I love a good body scrub. The first scrub I ever used was the St. Ives apricot scrub, and even though I make my own scrubs now, that's still one of my favorites because it's creamy and doesn't separate. Also, when in the shower, I also love mixing together a facial scrub from Cetaphil liquid soap and baking soda. No kidding about the baking soda; it's so fine and gentle that you can use it every day.
The body scrubs I make for myself are usually just a mix of oils, glycerin, and salt. The scrub shown here on the left has jojoba oil, avocado oil, sunflower oil, sweet almond oil, vegetable glycerin, and kosher salt. I like that the kosher salt is so coarse, but the oils and glycerin separate from the salt, which requires a good mixing before use.
The other day, I decided to experiment with making a scrub that doesn't separate. Also, if I decide to offer my scrubs at
Little Owl Soap, I want to make sure that there won't be so much separation that the jars would leak during shipping. First, I tried a mix of olive oil, sunflower oil, avocado oil, sweet almond oil, cocoa butter, shea butter, stearic acid, and emulsifying wax. I added plain white sugar, which, alas, is not vegan. It had a lot of body, as shown by the picture on the right, but it did experience a fair bit of separation. Additionally, the small grains of the sugar dissolved quickly in the stream of water from the shower.
For my second experiment, shown here on the left, I tried sunflower oil, avocado oil, sweet almond oil, mango butter, and a higher percentage of emulsifying wax and stearic acid than I had previously tried. To this, I added turbinado sugar, which is vegan. This batch cooled to a creamy paste. I really thought I was on to something, until I gave it a test run. It was actually a little bit too creamy, and I was disappointed with the texture of the sugar; I simply felt as if I didn't get enough exfoliating done.
In the end, I learned that I still preferred the salt scrub I usually toss together for myself, despite the separation. What kind of scrub do you prefer? An oil-rich scrub or a creamy, emulsified scrub? A salt scrub or a sugar scrub? So many options!
It's no secret that I have an "owl addiction." And nothing goes better with an owl addiction than an "owl tchotchke" collection. For this, I've turned to Wendy at Fruit Fly Pie, one of my favorite Etsy sellers. All of Wendy's ceramics are made from scratch, then hand painted in her home studio. She makes all of her products from either throwing on the potters wheel, slab buil
ding, or slip cast from vintage ceramic molds. Not only does Fruit Fly Pie offer a wondrous collection of owl items (though Wendy's heart belongs to her two potbellied pigs), there are also plenty of other darling items, like a cookie jar shaped like a pretty pink cupcake and a vintage-design pig that can do double-duty as a planter and a sink sponge holder. Stop by the shop, and you'll be inspired to start your own collection!
