How to make Exfoliating Body Scrubs; Formulating for Beginners

taralee
Apr 12, 2022
5 min read

Updated: May 13, 2022

There are two different kinds of body scrubs, anhydrous & aqueous.

Anhydrous is oil based (contains only oil soluble ingredients)
Aqueous is water based (contains water soluble ingredients)

First I want to focus just on anhydrous body scrubs.

Basic Body Scrubs

The most basic body scrub you can make includes just some oil and sugar. You could also use salt, but I personally don’t like salt scrubs because they burn my skin if I have a cut or anything. Salt is also more abrasive than sugar so it does make really good foot scrubs. So you can make this extremely simple body scrub by mixing whatever ratio of sugar to oil you prefer. Here is the formula that I like;

Most simple body scrub formula

20% oil
80% sugar

Do you know how to convert a formula to a recipe? First you need to decide how much you want to make. If you want to make 250 grams of this scrub then that is your called your BATCH SIZE. So our batch size is 250 grams. Now we need to figure out what 20% and 80% is of 250. This way we can create our recipe.

You could use a formula calculator or you can do the math.

To find what 80% of 250 is start by moving the decimal space up to spaces in 80. So now you have .80 Multiple .80 by 250 which equals 200. That means you need 200 grams of sugar.

Now move the decimal up to spaces in 20. Now you have .20 Multiple .20 by 250 which equals 50.

So now you know you need 200 grams of sugar and 50 grams of oil.

You can check your work by adding up all the grams. 200 + 50 to make sure it equals your batch size, which is 250 grams. So here is what the recipe for a 250 gram batch would look like

Most simple body scrub recipe;

200 grams sugar
50 grams oil

directions; just mix both ingredients together and mix

Preserving scrubs

Now here is something to keep in mind. I’ve mentioned in the past that anhydrous recipes don’t need a preservative. Which they don’t since they don’t contain water, but body scrubs will come into contact with water, since you take them into the shower with you. So if you decide to not add a preservative into your scrub that means you can’t take the container into the shower. Instead scoop out the scrub you want to use into a bowl and take that into the shower with you so no water gets into your actual container.

If you want to add a preservative into your scrub, which I do recommend, you need to use an oil soluble broad spectrum preservative. I recommend optiphen or phenonip.

Phenonip is a paraben, and I know a lot of people like to avoid parabens, so optiphen is probably a better choice. Make sure it is optiphen NOT optiphen plus

Ingredients for basic scrubs;

Here is a list of other ingredients you can add into your basic body scrub to make it not so basic.

vitamin E - an antioxidant that helps keep oils from going rancid. Does not preserve your product, so your product can still grow mold and bacteria, but it will keep your oil fresh longer.
exfoliants - sugar, salt, coffee grounds, jojoba pearls, strawberry seeds, red raspberry seeds, cranberry seeds, walnut shell powder, jojoba castor beads, avocado powder, bamboo stem powder, etc.
coloring - e.g. mica, iron oxides, ultramarines, lakes dyes
fragrance - fragrance oils & essential oil & scented extracts
clays - i’ve never used clays, but I’ve seen them used in recipes before.

Fun basic body scrub

Here is a formula for a more “fun” and simple body scrub

17% oil
1.5% optiphen
1% fragrance
0.5% vitamin E
78% sugar
2% cranberry seeds

directions; combine all liquid ingredients first and mix. Then add in the color, i used purple mica powder. Then add in sugar and cranberry seeds and mix.

Emulsified Body Scrubs

What makes emulsified scrub different from the basic body scrub is that you have to melt down the ingredients and mix them up and let them re solidify and then add in your exfoliants. You are able to use a larger variety of ingredients, the scrubs are easier to hold in your hands, less greasy, and they are less likely to leak during shipping. You can also get more creative since you have the ability to use a wider variety of ingredients.

Ingredients for Emulsified Ecrubs;

any oil soluble ingredients. e.g. - oils, butters, emollient esters, waxes, fatty acids, fatty alcohols, oil soluble extracts, any other oil soluble ingredients
exfoliants - sugar, salt, coffee grounds, jojoba pearls, strawberry seeds, red raspberry seeds, cranberry seeds, walnut shell powder, jojoba castor beads, avocado powder, bamboo stem powder, etc.
vitamin E
fragrance, essential oil, or scented extracts
coloring - e.g; mica, iron oxides, ultramarines, lakes dyes
clays
preservatives - e.g; optiphen or phenonip. You need an oil soluble preservative

Simple Emulsified Scrub Formula

heated phase

10% emulsifying wax NF, ritamulse SCG, olivem 1000, or any other waxy emulsifier
3% stearic acid, cetyl alcohol, cetearyl alcohol, behenyl alcohol or any other fatty acid or fatty alcohol
34% oil

cool down phase

1.5% optiphen
.5% vitamin E
1% fragrance
50% sugar

Here is the formula transferred into a 150 gram batch.

heated phase

15 grams emulsifying wax NF
4.5 grams stearic acid
51 grams oil

cool down phase

2.25 grams optiphen
0.75 grams vitamin E
1.5 grams fragrance
75 grams sugar

directions; mix together all ingredients in the heated phase and add into a water bath to melt. Once melted mix with hand mixer and let sit until cooled and come back to mix periodically as it cools. You can also put it in the fridge to cool and mix periodically until is has re solidified. Once cooled to under 100f/40c you can add in the ingredients in the cool down phase. I like to add in the mica powder before adding in the sugar. Whip everything together and pour into your jar. The full viscosity of your scrub will be reached in 24 hours. So expect your scrub to harden a bit.

Advanced Emulsified Scrub

Blue Raspberry Smoothie Scrub Formula

heated phase

7% mango butter
8% ritamulse SCG
3% behenyl alcohol
29% oil

cool down phase

1% blue raspberry flavor
1.5% optiphen
0.5% vitamin E
1% blueberry seeds
49% sugar

Here is the formula transferred into for a 150 gram batch.

heated phase

10.5 grams mango butter
12 grams ritamulse SCG
4.5 grams behenyl alcohol
43.5 grams oil

cool down phase

1.5 grams blue raspberry flavor
2.25 grams optiphen
0.75 grams vitamin E
1.5 grams blueberry seeds
73.5 grams sugar

I hope that was a good introduction to body scrubs for you guys. Just to let you know these recipes can also be used on the face too. They may feel to greasy or oily for some of you to use on your face, it just depends on what you prefer.

There are a lot of other scrubs you can make, like aqueous scrubs, foaming scrubs, and lip scrubs. I want to make more scrub content like this one, so be sure to let me know down it the comments which kind of scrub you want to see next. Thanks for watching!