Make Your Own Vegan Beauty Products: Sweet & Simple Sugar Scrub

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get a wee bit ticked off at the “health and beauty industry”. Maybe more than sometimes. Often. Let’s not even get into the twisted manipulation of young people from the earliest age possible, distorting body image and creating a non-existent need for ridiculously over-priced, gratuitously invasive, (most) often un-necessary products. We quite literally buy into the fallacy relatively early – I remember well buying my first skin cleansers, toners & astringents, etc. with my hard-earned paper-delivery-chica cash when I was 9. My mom was willing to supply me with soap, washcloths, even that facewash that begins with a big N, but I had seen the commercials inserted towards the latter half of the Saturday morning cartoons. I knew what would work, and knew I had to have it. Didn’t I already have a pimple on my nose?

And so it begins, our seeming “dependency” on cleverly-marketed products which will help us look like we’re supposed to look, you know, according to them, the people who make all these nebulous decisions for us…

But the manipulation is more insidious and far-reaching than we often realize. Those of us who are looking for environmentally-friendly and cruelty-free products often find what we are looking for, but with price tags often showing significantly higher prices than their chemically-laden counterparts. So-called green products are often just the objects of skillful marketing, and clever packaging- add some essential oils, slap it in a recycled paper box and voila! Tree-huggers will love it! Well darn it- that’s just not fair, because really, if these mega-companies would just go green, they would, in fact, save money…

We are the revolution, my peeps! While I’m far from suggesting we toss out all our mascara or make some homemade eyeliner, wouldn’t it feel terribly liberating to make what we can, saving money, resources, and excruciating procedures on animals? Why yes! Can I get an amen, my sisters?

While hanging out over at Amy’s always fun Angry Chicken blog, I spotted her sugar scrub that she nabbed from RecipeZaar and got a flash-back to an amazing-smelling shower scrub I used to use from time to time back in the States. Feeling inspired (and inwardly thrilled because I knew I had all the ingredients) I got to work (which took all of two minutes, maybe less). Personally I would suggest using a glass jar because it won’t absorb the essential oils (meaning you can re-use it for other things or other fragrances). I also found that another 1/4 cup of sugar was necessary because I found it a wee-bit oily the first time I used it. I added mint, bergamot and lavender oils this time around… and it was just as lovely as the very expensive sugar scrub I used to get for birthdays or holidays back in the day. I’m also a lotion-after-shower gal, but when I use the scrub, I don’t need it. Amy also blogged about these fun-looking bath melts that I really want to try.

Here’s to sweet-smelling showers…