Article: How to use a body scrub
How to use a body scrub
The short version: on dry skin, before you turn the water on. Not in the shower.
That's the opposite of what most scrubs tell you. I'll explain why underneath, but the steps come first.
The five steps
- Get in before the water. Stand in the shower or tub with the tap off. Skin completely dry.
- Wet your hands, not your body. Damp palms help it spread. Shake them off before you scoop, so water doesn't get into the jar.
- Take about a tablespoon. Two for head to toe. A 210 g jar should last you four to six weeks.
- Small circles, light pressure, 30 to 60 seconds. Longer on elbows, knees and heels. Lighter on your chest and inner arms.
- Rinse warm, pat dry. That's it. No need to soap over the skin you've just scrubbed.
Twice a week is plenty. Three is the ceiling.
Why dry, and not damp
Because most scrubs are sugar or salt, and ours isn't.
Sugar dissolves. On wet skin it starts melting the second it touches you, so the scrub starts coarse and gets gentler as you work. That's why nearly every guide says damp skin. For a sugar scrub, it's good advice.
Walnut shell doesn't dissolve. Water does nothing to it at all.
But our scrub isn't only grit. It's a cream — rice bran, almond, shea and jojoba oils blended into water — and that cream is meant to rub into you while you work. Wet skin waters it down. It goes runny, slides off, and most of the oil ends up down the drain instead of on your skin.
On dry skin it stays where you put it. That's why most people step out and don't reach for a moisturiser.
Three things to stop doing
Turning the tap on first. The hardest habit to break. Keep the jar outside the shower so you have to deal with it before you reach for the water.
Pressing harder. The grit does the work. Heavy hands with a mild scrub do the same damage as a harsh one.
Reaching for the body wash afterwards. Rinsing is all you need. Body wash is a detergent, and it takes the oils straight back off the skin you just put them on.
If you shave
Not the same day. Freshly shaved skin has already been scraped. Leave it a day or two.
Scrubbing between shaves is the part that helps with ingrown hairs.
If your skin is already dry
Dry skin isn't one thing. Two people can both tell me their skin is dry and need opposite advice. One question sorts it.
Does your skin sting? In the shower when the water hits it, or when you put moisturiser on.
No — it just feels dry.
Tight after a shower, dull, a bit flaky. No pain, nothing cracked.
Scrub. Start at once a week rather than twice. Those flakes sitting on the surface are exactly why your moisturiser never seems to sink in, and lifting them off is the whole point.
Yes — it stings.
Or there's redness that won't settle, or skin that's cracked or split somewhere.
Don't scrub at all until it has healed. Not gently, not less often — not at all. Moisturise morning and night and give it a week or two, and see your doctor or a pharmacist if it hasn't settled by then. You'll know you can start again once water stops stinging.
Either answer: put your moisturiser on while your skin is still damp, not after you've towelled off. It holds much better that way.
You've overdone it if
Your skin stays red for more than an hour, feels tight rather than smooth, or your moisturiser stings when it didn't last week.
That last one is the one to watch. Stop for a week or two and let it settle.
Holly
Also worth reading: How often should you exfoliate your body? · What does a body scrub actually do? · Why we use finely milled walnut shell
