Make Your Own Exfoliating Scrubs Instead of Using Products With Plastic Microbeads

If you like to have soft, glowing skin but don’t want to pollute our oceans and lakes with plastic microbeads, try these recipes and make your own exfoliating scrub with ingredients from your kitchen.

Avocado Foot Softener from Healthy Child Healthy World

2 tablespoons cornmeal
2 tablespoons mashed avocado or avocado oil

Mix ingredients in a small bowl until a paste forms. Apply to feet, working the gritty paste into calluses and rough spots, and up and around the toes. Rinse with warm water and dry feet thoroughly. Repeat once or twice a week.

Strawberry Hand and Foot Exfoliant from Campaign for Safe Cosmetics

8 to 10 strawberries 
2 tablespoons apricot oil (you may substitute olive oil) 
1 teaspoon of coarse salt, such as Kosher salt or sea salt 

Mix together all ingredients, massage into hands and feet, rinse and pat dry.

Simple Homemade Sugar Scrub Recipe from sassygirlz.net

2 cups turbinado sugar
½ cup coconut oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon vanilla extract or your favorite essential oil

Combine sugar and honey in a bowl and mix. Add coconut oil and stir until sugar mixture is well soaked. Add vanilla or essential oil of choice. Store in an airtight jar. 

No-Nonsense Daily Scrub Recipe from Crunchy Betty

½ cup finely ground oats
½ cup finely ground almond meal
Liquid of choice (water or witch hazel for oily skin, milk for dry skin, rosewater for any skin type)

Grind up oats and almonds separately, then combine well. Place a small amount, approximately 2 teaspoons, of scrub in your hand or a small dish. Add a bit of the liquid to the scrub and combine well, letting the oats absorb the liquid. Lightly scrub your face with the mixture, moving in an upward, circular fashion. Let the scrub dry for a few minutes, then lightly rinse with warm water, or rinse off immediately.

Tailor your scrub to your skin type by adding these ingredients:

Oily skin: 2 tablespoons fine sea salt, 2 tablespoons finely ground dried peppermint, and/or 5 drops of rosemary essential oil.

Dry skin: 2 tablespoons powdered milk (try to find full-fat, if you can), 2 tablespoons. finely ground dried calendula, and/or 5 drops Roman chamomile essential oil. If you have very dry skin, you might find more benefit from using full-fat cream as the liquid you use to wet the scrub.

Combination skin: 2 tablespoons cornmeal, 2 tablespoons finely ground dried chamomile, and/or 5 drops lavender essential oil.

[source: http://ecowatch.com/2013/11/08/make-your-own-exfoliating-scrubs-instead-of-using-products-with-plastic-microbeads/]