By Sharon Truelove,
Here it is that time of year again. Christmas. A wonderful time of the year to enjoy family, friends, and gift giving. For those “Do It Yourself ” gift givers trying to stay within a budget yet give a unique and useful gift, below is a simple recipe for a salt exfoliator scrub.
You will need:
- Containers (jars, Ziploc bags, ect)
- ½ cup Oil (sweet almond, grapeseed, olive oil, ect)
- 1 cup fine sea salt (do not use iodized table salt…too harsh)-sugar may be used in place of salt for sensitive skin
- 5-15 drops essential oil
Mix together in a bowl. It should be moist enough to hold together but not too oily. Adjust the oil amount as needed. Add the essential oil drops and “viola”! Use custom labels or create your own essential oil blend for a more personal touch.
Below is a brief list of some oils and their uses to help you get started with essential oil blending.
Lavender-often used for first aid and disinfectant. It helps with headache, migraine, neuralgia, muscle pain, rheumatism. It is calming, balancing, and relaxing.
Rosemary-may be used medicinally and in cooking. Rosemary blends well with other oils. Good for circulation, concentration.
Peppermint-is good for digestion, circulation, mental clarity, clearing a stopped up nose.
Lemon-is used as a tonic and digestive aid, uplifting, good for a hangover, and disinfectant.
Orange-is uplifting and relaxing, helpful for headache, tension, mixes well with chamomile oil.
Your homework is to follow the list below and comment via the blog.
- Go to a store that sells essential oils.
- Using their testers, sample the five oils listed above.
- Did the description of what each is good for seem to be true?
- Which was your favorite?
- Which did you like least?
Happy Holidays!!!
I have made these scrubs before and I love them! I had already planed on making some this week! It’s hard to say what was my favorite. Possibly the peppermint or the orange. My least would be the rosemary. It wasn’t bad though. I can’t wait to make these!
I had actually already planned on making some sugar scrubs and body butter for christmas gifts! And, I was going to put my business card on the containers just in case they are thinking of me! So this is actually dead on what I was doing anyways! I love the lavendar scent. And it really does what it’s supposed to! It is very calming, and is antifungal. Which I am going to start mixing with a carrier to put on my daughter’s skin.
Probably one of the scent’s I dislike the most is lemon. It reminds me of pinesol and cleaners. Perhaps if it was mixed with another scent, it would be better. And I don’t think it stinks, necessarily, I just don’t think client’s want to be reminded of mopping while they are relaxing!
I’ve always been intrigued by essential oils and have been using them since October. Matter of fact, I’ve got a mega pack from Eden’s Garden coming this week with 32 essential oils. So far my favorite has been the mixture Four Thieves which wards off most infectious diseases and if you have a cold or a cough put a tab on your pinky from the bottle and lick it. It’ll do wonders in a hurry.If you have a diffuser now is the good time to use it for flu season or just to make the room/house smell good.
We have been talking about making body scrubs as presents for weeks! love the advice Thank you 🙂 I have suggested using sugar just because you never know who has sensitive skin
I have always loved homemade or “personalized” gifts! This would be a perfect gift for my sister.
I went to Akins natural foods over the weekend and sampled peppermint, orange and lavender. The peppermint definitely has congestion clearing uses because when I smelled it in class, my nose seemed to be clearing out the blockage.
The orange smelled very clean and de-stressing. I think that the lavender, as we all know, is so relaxing and calming. I use lavender epsom salt baths all the time before bed and the stuff WORKS.
I liked peppermint the most, and lavender the least only because I had a long day ahead of me.
I have always been a fan of stuff that smells like lemon and/or citrus especially citrus. I don’t really have a least favorite. I believe that it is crucial to know what your client’s preferences are.
Looks great.Happy Holidays
This would be a great gift for my mother-in-law. I has always liked stuff that smells like citrus and the store in my home town has a lo of citrus to choose from. I cannot wait to go home and make this for here. Thanks for the holiday tip. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!
I like this idea, not only for holiday gifts.
I LOVE this idea Sharon! I would love to make a ton of these and totally steal Brittinie’s idea about the business cards 😉 I really think that would be a great way to get our names out there!
hey that is not a bad idea. Merry Christmas everyone!!!
This is a great idea! I will be trying out this recipe for scrubs and making gifts for my family and friends. I think my kids will enjoy the activity as well. Happy Holidays!!
very good information. i will have to look for some more ideas. Merry Christmas!!!
This is a great idea. I would like to do this for more than just Christmas, would be great for birthdays, etc.
Great Idea, I will have to try this, maybe a good business idea of selling on the side or as gifts after the clients massage?
Wow this rocks, I love ideas like this!! Thank you so much for sharing. I am already thinking of baskets I can personalize them with.
I have recently discovered the power of personally customized gifts. Producing your own home-made essential blends takes you a step ahead of the custom Christmas cards.
Good idea! Great blog. Merry Christmas!
This is an awesome and great gift idea for those who love the soothing salts!!
I love it and this its awesome.
I think my favorite to use would have to be lavender. I use it in my oil and in my water for facials. It is a great universal sent. My least favorites are the deep notes like rosemary or sandalwood. By themselves they are nasty, but when mixed with something else they are just lovely.
I always make presents for people, i love it. Just being creative n thinking outside the box especially at this time of the year can mean more to someone then an expensive gift from “Saxs” So making gift bags with lavender scents just got add to my lift of Christmas ideas.
My favorite scent would probably be rosemary and my least favorite would have to be orange.
I remember these smells during aromatherapy. They all smelled great! But my favorite has to be oranges, the citrus smell is great during a massage, very uplifting and relaxing. Aromatherapy is a great tool for our massage therapy arsenal you can relax and relief stress for the client without even touching them. Once again what a great article!
This is really COOL! I cant wait to try this.
I love this idea! I was still frantic about what I was going to get for my mom and sisters for Christmas! Now I know I want to do this! What a fun and easy gift!
I am always interested in trying new scents, it is the best.
These are great gift ideas. Everyone likes a good foot scrub
this seem like a great idea for a gift and it seems easy
The description to all the oils were correct in my opinion. I’ve smelled peppermint before and loved it and want to use it with massage someday. I think I would hate the lemon just because I don’t like lemon. I want to try all of the oils eventually.
My mom is a big fan of defoliators, and I think this would be a great little gift for her. She does get migraines and headaches so I would try essential oils to help with that, like orange.
I like this recipe it looks like it would feel good to the skin, did not know that sugar was good for sensitive skin. I know salt can be a little drying but it also gives back minerals which is good for muscle soreness. I like the essential oils my only problems is I can not seem to tell the difference in their smells, but I really like the smell of orange.
this would be a good idea for a gift to get my mom.
Thanks for the recipe and info on oils, this is a great gift idea! Peppermint is my favorite.
I will definitely be sharing this recipe with my grandmother. Thanks!!
I’m pretty sure this will be my Christmas gift for everyone on my list.
Awesome idea:) I love making home made gifts and these would be really fun to personalize with different essential oils.
Great ideas! i love that I can give a gift that someone will actually use and be helpful to them! I need to make this for myself actually so I can Fall asleep!
This is a great idea personalized gifts always add something more and mean more. I really enjoy the smell of the orange it smells good to me and clean is different.
well this looks interesting, i might actually do this when i get home tonight. my mother is always looking for different types of “beauty essentials” and since this one isn’t tested on animals and has a bunch of toxic riff raff in it, this sounds like a great alternative then just trying to find it at a store and pay a high dollar price. but my question is how long is it good for?