Yes, you can buy sugar scrub. But why?? When you can whip up your own DIY sugar scrub in minutes with a few all natural ingredients. Seriously, it took me 10 minutes to create a batch of DIY sugar scrub that exfoliates, cleanses, moisturizes, and hydrates.

Also, the store-bought body scrub is sometimes made with yucky stuff. I’m talking about stuff like sodium laureth sulfate (a skin irritant), cocamidopropyl betaine (may cause contact dermatitis), limonene (possible human immune system toxicant or allergen), citral and geraniol (both are known human immune system toxicant or allergen). And please don’t get me started on the preservatives in store-bought items. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want any of those ingredients anywhere near my skin.

So, let’s recap, store-bought sugar scrub is expensive and contains yucky and (potentially) harmful materials. Homemade DIY sugar scrub takes minutes to create and is made with all natural ingredients. Sounds like homemade DIY sugar scrub is a clear winner to me, right?!

What exactly is this DIY sugar scrub? It’s an all natural, preservative-free body scrub or body polish made with sugar. This DIY sugar scrub cleanses and exfoliates your skin, while removing dry or dead skin cells. OK, now without further ado, here’s a simple and all natural recipe for homemade DIY sugar scrub.

Homemade DIY Sugar Scrub that Uses Only All Natural Ingredients

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Yields: 5 oz of homemade DIY sugar scrub

If you’ve read my other posts, you know that I make small batches of bath, body and personal care products, because I don’t use synthetic preservatives. If you want to make a bigger batch, just increase each ingredient in the recipe proportionally.

Ingredients for DIY Sugar Scrub

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1. Sugar – 1/2 cup. I use Sugar In The Raw (aka Turbinado sugar). You can also use brown sugar or even granulated white sugar.
2. Coconut Oil – 2 tablespoons. I use Trader Joe’s Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. Any other brands of organic virgin coconut oil, like Viva Labs Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, or Carrington Farms Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil will work.
3. (Optional) Jojoba Oil – 1 tablespoon (Now Foods Organic Jojoba Oil, or Desert Essence Organic Jojoba Oil). If you don’t want to use jojoba oil, then substitute it with a tablespoon of coconut oil.
4. (Optional) Orange Essential Oil – 10 drops (NOW Foods Orange Essential Oil)
5. (Optional) Clove Essential Oil – 4 drops (NOW Foods Clove Essential Oil)
6. (Optional) Vitamin E Oil – 2-3 drops (NOW Foods E-Oil, or Solgar Vitamin E Capsules)
7. An Empty Glass Container with a lid – Ball Mason Jars work well.

Instructions to Make DIY Sugar Scrub

1. (Optional) Grind your sugar. Unless you don’t mind a very coarse and rough DIY sugar scrub, it’s best to grind your sugar. I used my KRUPS Electric Spice and Coffee Grinder that I first purchased to make homemade baby food for my little bug.

See pictures below and you’ll understand why you want to grind your sugar. The first picture is Sugar In The Raw, straight from the box. The second picture is after a few pulses in my spice grinder. For my next batch, I will probably grind the sugar even more, because I want to use this homemade DIY sugar scrub to exfoliate and polish my face, as well as my body.

2. Add Sugar and Oil (just Coconut Oil, or Coconut Oil and Jojoba Oil) into a glass container. Because coconut oil is in either solid or semi-solid state at room temperature, you should heat it up to liquid form before adding it to the sugar.

3. (Optional) Add Essential Oil and Vitamin E Oil. This is definitely optional. The homemade DIY sugar scrub smells amazing (and works pretty good) with only sugar and coconut oil.

4. Mix everything well. And you now have homemade DIY sugar scrub.

If you are very ambitious, you can mold your homemade DIY sugar scrub into shapes. I used my always reliable heart shape silicone mold. If you decide to mold your sugar scrub, you should probably use either shea butter or cocoa butter, instead of coconut oil and jojoba oil. Using a butter that has a higher melting point will help your DIY sugar scrub maintain its shape.

To take the picture below, I put my homemade DIY sugar scrub in the freezer for 10 minutes to allow the sugar scrub to harden into heart shapes. But after about 30 minutes in room temperature, the sugar scrub went back to its original form. Thus, see my advice about using a butter in the paragraph above. Heart shape DIY sugar scrub is super cute, even though the heart shape is temporary.

I don’t use water in any of my non-soap recipes. That’s because products (other than soap) that is prepared with water also have preservatives, like paraben or propylparaben, which is a human endocrine disruptor and human immune toxicant or allergen. Nasty stuff, like bacteria, fungi and microbes, likes a watery environment. The problem is, although preservatives control the growth of the nasty stuff in water, the preservatives could be potentially harmful to our health. I know, I know. This issue of whether conventional preservatives are safe is hotly debated and you can easily find articles discussing opposing opinions.

I personally don’t like any synthetic preservatives in my bath, body and personal care products and therefore don’t use water in my non-soap recipes. But I am also mindful that my preservative-free products, such as this homemade DIY sugar scrub, don’t have the same shelf-life as store-bought ones that are pumped with preservatives. Because of this I make small batches of products and usually finish them within a few months of creating them. This homemade DIY sugar scrub is no exception. Another thing I do is to make sure I don’t accidentally introduce water into the sugar scrub. When I use the sugar scrub, I use a clean scoop or spoon to get the sugar scrub out of the container. I don’t dip my hands into the container.

That’s it! This is how you make homemade DIY sugar scrub that exfoliates, cleanses, and moisturizes. You can feel the sugar, coconut oil and jojoba oil working their magic as soon as you put the sugar scrub on your skin. Don’t believe me?! Give this recipe a try. If you like the recipe, be sure to share it and pin it! Happy scrubbing!!