Today’s DIY is a super-fun Christmas Tree Foaming Whipped Body Scrub. It’s a creamy white base speckled with green and gold VitaBurst beads. It smells like a Christmas tree and is a super fun way to pamper yourself (and your giftees!) come bath time. You can customize it with different scents and different exfoliants, too!

How to make Christmas Tree Foaming Whipped Body Scrub

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Our base is a blend of solid and liquid surfactants to create a thick, creamy paste that’ll deliver all kinds of creamy lather and cleansing power. To that we’ll add some rich shea butter, stiffening stearic acid, moisturizing vegetable glycerin, and skin-softening safflower oil. This gives us a base that’s highly whippable—soft, but structured enough to hold its own.

 

How to make Christmas Tree Foaming Whipped Body Scrub

How to make Christmas Tree Foaming Whipped Body Scrub

Once we’ve whipped our thick, creamy base into a light, fluffy pouf of goodness, we’ll add some kind of scent. I made this scrub two ways; once with a blend of vanilla-like benzoin resinoid and fir needle essential oil, and once with some Balsam Cedar fragrance oil. Both are lovely, both work beautifully, and it’s totally up to you which one you choose.

How to make Christmas Tree Foaming Whipped Body Scrub

How to make Christmas Tree Foaming Whipped Body Scrub

For exfoliation I’m using a blend of gold and green VitaBurst beads for a rather Christmassy colour scheme. You could use a more natural exfoliant (like ground apricot shells), but I’d recommend choosing something with a holiday type colour scheme if you can. You also also purchase jojoba beads in a variety of colours—red, green, and gold are all great choices, but it’s totally up to you!

How to make Christmas Tree Foaming Whipped Body Scrub

How to make Christmas Tree Foaming Whipped Body Scrub

The finished scrub is really fun, and ends up looking quite a lot like frosting with sprinkles mixed in, so maybe it’s best you warn any recipients that it isn’t for eating! I’ve really been enjoying this bit of whippy, bubbly, scrubby fun in the bath—I hope you will, too!

How to make Christmas Tree Foaming Whipped Body Scrub

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Christmas Tree Foaming Whipped Body Scrub

Primary heated phase
15g | 15% Cocamidopropyl Betaine (USA / Canada)
10g | 10% Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (SCI) (USA / Canada)
or 25g (25%) pre-prepared 3:2 Cocamidopropyl Betaine:SCI paste

Secondary heated phase
7g | 7% Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate (SLSa) (USA / Canada)
21.25g | 21.25% vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)
10g | 10% stearic acid (USA / Canada / UK)
12g | 12% safflower oil
10g | 10% refined shea butter (USA / Canada)

1g | 1% fir essential oil
0.5g | 0.5% benzoin resinoid
0.5g | 0.5% Liquid Germall Plus™ (USA / Canada)
9.75g | 9.75% distilled water
1.5g | 1.5% green Vita Burst beads
1.5g | 1.5% gold Vita Burst beads

Prepare a water bath by bringing about 3cm/1″ of water to a bare simmer over low to medium-low heat in a medium saucepan.

Weigh the primary heated phase ingredients into a medium sized, deep, heat-resistant mixing bowl. Place the measuring cup in your prepared water bath to melt the SCI into the Cocamidopropyl Betaine.

While the primary heated phase melts through, weigh out the secondary heated phase. Once the SCI/Cocamidopropyl Betaine is uniform, add the secondary heated phase and melt all that together.

When everything is melted, remove the bowl from the water bath. Stir in the water, and let the mixture cool for about thirty minutes (this time will increase if you scale the recipe up)

Once the mixture is cool, whip it with electric beaters until it’s light, fluffy, and white—about 3 minutes. Add the essential oils and preservative, and beat again.

Add your exfoliant, briefly blend, and test to see if it’s scrubby enough for you. Add more exfoliant if you want more scrubby-ness.

That’s it! Gently transfer it to a container—a 120mL/4oz jar would be a good size. I used a white 100g jar from YellowBee.

Shelf Life & Storage

Because this scrub contains water, you must include a broad-spectrum preservative to ward off microbial growth. This is non-optional. Even with a preservative this project is likely to eventually spoil as our kitchens are not sterile laboratories, so in the event you notice any change in colour, scent, or texture, chuck it out and make a fresh batch.

Substitutions

As always, be aware that making substitutions will change the final product. While these swaps won’t break the recipe, you will get a different final product than I did.

  • As I’ve provided this recipe in percentages as well as grams you can easily calculate it to any size using a simple spreadsheet as I’ve explained in this post. As written in grams this recipe will make 100g.
  • I don’t recommend altering the SCI, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, or stearic acid. If you do, you’re on your own—I can’t promise this will whip up well.
  • You can use a different liquid oil in place of rice bran oil
  • You can use a different soft butter, like mango, instead of shea butter
  • You can use Bioterge AS90 instead of SLSa
  • Feel free to try a different colour and/or scent
  • You can use a different exfoliant if you like—just make sure it’s not water soluble (so no sugar or salt). Something like ground apricot shells, pumice, or jojoba beads would work.
  • For scent; the recipe as written here uses a 1.5% blend of essential oil/resinoid. I also made a version using 0.5% balsam cedar fragrance oil (USA / Canada). If you want to use the fragrance, add the remaining 1% to the vegetable glycerin.

How to make Christmas Tree Foaming Whipped Body Scrub

How to make Christmas Tree Foaming Whipped Body Scrub