Melissa's Cuisine: Citrus Body Scrub

This Citrus Body Scrub is a fun way to use essential oils and pamper yourself at home!

I am a baby wearing, extended breast feeding, cloth diaper using, essential oil loving mama. And I am becoming more crunchy by the day. Crunchy isn't a word I would have ever thought to use to describe myself, but it is fitting...

I was introduced to essential oils when we were camping this summer. My cousin has been using essential oils for her family for quite some time and I asked if she would be willing to teach me some uses. She showed me all the oils she has (and she has a lot!) and some uses for them. I was able to use a few to see how they worked. I rubbed an oil across my stomach when I had a stomach ache and within a short amount of time, it was gone. We also rubbed some oils on Summer's feet when she started showing cold symptoms and they quickly went away. My favorite use has been to rub some lavender oil on Summer's feet before bedtime and it has certainly made a diffence in how quickly she falls asleep!

Since July, my interest in oils has continued to grow, and I have begun to expand my own collection of oils. When I found out that LorAnn Oils was looking for bloggers to test out some oils for them, I jumped at the opportunity. I opted to try lavender, lemon, and bergamot. Lavender is one of my favorite oils to use for relaxation, lemon tastes great when I add it to my water, and bergamot was an oil I had heard a lot about and wanted to try for myself.

The three oils I chose are 100% natural and are therapeutic grade. When selecting oils (and oil brands) to use, you need to be careful and make sure that they are the highest possible quality. Be sure to check and see if an oil is safe to be injested or applied topically (with or without a carrier oil) before using it for the first time.

I thought I would try something totally new with the bergamot and make a spa treatment. Who doesn't want to be pampered?

Bergamot has a fresh citrus smell and can be used as a food flavoring, aromatically, or topically. Bergamot is known for its calming, purifying, and cleansing properties, so it is an idea essential oil to use for skin care. I added a couple drops to my daily face wash that I make. When I realized how much I loved it, I decided to make a body scrub using bergamot. (I know the pictures are a bit deceiving because the lavender oil is in the forefront of the pictures, but that's because when I poured out the bergamot, it dripped down the side of the bottle and the ink came off!)

Initially, I planned to just use this scrub on my face as an exfoliator. But then I read that bergamot can help reduce the appearance of stretch marks, so I decided to try it as a full body scrub and use it on my legs. The scrub makes an amazing pre-shaving exfoliator--no need for shaving cream! It has also helped get rid of those annoying red bumps on the back of my arms, and my hands feel amazing after using it! Forget just using this as a face scrub, it's a great multi-tasker.

This scrub is now a staple in my shower. I'm also thinking about making it for Christmas gifts this year. I don't know anyone who wouldn't want to be pampered at home!

Citrus Body Scrub

Ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut oil
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon bergamot essential oil
2 drops lavender essential oil

1. Melt coconut oil in a double boiler or in a microwave safe bowl.

2. Add the sugar and essential oils and stir until combined.

Store in a glass jar with a lid. Mason jars work great for this!

Use a spoon to scoop the scrub onto your hands and then apply to your face, arms, legs, hands etc.

Note: I used regular coconut oil (the same that I use for baking) for this recipe. As a result, as the coconut oil cooled, it hardened. It melts quickly when you put it in your hand to apply, so it's not a problem. If you have fractionated coconut oil, you can use that instead, your scrub will just stay in a liquid form.

Disclaimer: I received 3 bottles of LorAnn Essential Oils for the purpose of this post. I was not compensated and all opinions are my own.