"Southern" Sugar Scrub

...because you know how Southern cooks are: directions are only "suggested" and anything goes.

Case in point, this afternoon I noticed an "icky" (if you will) peeling arm/shoulder. Crap, there were two of them. (Two weeks to the day after getting sunburned on Falls Lake with the Redneck Yacht Club.)

I went home and googled "homemade sugar scrub" and found a new fun website (with RSS feed!) and a recipe to boot.

Homemade Sugar Scrub | Healthy and Green Living

By Annie B. Bond, Care2 Green Living Executive Producer

"OK, folks. Get ready for almost unbelievably soft skin (even for those of us with older skin).

The other day I was speaking with Larry Pleasant, CEO of The Vermont Soapworks, and he mentioned that he and his staff had spent the morning testing homemade sugar scrubs, and that everyone was commenting on how incredibly soft their skin felt. Aware that sugar cane produces glycolic acid, one of the natural alpha hydroxy acids that exfoliates the skin, I was immediately curious about his recipes.

Ingredients
* 50 percent white cane sugar (note that organic sucanat, while the best choice for food, doesn’t work as well for this recipe)
* 50 percent vegetable glycerin to moisten the sugar (I used avocado oil since I was out of vegetable glycerin and it proved to be a successful substitute)
* Small amounts of aloe vera gel, vitamin C crystals, or anything healing that dissolves in water
* 1 or 2 drops of essential oil if desired (Larry recommends combining orange and lavender)
* Enough ground hibiscus powder for pink color (if desired)

Combine the ingredients in a bowl. Scoop some of the scrub onto your hand and massage gently onto your skin for a minute (the scrub will actually tighten onto your skin like a masque). Leave on for 3 to 4 minutes before rinsing.

Let me warn you in advance that you’ll want to use this sugar scrub on your entire body. I started on my face, returned to my desk, and my skin felt so baby soft that the skin on my neck felt like sandpaper, so I needed to use the sugar scrub there, and on and on."Here's how mine went:Ingredients (with SUPER technical measurements)
* 1 plastic bowl (and a fork to mix with)
* Enough sugar to fill the bottom of the bowl
* A squeeze of honey (for consistency... seemed like a good idea to me!)
* A little bit of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil for those of you who aren't Rach fans)
* A squirt of lemon juice
* A few drops of lavender essential oil (for smell)
* Some bath salts (also for smell)

Mix all of the above. Hop in the shower with a poof or a washcloth and enjoy SUPER soft skin!I even got to skip the after-shower lotion because this was that awesome. I basically got an idea of what would work and just "went to work" gathering what was available in my kitchen.

The only changes I would possibly make would be for coconut oil (or another yummy smelling oil) in place of EVOO and to add the aloe gel... I forgot about that part even though I had some on hand.

I wouldn't recommend this in the morning... some of the oil could leave spots on clothes. (I'm wearing linen pants and a tank-top right now with no problem though!)