Sugar Scrub

A self limiting abrasive

Salt does not dissolve at anything like the same rate, and neither do ground shells, seeds or plastic beads. Those stay the same size for the whole time you are working with them, which means the abrasion is constant from the first second to the last. Sugar starts coarse and finishes as a solution, so the scrubbing tapers off on its own. It is a mechanism rather than a marketing point, and it is the reason sugar is the forgiving choice among physical exfoliants.

• The grain shrinks as you work. Abrasion is highest in the first few seconds and falls away steadily.
• Salt stays put. It is harsher for longer, which is useful on feet and unkind almost anywhere else.
• Warm water speeds the dissolution. A hot shower shortens the working window noticeably.
• Pressure matters more than grit. Most damage from any scrub comes from how hard it is pressed rather than from the particle itself.

Why this is a body product

Facial skin is thinner and more easily disrupted than the skin on an arm or a thigh, and a physical exfoliant sized for a body is the wrong tool for it. Most of these are body scrubs for exactly that reason. The lip scrubs are a genuine exception, because lips need very fine grains and a short contact time, and they are formulated accordingly.

• Body scrubs, mostly. Sized and dosed for arms, legs, shoulders and back.
• Lip scrubs. Finer grains on a much smaller and thinner area.
• Gift sets. Body scrubs packed in threes as a single present.
• Not for the face. Facial exfoliation is a different question and usually a chemical rather than a physical one.

Oil suspended, and what that means

The grains have to be carried in something, and here that something is a fat rather than a water based gel. The practical effect is that the shower floor becomes slippery, that the product does not rinse completely clean, and that skin is left with a film. That film is the intended outcome rather than a residue, and what it consists of is covered on the shea butter page for the scrubs built that way.

• Expect a slippery floor. An oil suspended scrub takes the surface with it; hold something.
• It will not rinse away entirely. That is the design, not a fault in the formula.
• Skip a moisturizer afterward. Adding one on top of the film is usually more than the skin needs.
• Some are suspended in jojoba. The reason it holds up in a jar is on the jojoba oil page.

How often, and when to stop

Once or twice a week is the range most skin tolerates, and more than that offers nothing extra. Skin that feels tight, looks pink for more than a few minutes afterward, or stings when a product goes on next has been over-exfoliated, and the answer is to stop for two weeks rather than to switch to something gentler.

• Once or twice weekly. Enough for any of these formulas to do what they do.
• Lingering pink is a stop sign. Brief redness is normal; anything that persists is not.
• Never on broken or sunburned skin. Wait until the surface is intact again.
• Some of these carry actives. The scrubs in the bust and booty lines also contain retinol, which comes with its own schedule.