipes and information, everybody. And nice to see Revvell lurking around.

[Tea]

I agree with:
Oats and sugar
Ground flaxseed is another good one!

[Revvell]

... And nice to see Revvell lurking around.

... always lurking. :D

[cherrypie]

just use a wash cloth and raw honey, the fibers of the cloth are exfoliating enough to give you a nice glow. If you need sth more intense puritycosmetics does, a pineapple enzyme peeling. their cosmetics are foodgrade and vegan

[juliebove]

I used to make a scrub of equal parts cornmeal and honey. Add a bit of lemon juice for oily skin or avocado for dry skin. I no longer need to use a scrub. So I haven't made this in years. Another thing that works quite well is a cut open strawberry. Rub it over the skin, let it dry and then rinse it off. The natural acids in the fruit will exfoliate.

[RawPaw]

I think I'll try to masks later, but on a whim I decided to open a capsule of inositol and a dollop of organic vitamin E oil. Worked really well as a scrub, but I'll see what happens afterward, even though I know both ingredients are really good for the skin.