Playing on the beach, tromping through the woods, relaxing by the pool – summer is all about spending time outdoors. At the end of a long, hot day, who doesn’t love hopping in the shower to scrub off all the sweat, sunscreen (please, don’t forget!!), bug spray, chlorine, dead skin, and dirt that’s collected throughout the day? All of these happenings on the skin can cause it to feel dryer than normal, and just like when you give a moose a muffin: if you exfoliate your skin every day, it’ll probably ask for more. By that, I mean that over-exfoliating mixed with normal summer wear and tear can perpetuate the dryness and actually make it worse! So, we've put some healthy scrubbing tips for you so that your moose will be satisfied from just one muffin. Or…your skin will be happy from just one scrub. (Someone take the metaphors away from me, please).

Scrubby Scrubs

Body scrubs are one of my favorite things in the entire world. There are so many natural ingredients that can be used to exfoliate and moisturize the skin, so why wouldn’t we take advantage of them?

Sea Salt

Sea Salt is one of the more popular natural exfoliators. The properties in sea salt help rejuvenate tired skin, promote moisture retention, and stimulate cell growth. So, in short, it makes your skin look young and radiant! One of my favorite salt scrubs is our Sugar Citrus Salt Glow which combines sea salt, cane sugar, grapeseed oil, and citrus essential oils to exfoliate and moisturize the skin.

Coffee

Like sea salt, coffee is another wonderful, mildly abrasive ingredient. Since coffee contains caffeine, it “wakes the skin up,” just as it helps you wake up in the morning! The caffeine reduces inflammation and redness as well as detoxifying the skin. Our Exotic Coffee Bean Scrub combines coffee beans, clay, cardamom, and clove to energize and detoxify the body. 

Say “No” to Micro!

Micro beads are tiny plastic balls that can be found in many commercially produced body and facial scrubs. Companies sell them as “exfoliating scrubs,” but they are extremely harmful for the environment and, though they have been declared unsafe for the earth, somehow they are still on the market. You can do your part by avoiding micro beads and choosing a different a natural alternative such as jojoba pearls.

Scrubby Brushes

Natural Bristle Brushes

Bristle Brushes are wonderful for exfoliating outside of the shower, and we call this “dry brushing.” Along with removing unwanted dead skin cells, dry brushing triggers the lymphatic and circulatory systems which encourages the skin to detoxify and has a calming effect on the nervous system. Starting with the legs, brush a small area of the skin in little circular motions with light pressure. To make sure you cover the whole body, pretend that you’re coloring a picture – let’s say it’s a picture of a moose because no one has taken away my metaphors yet – and you want to fill in all the blank spaces. Work your way up to your chest, and then brush your arms and back. Be mindful to avoid the face and any open sores or irritated skin as this can further irritate those areas.

Loofah: Friend or Foe?

Foe! Throw that guy out! Just kidding, this is a little dramatic. You don’t have to completely scrap the loofah. But if you’re a normal person, you probably don’t replace your loofah nearly as often as you should (every 3 weeks), which means that there is probably a good amount of bacteria growing in the crevices of that lil shower scrubby along with some of the dead skin you’ve scrubbed off in showers past. While loofahs are a nice way to clean and exfoliate, if they are covered in built up gunk, you’re not really getting that clean! If you and your bathing routine are too attached to your loofah to part ways, just make sure you take good care of it. Hang it outside of the shower so it can dry between each use, and zap it in the microwave (as long as it’s not plastic!) once a week to kill off any germs that may have taken up residence.

Scrubby Face Scrubs

Exfoliating the face is a whole different ball game: the skin on our faces is much more sensitive, so it requires gentler ingredients.

Oats

Oats are an awesome for sensitive skin. They have anti-inflammatory properties, are moisturizing, and gently exfoliate while not irritating the skin. Our Almond Facial Scrub is a combination of ground up oats, almonds, and flax seeds with other cleansing ingredients that, when mixed with water, form a gentle, moisturizing facial scrub.

Jojoba

Jojoba pearls are the earth’s natural alternative to artificial microbeads. They are tiny, spherical beads made of hydrogenated jojoba oil that act as a natural exfoliator when added to a facial cleanser. They are extremely emollient, great for sensitive skin, and are much less abrasive than most other facial scrubs. Interested in trying them out? You can find jojoba pearls in our Reclaim Facial Scrub!

Chemical Peel? No Thank You!

This probably goes without saying, but pretty much any skin care item with the word “chemical” in it is something to avoid. Chemical peels and lotions completely dissolve the outer layers of skin. This can leave your face raw, red, and irritated because you literally just put acid directly onto your skin. There are plenty of ways to maintain beautiful, glowing, youthful skin without burning off layers, so try to steer clear of chemical peels if you can. 

As always, don't forget to moisturize after exfoliating! Staying hydrated is the best thing you can do to maintain your healthy, beautiful skin. Just remember: if you give your skin a scrub, it'll ask for some lotion to go with it.