It’s not often washing your face is fun, but I would like to put forward this facial scrub as the roller coaster in the amusement park of face washing methods. It fizzes when it gets wet, it’s warming, and it’s cool and tingly. It exfoliates, and if you use a red clay (which I wouldn’t recommend as it makes your bathroom sink look like a murder scene), you get to enjoy your face looking all red and ridiculous while you scrub away in the mirror.
The base of this scrub is clay—I used French Red, but that ended up being a very messy choice. In the future I’d go with white kaolin or rhassoul. The exfoliation comes from baking soda (USA / Canada), and the fizz comes from the addition of a bit of vitamin C. Lavender and peppermint essential oil (USA / Canada)s add a lovely fragrance and the peppermint gives the cooling effect. It’s warming and cooling all at the same time, and your skin will be baby soft afterwards.
Fizzy Hot & Cold Exfoliating Facial Scrub
2 tbsp clay
1 tbsp baking soda (USA / Canada)
¼ tsp vitamin C
3 drops lavender essential oil
3 drops peppermint essential oil (USA / Canada)Blend the clay, baking soda (USA / Canada), and vitamin C together. Blend in the lavender and peppermint essential oil (USA / Canada) until the powder is smooth.
To use, take a teaspoon of the mixture into your palm and mix with a bit of warm water. Massage it gently into your face with your finger tips. Let sit for a minute or two and enjoy the cool/warm effect. Rinse off, moisturize, and enjoy!
I did my own green facial clay mask today and I am HOOKED. i can’t believe how wonderful my skin feels. I’m doing it on my husband tomorrow as he wanted to see how good it feels now.
Awesome! I am so thrilled to hear this, I am always trying to convince my friends and family to try face masks with me 🙂 While they are often hesitant to join me when they see that I look like a martian with leprosy while wearing the mask, they are all hooked once they actually give it a go. What did your husband think?
Have you ever bought or done anything with NDA’s superfine pumice beads? I make a scrub with them, and while they’re great, my base of raw honey, EO’s, and kaolin don’t really provide enough “slip” (if that’s the correct term). I find I need pre-lather with soap, then apply the scrub or it’s too harsh and “draggy”–technical term for sure right there 😛 Any suggestions for something to add right into the mix instead of using the soap? I have tried exfoliating with baking soda in the past, and while it scrubs fine, I do find it stings a bit too much when my skin is unhappy–pumice is pretty innocuous as long as you’re gentle about it. I think…
I haven’t! Amazingly enough, with all the things I’ve bought from NDA, I haven’t bought ground pumice yet (I did just get 2 pumice rocks from Saffire Blue, though). I’m curious about how much water you’re using with your scrubby mix—it might slide and glide a bit better if you dissolve the honey in some warm water first. Hmmm. Something else you could try is placing the mixture in a little muslin draw string bag (watch for a blog on this in the near future… lol). I’ve found it helps contain the mess and gives you a bit of a built-in wash cloth. Oh! Thought! What about some vegan yoghurt to mix your scrub into? It would be creamy and thick enough to suspend the powdery mixture, but smooth and luxurious as well. You could even just do a bit of homemade lotion, it’s more or less the same texture 😛
You should definitely get some! I’ve been meaning to make a nice foot scrub with them as well, but the beach has been doing a nice enough job in the summer to have put that idea aside for the summer.
Hmm, I don’t add water to the scrub itself when I make it, but I use it in the shower since it’s pretty drippy, so my fingers and my face are usually wet when I scoop. There’s definitely SOME water being added as I use it. The muslin bag idea is intriguing, I steer clear from soy when I can (been reading a lot about it’s impact on hormones in women, which as you know is an ongoing problem for me), so I haven’t really eaten much vegan yogurt in the last year. I bought almond milk yogurt once and wasn’t a fan of the taste or the price, and bought coconut yogurt on clearance and froze it for smoothies, but really my best option would be to make some. Just need a yogurt maker 🙂 I’m assuming you mean to mix the yogurt in with each use as opposed to right into the jar? Thanks for all the tips!!
Oops, went back to add something, got distracted, and forgot to finish my sentence 😛 It was supposed to read: The muslin bag idea is intriguing, so I’ll have to scour my mom’s fabric and make some to try!
A thought… satin would be much more luxurious 😉 Or even silk… I mean, if you’ve got the scraps for it, why not?
Oooh… another thought… how about some coconut milk? (And yes, just with each use, not with everything… unless you have some good preservatives laying around 😛 ). And you totally don’t need a yoghurt maker! I’ve made it before with just pots and pans, and a few mason jars. I once tried to thicken it up with gelatin, but I accidentally used far too much and ended up with yoghurt jello, LOL. It was so suspicious looking and made super gross schlocking/squishy noises, hahaah. Tasted great, though!
Coconut milk could help! The only catch with adding something perishable every time is remembering to do it. I’m not likely to get out of the shower and go downstairs to the fridge when I realize I’ve forgotten the milk, which most certainly would happen 90% of the time.
So very true, haha. Maybe add coconut milk powder to the mixture and then all you’ll need is water? I’ve seen it for sale at Asian grocery stores before.
just curious – what do you mean by vitamin c? I looked on one of the bulk apothecary sites – they have ascorbic acid (powder – food grade) but I wasn’t sure if that was what you meant??
Powdered ascorbic acid is exactly what you’re looking for, Melissa 🙂 Have fun with it (but don’t give yourself a mild chemical burn with it like I did, lol).
OMG!!!! I made this and used it this morning! Holy cow, I face tingled, was cool and refreshing, all at the same time! I used Redmond clay as it was the only clay I have and worked fine.
I also followed it up after my shower, with your Vitamin C Toner.
My only regret, I wish it would not have taken me so long to make and use this 🙂
Love your site and always look forward to your posts!
Awesome! I’m so thrilled you love it 😀 Thanks so much for reading & DIYing with me!