I’m going to be sharing some of my favorite DIY sugar scrub recipes over the coming days to hopefully give you guys a few gift ideas. It’s such a thoughtful gift you can make for loved ones that’s also quite affordable even if you use quality ingredients, or you can just make tons of this for yourself because why not?

I’ll be starting with this homemade lemon sugar recipe that’s super easy to make, requiring only four simple ingredients: ½ cup of grapeseed oil (or your choice of either olive oil or melted coconut oil), two cups of white sugar, 10 drops of lemon essential oil, and then approximately three tablespoons of lemon zest.

How Often Should I Exfoliate?

Most skin care experts tend to agree that you should only be exfoliating about two or three times per week, depending on how well your skin handles it.

Personally, I’ve been sticking with exfoliating twice weekly for as long as I can remember and I’ve seen fantastic results without any type of issues whatsoever. Individuals who have especially dry or sensitive skin should err on the side of caution and only exfoliate once or twice per week.

Is It Normal for the Skin to Feel Raw After a Scrub?

When done properly, your skin should feel silky smooth after exfoliating. If you’re using a more granulated type of exfoliant, your skin may feel a little bit raw but it shouldn’t be too uncomfortable.

However, if you accidently over-exfoliate (either from rubbing too hard or exfoliating too often), your skin may end up feeling incredibly raw, red, and quite painful indeed.

If this ends up happening, your best bet is to simply do nothing. Skip exfoliating for two to three weeks to give your skin a chance to heal and be more careful next time!

3 Benefits of Exfoliating with a Scrub

If you’ve never tried using an exfoliating scrub (whether DIY or otherwise) and you’re wondering what all the fuss is about, here are three fantastic benefits of exfoliating with a scrub:

Removes dead skin cells from the surface of your skin
Promotes cellular turnover – the process of dead skin cells being pushed to the surface, working in synergy with the above mentioned point (1)
Promotes improved blood circulation

Those are three great reasons to give this homemade lemon zest exfoliating sugar scrub a shot. And when you consider how easy it is to make and how it can work wonders for your skin? There’s no reason not to give this scrub a shot. I think you guys will be blown away by how well it works!