Raspberry Citrus Body Scrub for Enhancing the Softness and Beauty of Skin

The cool weather has arrived and my wood-stove is cranked up to the max so warm heat can flow through the house and keep us cozy warm. The downside of all of this is scaly dehydrated flaky skin that makes me feel like a snake. My favorite homemade remedy to use lately to help enhance the softness and beauty of my skin is a raspberry citrus body scrub. Not only does it pamper my skin, but also the fruity berry citrus scent it has reminds me of the summer and takes my winter blues right away when I bath with it in the shower.

Necessary Ingredients

The ingredients I use to make the raspberry citrus body scrub are one cup of fresh or frozen raspberries, three cups of granulated white cane sugar, the zest of an orange, five drops of citrus essential oil, a tablespoon of castile soap and one cup of canola oil. However, if you do not have canola oil, olive oil, almond oil and grape seed oil work well too in this beauty remedy. I personally find the canola oil to be the most hydrating to my dry flaky skin, but you use whatever oil works best for nourishing and hydrating your skin.

Creating the Raspberry Citrus Body Scrub

To create the raspberry citrus body scrub, I find it is easiest to place all the ingredients into a food processor and blend them together on low speed until you get a thick gritty texture. You may find you need to work the ingredients with a spoon in between blends if the ingredients are not coming together easily in the food processor. Just remember to be patient with the blending process because the ingredients will eventually come together nicely into this pinkish sugary raspberry citrus looking and smelling body scrub.

Once the scrub is made, scoop it into a jar that is easy to get your hands in and out of or pour it into a squeezable bottle that allows the scrub to come out easily. I prefer to use a wide mouth mason jar for storing my skin in. After you have stored the scrub in the desired storage container of your choice, take it into the bathroom to use right away in the shower or bath, or into the refrigerator to help keep it fresh until you are ready to use it. If you do decide to store it in the refrigerator, the scrub will stay fresh for up to a week so make sure you use it within a week for exfoliating and softening your skin right up. I however, find the scrub works the best when it is freshly made.

In fact, I feel when I use the scrub right after making it, my skin gets a good dose of potent nutrients such as antioxidants, vitamin C and E and essential fatty acids, which are nutrients needed to help hydrate and brighten the skin back to a more beautiful soft appearance. In addition, the sugar granulates do not dissolve much and you are able to exfoliate the skin better with them. When the scrub sits in the refrigerator, the sugar dissolves some in the raspberry juice giving the scrub a mild exfoliating texture.

Using the Scrub Properly

Before using the scrub, I personally find soaking in a warm bath made with milk and honey helpful for softening up the dead skin cells from my body. I find when the dead skin is soft and moist it is much easier to exfoliate. After the bath, while my skin is wet and warm, I take handfuls of the raspberry citrus scrub and rub it all over my face, body, hands and feet using small fast circular motions too really work the grittiness of the scrub in my skin to help remove the dead skin so the new skin can shine through. The exfoliating process takes about ten minutes if you do it properly from head to toe. You can even use the scrub in your hair to exfoliate the dead skin cells from the scalp and to help really cleanse and nourish the hair. However, make sure you wash your hair well with a good organic shampoo after or your hair will end up grease.

Once I am done exfoliating, I find it is best to rinse down with plenty of warm water in the shower and to shave right after with a good shaving lotion. When you shave right after exfoliating the skin, you will get a nice close smooth shave for even softer skin. After shaving, I rinse down again and pat my skin dry with a lovely warm cotton towel. Next, I apply a deep hydrating body cream to help pamper my skin up a bit more and to help protect it from the dryness in the air. After, my skin is silky soft and beautiful again.
However, you can skin some of these steps if you do not have time. I just find doing these steps with the scrub helps enhance the beauty and softness of my skin.

Bottom Line

If you want to help keep your skin soft throughout the cooler dryer months, make and use this homemade raspberry citrus body scrub once to twice per week. I find using the scrub this many times per week really helps keep the skin soft, glowing and beautiful naturally.