Earth Week Day Two: Made at Home

"Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art." ~Leondard da Vinci

Beautiful breads and yogurt by Daniela Weeren

Please join us Tuesday morning for an offering of homemade breads, muffins, yogurt and even a lemon sugar moisturizing hand scrub. Everyone benefits when you swing open the cupboards, and get busy.

Sugar scrub recipes are easy to mix up in a couple of minutes. When you want to clean your skin and lighten it at the same time one of the neatest ways to do it is by using items you already have in your kitchen. Lemons are natural skin exfoliators and using them in your sugar scrub will give it an additional boost. The fragrance is divine!

Lemon Skincare Tip

The most important part of using any type of lemon skin care product is to make sure that you dilute the lemon juice.Why? Because lemon has a very high pH factor. It isn’t suitable for using on your skin by itself. When combined with water, it changes the pH to a more acceptable level.

Take 1 lemon and roll it on the counter while pressing. This will “mush” the inside of the lemon so that it will be easier to extract the juice.Now, just cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice into a small cup or bowl. Mix with an equal amount of water.Begin by adding a tablespoon of white granulated sugar into your the lemon water and stir. Continue adding small amounts of sugar until a paste is formed. Use in the shower.

Moisturizing Lemon Scrub

If you want to transform your lemon sugar scrub into a moisturizing sugar scrub it's possible by simply adding almond, olive, or grape seed oil.

To modify your mixture simply add a little oil by the spoonful and mix to the desired consistency. It will be approximately 2 parts of your lemon sugar to 1 part oil.

* Never use almond oil in a skin care recipe if you are allergic to nuts!

Lemon Sugar Body Polish

You can even transform your lemon sugar scrub into a body polish. Simply mix it with an equal amount of liquid soap. It makes the perfect quick body scrub. Sugar scrub recipes will last for several days if you keep them in your refrigerator. You can enhance the fragrance even further by adding a few drops of your favorite essential oil. Sugar scrub recipes are perfect for experimenting with because the ingredients are inexpensive and can be mixed quickly.

Hand scrub courtesy of Loren Altura-Hopkins