Sugar Face Scrub

Getting off from a 26-hour call shift is one of the most glorious feelings, especially so when you emerge from the windowless bowels of the hospital to find a perfect sunny blue-skied morning. The drive home was beautiful and, being Sunday, took a third of the time it usually does. I found my apartment full of morning rays of sunshine and opened all of the windows to take advantage of one of our last summery days.

I took a quick shower (the first thing I do when I get off call since I hate having oily hair and an unwashed face!) and brushed my teeth (since I forgot my toothbrush at home, oops), tossed a load of laundry in, and settled down with a big mug of coffee and a bowl of my favourite breakfast treat, chocolate chip cookie dough oats, to peruse emails and blogs.

I ran across a post on face scrubs and decided to try making one (what better way to get rid of the psychological post-call grime?). My skin tends towards oily, but also has been dry lately, so I figured I would make an exfoliating scrub to get rid of some of the dead skin cells. I had to work with what I had on hand and debated between using sugar or coffee as the exfoliant. I decided on sugar and mixed up this very simple scrub.

Sugar Face Scrub:

• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp oats
• splash of olive oil

the three ingredients

I mixed the sugar, oats, and olive oil together in a little bowl...and that was it!

all mixed up and ready to apply

Using my fingers (over the sink, as the oatmeal was messy) I rubbed the scrub using circular motions onto my face. I don't know what I had expected, but the coarseness of the sugar was not comfortable -- it felt like I was rubbing sand into my face. I just hoped that it was doing some good. After I'd covered my whole face, I washed the scrub off with warm water. This left a greasy olive oil residue which compounded my skepticism. I used a mild soap to clean off the olive oil (I would suggest using the scrub in the shower, as it is a little messy).

The verdict? Though a bit red from the abrasive scrubbing, my skin is clean and soft. I think the sugar did an effective job of exfoliating. The oats probably served no purpose and could be omitted. I like to think that the olive oil helped to remove some oil ("like dissolves like", right?) and also left my face feeling moisturized, but not oily. Furthermore, the scrub was so simple and cheap that I'd make it again for my face or body. I'm curious whether it would be helpful for the keratosis pilaris on my upper arms. I had about half leftover, which I covered with saran wrap and stored unrefrigerated to use another time.

And now, back to a lazy post-call couch day...

snacks and Outlander

Have you made a face or body scrub before? What ingredients did you use?