How to Make Body Scrubs at Home – Two Easy Methods

I've been making body scrubs for years, and there are basically two types you need to know about: anhydrous (oil-based) and emulsified (water-based). Both are easy to make once you understand the ratios and ingredients. Let me walk you through both.

For basic anhydrous scrub:

• Oil (any carrier oil - jojoba, almond, coconut, etc.)
• Sugar or salt
• Optional: vitamin E, fragrance oils, colorants, other exfoliants

For emulsified scrub:

• Emulsifying wax (Ritamulse SCG or similar)
• Stearic acid or cetyl alcohol
• Oil
• Vitamin E
• Preservative (Optifin or Phenonip)
• Fragrance
• Sugar
• Optional: mica, butter, seeds

This is the simplest scrub you can make. Just oil and sugar. I use 20% oil to 80% sugar by weight. Salt works too, but I find it burns if you have any cuts, and it's more abrasive. Save salt for foot scrubs.

Converting a formula to a recipe:

Let's say you want to make 250 grams of scrub. Here's the math:

• 250g × 0.80 = 200g sugar
• 250g × 0.20 = 50g oil

That's it. Mix them together.

Important note about preservatives: Anhydrous scrubs don't technically need preservatives since they don't contain water. But you're taking them into the shower. If water gets in the jar, you'll get mold. Two options: scoop out what you need into a separate bowl before showering, or add an oil-soluble preservative (I recommend Optifin or Phenonip).

Things you can add:

• Vitamin E (keeps oils fresh, but isn't a preservative)
• Other exfoliants: coffee grounds, jojoba pearls, strawberry seeds, walnut shell powder, bamboo powder
• Colorants: mica, iron oxides, ultramarines
• Fragrance oils or essential oils
• Clays (I haven't tried this, but I've seen it in formulations)

A more fun basic scrub recipe:

• Oil
• Preservative
• Fragrance or essential oil
• Vitamin E
• Mica powder
• Sugar
• Seeds (optional)

Mix the oil, preservative, fragrance, and vitamin E first. Add mica and mix. Add sugar and seeds. Jar it up.

These are less greasy, hold together better in your hand, and won't leak during shipping. The trade-off is you have to melt ingredients and let them re-solidify.

Simple emulsified scrub formula:

• 10% emulsifying wax
• 3% stearic acid (or cetyl alcohol)
• 34% oil
• 1.5% Optifin (preservative)
• 0.5% vitamin E
• 1% fragrance
• 50% sugar

For a 150g batch:

• 15g emulsifying wax
• 4.5g stearic acid
• 51g oil
• 2.25g Optifin
• 0.75g vitamin E
• 1.5g fragrance
• 75g sugar

How to make it:

1. Melt the emulsifying wax, stearic acid, and oil together in a water bath (pan with an inch of water, bowl on top).
2. Mix with a hand mixer.
3. Let it cool - either in the fridge or at room temp, mixing periodically.
4. Once under 100°F, add vitamin E, preservative, and fragrance.
5. Add mica if using.
6. Mix in sugar.
7. Jar it up.

The scrub won't reach full hardness for about 24 hours. If you want it softer, lower the wax and stearic acid percentages. Harder? Raise them.

Blue Raspberry Smoothie Scrub (more advanced):

Same process, but swap ingredients - use mango butter instead of just oil, add blueberry seeds. The process is identical: melt, cool, add cooldown ingredients, add exfoliants, jar.

I'm not covering them here because sugar and salt dissolve in water. You'll end up with clumps. That's why you basically never see sugar or salt in water-based formulations. Water-based scrubs are usually facial scrubs with different exfoliants.

• Anhydrous scrubs = body, lips, feet
• Emulsified scrubs = body (less greasy, easier to handle)
• Aqueous scrubs = face (generally)
• Don't take your anhydrous scrub container into the shower unless you've added preservative
• Salt = foot scrubs (more abrasive)
• Sugar = body scrubs (gentler)