Looking for a simple sea salt scrub recipe that will leave your skin super soft?
This simple DIY body scrub will show you just how easy it is to make a luxury bath product with amazing health benefits!
When I can find the time, I love me a good, sea salt bath.
I have been digging dead sea salt lately for all of the wonderful benefits such as extra minerals, softer skin, detoxification, and simply just the stress relief alone.
Really, there’s nothing much better than relaxing in the bath after a long day raising 5 kids and soaking up all of the wonderful health benefits. It feels a little extra at times (because who has the time to soak in the bath with 5 kids?!), but it’s so worth the extra effort that it takes.
Benefits of a sea salt scrub
Exfoliation has many wonderful benefits for both the body and for the face. Dead skin cells build up & can cause our skin to look tired, worn out, old, and flaky.
When you exfoliate, either with a skin brush, stone, or a scrub, you can remove these old, dead skin cells and renew your skin. And when you use a sea salt, you get extra detox benefits from the salt itself!
Because sea salt contains many wonderful trace minerals, it can help aid in detoxing and moving stagnation in the body.
Using a sea salt scrub might seem a little frivolous at first, but how can that be when you are treating your body this good?!?
Salt scrubs vs. Sugar Scrubs
Both have great exfoliating properties, but you might wonder why use a salt scrub vs. a sugar scrub.
The reason really just boils down to personal preference.
Sea Salt can be more abrasive, especially if you choose a course salt, so sticking with a sugar scrub might be better if you have sensitive skin.
However, sea salt has an abundance of trace minerals that can get absorbed into the skin that sugar does not have. Even better, once you’ve used your salt scrub in the bath, you can soak in the salt afterwards and reap in all of it’s wonderful properties.
Note: Not all salt is created equal. You will want to stick with a natural, unrefined salt when making your salt scrub. Since regular table salt is just mere sodium, it can be extra abrasive and promote dryness – which is the opposite effect of what we are going for.
Best salts to use in a scrub
There are so many types of salt that you can choose to use in a salt scrub.
I personally don’t recommend using regular table salt because the lack of therapeutic properties & dryness that it can contribute to your skin.
Pink Salt
Pink salt comes from rock crystals of salt that are extracted from areas close to the Himalayas. It is composed mainly of sodium and other trace elements, including iron and zinc. Pink salt is attractive because of its pink color and has wonderful detox properties.
Black Salt
Black salt is also referred to as Kala Namak salt, which is a type of rock salt that is harvested from volcanic rock salt from the Himalayas, usually Pakistan. This salt is rich in iron, magnesium, and calcium, as well as a few other trace elements.
Dead Sea Salt
This is one of the most mineral rich sea salts! Coming from the dead sea region in Israel, this sea salt is actually quite different from traditional oceanic salt with a higher concentration of trace minerals such as magnesium and potassium. This is my personal preference for a homemade body scrub because of it’s mineral content.
Epsom Salt
Epsom salt is not really salt at all! It’s a chemical compound made up of magnesium, sulfur, and oxygen. Despite its name, Epsom salt is a completely different compound than table salt. It was most likely termed “salt” because of its chemical structure. You can still use this as your salt scrub component, but it won’t contain the beneficial trace minerals as other salts will.
Easy Salt Scrub Recipe
All you need is TWO ingredients, but you can add more for extra flare.
- 1 cup of sea salt. I chose to use dead sea salt since I already had it on hand and because of it’s wonderful health properties. I also sprinkled in some pink salt for color, although you cannot really tell in the photos.
- 1/4 cup of oil. I used a combination of jojoba oil & sweet almond oil because again, that’s what I had handy and they arr both wonderful oils for the skin. You can also use almond oil, olive oil, avocado oil, or melted coconut oil (although once it’s hardened, it can make the salt scrub a bit more tricky to work with).
- Optional: 10-20 drops of essential oils. I don’t normally use essential oils in my scrubs simply because they are not necessary and some oils can cause skin reactions. But when I do, I like to use lavendar, eucalyptus, or citrus oils.
- Optional: about 1 tbsp of dried herbs. If you want to add a touch of aroma without essential oils, try some dried herbs instead! Lavender, chamomile, rosemary, and calendula are all wonderful herbs that not only smell amazing, but have great skin benefits as well. Just a small amount of lavender helped to make my salt scrub smell divine! I get all of my dried herbs either from my garden (if there’s enough to spare), but in this case, I used dried herbs from Mountain Rose Herbs.
How to make your DIY body scrub
Now the fun part – making your sea salt scrub!
- In a large bowl, mix together the salt & oil until well combined.
- Add in optional herbs or essential oils until the scent is to your liking.
- Store in an airtight container or glass mason jar until ready for use.
Best way to use a sea salt scrub
Using a salt scrub isn’t exactly rocket science, but to make the most of it’s health benefits, you’ll want to use this scrub in the bathtub.
While you’re waiting for your tub to fill up entirely, get your skin ready by applying warm water. Gently use a small handful of the scrub in small circular movements over the area that you’d like to use it to exfoliate the skin.
Reapply as needed.
If the scrub starts to fall away from your skin, that’s okay! try to use it with as much surface area as possible, and just get more as you need it. Once you’re done with the salt you can disperse it into your warm bath for a good soak.
If you’re using dead sea salt, you’ll definitely want to take advantage of soaking in the tub for a bit. Dead sea salt is known for it’s wonderful skin benefits and can help make your skin feel extra soft and moisturized!
How long does a homemade salt scrub last?
Honestly, if you are only using salt and oil, the scrub should last a really long time – until your oil would naturally spoil. However, salt is a natural preservative, so it should last for even longer.
Just make sure you store it in an airtight container and you’ll be good to go for 6 months or longer.
If you’re using essential oils in your scrub, make sure to store in a glass container (I like to use canning jars with reusable lids like these) and keep it in a dark place until you’re ready to use it.
That’s it! Now you know how to make a healthy & natural DIY body scrub!
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