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DIY Coffee Sugar Scrub

3/5/2015

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The crafting spheres these days are awash with DIY beauty salves, soaks, and scrubs. It's kinda neat to see this increasing interest in making your own products and all the luxurious variations people are coming up with.
Now, to put in my two cents, here's the recipe to what I call my Green Coffee Scrub!
(Misleading since there isn't any "green" coffee in it, but there is tea tree oil and olive oil and tea is green and so is the olive oil, so there!)

This scrub is my magical talisman against razor burn and ingrown hairs, which I found after much trial and error in an attempt to appease my unhappy legs last summer. I use it in the shower to exfoliate before shaving and on the next day or two after shaving. Before, it removes dead skin cells to give a closer shave, softens the hairs, and leaves a protective layer of oil on the skin to prevent razorburn. After, it prevents ingrown hairs by removing dead skin cells, killing bacteria with its tea tree antimicrobial powers, and of course moisturizes INTENSELY with the olive oil. Olive oil is one of those all-round great beauty secrets. It is antiinflammatory, it doesn't clog pores, and it actually enhances exfoliation. Tea tree essential oil is a great antiseptic, anti-fungal, and skin soothing agent.
PLUS the caffeine in the coffee and the scrubbing motion of using this stuff is supposed to fight the appearance of cellulite. No joke! I am usually pretty skeptical of things that claim to vanish cellulite, because (insert global beauty industry here), but I have actually noticed my skin becoming smoother. Go figure.
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Ingredients
- 2 cups of sugar
- 2 tablespoons of ground coffee - since this scrub is going to sit around for a while in a jar, please don't use damp, used coffee grounds, as they can grow nasty bacteria after a short amount of time
- 1/2 cup of olive oil or as much as needed to give your scrub a damp-sand kind of clingy/crumbly texture
- 6 drops of tea tree essential oil
- jar with a tight fitting lid

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients with a large spoon or your hands in a large bowl.
2. Using a smaller spoon, pack the scrub tightly into your jar.
3. Use in the shower, but make sure to keep any water out of it.
Recommended amount: about a tablespoon per leg


Tips:
- Because you're scrubbing this stuff onto your skin, you will be absorbing some of the caffeine from the coffee. If you're sensitive to caffeine, it might not be a good idea to use this right before bed, but otherwise, I find it to be a nice pick-me-up in the morning.
- Definitely use this stuff in the shower and rinse your shower down afterwards. The sugar will dissolve while you use it and run down the drain pretty easily when you rinse off, but, not gonna lie, the coffee can make a mess.
- I don't recommend wearing white pants immediately after using this. The olive oil sitting on your skin will be infused with coffee and could stain any light-colored clothes.



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DIY Face Care

7/22/2014

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Picturemy washcloth
I distinctly remember when I was a kid just going into middle school, one of the most important "now you are becoming an adult" talks was about skin care. My mother has the most beautiful complexion, which is its own testament to her advice. Until recently, also on her advice, I used Clinique, which has the feeling of luxury skincare products with a (little) less devastating pricetag, and they have a bunch of options for sensitive skin types(such as my Arg!-Sun!-Freak-out-time!-prone epidermis).

Then, for who knows what reason, my skin decided to hate water. Fortunately, it was only one specific kind of water: Maine water, but after weeks of breaking out in hives every time I washed my face, I fell back on my travel/camping soap: Dr Bronner's 'Magic' Lavender Pure Castile liquid soap, just to try switching things up. A combination of using that soap and only cold, filtered water to wash my face turned out to be the solution to my strange problem, but since then I've continued to use my Dr Bronners and abandoned my fancy Clinique.

Fast forward three years and I'm back from Africa and trying to figure out my beauty care routine again now that I have access to things like running water and weather that doesn't make me sweaty constantly. Browsing crafting blogs and DIY forums introduced me to the world of DIY cosmetics and I decided to try making my own products with the vague goals of: 1) trying to wean myself off of mass-produced products (ain't no CVS after the apocalypse!); 2) learning WHAT I put on my face and WHY; and 3) entertaining myself with cute little jars and bottles of stuff I brewed up personally.

So, here is my current skin-care regime as I've figured it:
Step 1: Wash face and neck with tepid(cold shrinks pores, which you don't want until after they're all nice and clean, heat can aggravate my stupid @$%&*@ skin) water, handmade cotton washcloth, and Dr Bronner's Lavendar Castile liquid soap. The washcloth I crocheted following this tutorial here. I made two: one for washing(and exfoliating just a bit) and one for drying. A ton of acne-causing bacteria can live on your body and hand towels, even when you wash them weekly, so this step eliminates some of that.
Step 2: Swab face and neck using a cotton ball soaked in witch hazel. The witch hazel acts as an astringent: tightening pores, removing excess oils, and reducing inflammation. I use the cheapo CVS brand, which also contains a little alcohol. This can be drying to some skin types, but I feel like it gives my skin the good "astringenting" it needs. I realize that this part isn't exactly DIY, but next time I find myself in possession of some witch hazel bark I know just how to make some, thanks to this tutorial here.
Step 3: Moisturize thoroughly using my homemade facial moisturizer. I originally used this recipe here , but found it to be too oily for summer use. I stuck the batch in the back of the freezer to keep for the harsher, drying winter weather and went back to my drawing board(a.k.a. a stickynote pad). The result ended up being roughly like this:
DIY Moisturizer for Summer
Ingredients:
-
1c aloe vera gel
- 4 Tbs of sweet almond oil
- 1/2 Tbs melted beeswax
- 15 drops of Lavender EO (essential oil) - Lavender is antibacterial and anti-inflammatory
- 5 drops Carrot Seed EO - Carrot seed acts as an antioxidant and can have an SPF of 40+
- 3 drops Tea Tree EO - Tea tree is one of those über oils used in cosmetics and herbal medicine because of it's antibacterial and healing properties
Steps:
1. Melt the beeswax in the microwave(maybe 30 seconds) and whisk in the almond oil. Alow to cool to room temperature and 'mush' up again with a fork. This mushing helps prevent lumps in your final product and softens up the oil mixture so that it's easier to blend.
2. In a blender, whip the oil/wax mixture and the aloe vera gel together. it should produce a lovely pale lotion with a creamy texture.
3. Add the EOs. Mix well. Store in small, airtight container.
Step 4: Exfoliate once a week using about 1tsp of baking soda. Do this step between washing your face and moisturizing it. In your hand, mix the baking soda with enough water to make a thin paste. Massage into skin for a little while, leave on for about a minute, then rinse thoroughly. The baking soda crystals are fine enough that it exfoliates away the top layer of dead skin without irritating the living layer beneath it, leaving your skin(even mine!) fresh and glowing afterwards.

Next project: homemade deodorant!

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    Nora Jane

    This globetrotting craft-maniac  has settled down in Boston for a bit.

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