How To Make Your Own All Natural Body Scrub

Did you know you can put together your own self-care body scrub yourself? Here's how we made our own DIY body scrub from organic ingredients from our community farm. 

With herb-infused coconut oil, sugar, and botanicals, it is a luxurious self-care experience that is simple, refreshes, and rejuvenates. Here is a beauty product with only a handful of ingredients and good enough to eat. No nasties and just the ingredients you use in your kitchen.

Many different herbs are grown on our demonstrative permaculture site at the Goodman Arts Centre. In the end, we chose citronella and lemon balm to infuse the coconut oil because of the refreshing and vibrant scents.

Where it all began...

We started growing Citronella in our garden as a mosquito deterrent and a barrier. It's natural scent is said to deter mosquitoes. It's shape and grass like bush has also been very helpful in creating a barrier for a pathway in the garden. We soon noticed that the Citronella plant started growing abundantly.

This then got us thinking about the ways that we can use the abundant Citronella. And so, we decided to infuse it in organic coconut oil . Together with two other botanicals, lemon balm and globe amaranth, creating a well balanced and whimsy body scrub. Here's why we love these botanicals.

Citronella 

• Insect repellant 
• Mood lifting scent 
• Cleansing and invigorating 

Lemon balm

• Relieves stress and anxiety
• May boost focus 
• Alleviate nausea  

Globe Amaranth

• Detoxifying when taken as a tea 
• Contains antioxidants 
• Retains its colour and form even when dried 

Here are the list of ingredients you'll need for this DIY scrub:

1. Coconut oil (organic or cold pressed is preferable)
2. Sugar
3. Your favourite botanicals 
4. Amber glass bottle

We love how the amber bottle blocks out the sunlight when you are working with an infused oil. Try creating an infused oil sugar scrub yourself with these simple steps below: 

1. Harvest some herbs (e.g. Citronella, Lemon balm, Lemongrass, Globe amaranth or others)
2. Dry the herbs
3. Infuse the herbs with the oil by placing it in some coconut oil for >2 weeks (preferably in an amber bottle so that sunlight will not affect the process) OR heat the coconut oil and place the dried herbs in it for better infusion before storage.
   
4. When you need to use the scrub, add the infused oil to the sugar, just making sure that all the sugar is covered in oil but not drowning in it.  And voila your home-made sugar scrub is ready! 

Store the infused oil and use it for future scrubs or homemade balms.

Nova Nelson

Nova Nelson is a permaculture practitioner and consultant with over ten years of experience in Singapore and Malaysia. She is the founder of Cultivate Central, where she integrates permaculture, syntropic agroforestry, and community development to shape regenerative urban food systems. Nova leads the Goodman Community Farm, a demonstrative urban permaculture ecosystem connecting people to soil, food, and environmental stewardship. Certified in Sustainable Food Production and Processing from the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, she consults on regenerative food initiatives and hosts Cultivating Change, a podcast exploring food systems and regenerative farmers, communities and cultures across Southeast Asia.

How did I find myself doing what I do? Read my story here.