Feed Your Skin with the Power of Plants + Honey

This post is written for the few hundred wonderful folks who joined Forester’s webinar in April.

If you didn’t attend the webinar, you can still enjoy making this herbal body scrub.  The sugar exfoliates dirt and dead skin cells, the honey heals and nourishes, the coconut oil will soak in and keep your body feeling silky smooth while the herbs and essential oils cleanse and give you an aromatherapy treat.

Skin is our bodies largest organ and it’s important to feed it well, inside and out.  Eating healthy, especially whole, unprocessed foods that are the full rainbow of colors from nature, is the best way to feed your skin - along with staying hydrated!

Caring for our skin should be easy and common sense!  No fancy, expensive solutions needed.  Nothing wrong if you enjoy those…but it’s important to know that everyday items from your garden and pantry can nourish radiant skin.

One of my favorite ways to cleanse skin is with a simple sugar body scrub.  If you received Forester’s Feed Your Skin box - you have all the ingredients you need to experiment with favorite scent combinations!

Here’s the recipe that makes 20 oz or five 4oz containers if you’re gifting!

2 cups Organic Cane Sugar

4 oz Organic Coconut Oil

2 oz Raw Honey

Dried Herbs (About 2 teaspoons)

Essential Oils

Measure your sugar and herbs into a bowl and whisk.  If your coconut oil is solid, put it in a microwave safe bowl and heat for a few seconds.  Add in the honey and stir until blended.  Combine your two bowls and mix well.  Add your essential oils and whisk thoroughly.

Remember to test your scrub on your hands.  Some bodies are sensitive to certain essential oils.  Once you know your hands are happy, try it on your elbows, feet, knees and even face.

For safety store your scrub in a shatterproof container.  I keep a small quantity in my shower in a plastic container (even though I hate plastic, it’s important here because I’m a klutz).  Keep any larger quantity you make in a glass container with a tight fitting lid.

ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS IN YOUR BOX:

Organic Cane Sugar - Organic is important.  Any added chemicals can be irritating for our skin.  You can find this at your local grocery or order online and it’s very affordable.

Organic Coconut Oil - Again organic is best for our skin.  Check the baking aisle at your store or order online - you can find small to giant containers.  Coconut oil is temperature sensitive.  In hot climates it will be fully liquid.  As temps cool off…it will solidify.  For the scrub that doesn’t matter.  Just don’t leave your jar of scrub in your car in the summer upside down…the oil will liquify and seep out.  Ask me how I know!

Lavender from Provence - I spent February in Provence.  Knowing we had this project I scoured lavender suppliers and brought back some beautiful buds from the Marche aux Fleurs in Nice.  If you’ve never been, put it on your list now! Scroll down for a photo.

Lavender from Luling - I wasn’t sure how many boxes we were making and I didn’t have quite enough from France.  One of our bee yards is very near the Lavender farm in Luling, Texas.  Lavender, I’ve learned, likes nice dry feet.  Well drained soil and a little heat works.  We have a few lavender farms in our area.

Sage from Nona’s Garden - I grow enough sage for an army.  It’s one of my most favorite herbs and goes so nicely with eucalyptus oil in the scrub.  My herbs are organic, hand harvested and dehydrated.  Then, depending on the texture I use either a food processor (coarse), blender (fine) or coffee grinder (rubbed sage) to make sage powder. Scroll down for a photo.

Honey - This is raw unfiltered honey from Texas bees.  You get all the benefits of their hard work, from the native / medicinal plants they visit to the anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties to the nourishment it provides to our skin.  Do take a taste before you blend it into your scrub!

Seeds - My friends at Back to the Roots are so creative and dedicated to helping people reconnect to the roots of our food.  In the US, the Food & Drug Administration treats seeds like food and requires them to have an expiration date.  But we all know that seeds don’t expire.  Alex and Nikhil trust me to rehome the seeds as part of their commitment to education.  Have fun growing these plants that are both great for your skin and support healthy pollinator populations.

Essential Oils - There are lots of great places to find essential oils and blends.  The ones in your box (peppermint, eucalyptus, sweet orange, clove bud and lavender) are from Bulk Apothecary, an Ohio based business with amazing customer service.

If you found this blog and didn’t get a box or think this would make a nice gift for someone you know - drop me a note!  I love sharing our experiences far and wide!

Lavender @ Marche aux Fleurs, Nice France

Sage growing in Nona's Garden

And as I'm always sure to reiterate, I'm not a doctor, dermatologist or aesthetician. I'm a beekeeper, a haphazard gardener and worked in the natural foods industry for 20 years. Most importantly, Anything (like this recipe) that I share I have tested over and over on myself, family and friends. It's common sense stuff - but do listen to your experts if you're dealing with any special conditions.