The advantage of natural (raw i.e. dry) exfoliants is that there are no preservatives present and most of them should come fairly cheap – if you buy them from a reputable source then natural plant-based scrubs would have been screened for toxins, impurities and refined and filtered before being packaged and sold as cosmetics.
Clays for example are excellent skin exfoliators and have been used for centuries to cleanse skin and eliminate impurities. There are various clay versions which all have a specific effect on various types of skin, from extremely sensitive skin to skin plagued by acne. There is green clay, pink clay, red clay and yellow clay. Then there is Fullers Earth, Kaolin and Rhassoul clay. The list is nigh on endless as far as clays are concerned and so are the possibilities…. use them as masks, mixed with lotion for a softer effect and as pure scrubs which you wash off with water straight after use (as opposed to masks which you leave on for anything from 2 to 10 minutes).
A relatively new and more exotic exfoliant – at least to me – is mesquite flour. This flour was a common food staple up until the 1920s and has is just now making a comeback as an alternative to wheat intolerance. It has a high protein, low-glycemic content and is gluten free. The dietary fibre content in mesquite flour is 25%. It is rich in calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc and lysine which is known to fight herpes. Mesquite flour has a sweet, nutty taste. I have used mesquite as a facial scrub in the past and found it to be excellent for very sensitive skin (rosacea for example). Just mix the flour with some rosewater, apply to clean, damp skin and massage in lightly, leave on for a minute or so and wash off with plenty of lukewarm water. Follow with a facial spritz and a nourishing cream.
Another „exotic“ scrub is sodium bicarbonate. I say exotic because I had no idea I could use it to exfoliate my skin. Thinking about it is logical – sodium bicarbonate softens hard water and is used widely in toothpaste and other cosmetics. You just mix a tablespoon of sodium bicarbonate with 3 – 4 tablespoons of rosewater, apply to clean skin, lightly massage in and wash off immediately with lots of warm water. I prefer to use it in the shower as this gets rid of all the fine grains which may otherwise be left on my skin. Not unpleasant but I don’t like my skin to feel like sandpaper hence I use this scrub in the shower. I then use a toner and a nourishing day cream – it leaves skin supple and glowing. Not for very sensitive skin I hasten to add, more suitable to normal and combination skin types.
If you feel very adventurous and brave then you can use very finely powdered pumice stone. I am offering a microderm polishing gel that contains pumice powder and it is an excellent and very safe exfoliant for oily and combination skin. I prefer to use it that way because I find that the aloe seaweed gel carries the pumice powder ver well and application and use is made so much easier. However, if you suffer from very rough heels then try and use the pumice powder dampened with a little bit of water, scrub your feet vigorously, wash off and follow with a foot cream. It keeps dry and cracking skin at bay for days and weeks if used regularly!
There is also sandalwood powder available now as a mild exfoliant. However I wouldn’t recommend it as sandalwood is now faced with extinction due to demand for sandalwood essential oil which has led to a decimation of the plant in India and personally I don’t want to contribute to a further decline of the trees.
There are also other plant derived exfoliants such as olive kernels, peach kernels, almond shells and many more and it is a case of personal preference to which type of natural exfoliant you use but all of them can be used on their own or suspended in a light lotion. Just make sure you use you own concoction straight away as plant-based (botanical) and other added ingredients cause your lotions or gels to deteriorate quickly if you do not add adequate preservatives – you don’t want to end up with a nasty rash or worse, an infection because you couldn’t see the mould or bacteria that formed in your homemade scrub. If in doubt use a ready made scrub that lists all ingredients.
Cebra Ethical Skincare Naturhautpflege 