All-Natural Moisturizing Kitchen Hand Scrub
Featuring lemon, oil, sugar and salt, this All-Natural Moisturizing Kitchen Hand Scrub is a simple DIY gift to prepare – perfect for the holiday season or teacher gifts.
Save this recipe for All-Natural Moisturizing Kitchen Hand Scrub to Pinterest!
Homemade Lemon Sugar Scrub Recipe
This is a different sort of post. It doesn’t involve a recipe for something you’d eat. But, it is made from all natural kitchen products and it’s a great gift for anyone who likes pretty things or pampering.
Especially someone who is an avid cook and suffers from chronic dry skin due to all the hand washing in the kitchen.
Keep this gift in mind as an inexpensive option for those end of the school year teacher gifts as well.
Something handmade, pretty, and useful always makes a nice gift for those teachers who work so hard with our children.
It also makes a great simple and inexpensive hostess gift to bring along with you to any holiday parties you may be attending.
You can buy pretty jars to store this All-Natural Moisturizing Kitchen Hand Scrub in or you can reuse other glass jars that you may have in your kitchen.
Simply soak the jars to remove the labels, clean inside and out well, and cover the lid with something pretty to cover up any non-removable labels.
I like the cute little Weck Jars for gifting, but you can use any canning jar as a cute container when gifting homemade sugar scrub.
If the All-Natural Moisturizing Kitchen Hand Scrub is for yourself, you might like Ball Plastic 8-Ounce Freezer Jars for practical storage.
What the Ingredients for Lemon Sugar Scrub
For this particular All-Natural Moisturizing Kitchen Hand Scrub recipe, I chose ingredients that I have in the kitchen
- Olive oil
- Lemon
- Salt
- Sugar
Olive oil moisturizes, lemon freshens and is especially good for removing onion and garlic odors from the skin, the sugar/salt combo exfoliates dry skin and renews the appearance of your hands.
Salt can be drying, so you wouldn’t want to make the scrub entirely of salt, but I added a bit for some coarser pieces.
If you’d rather, simply replace the amount designated for the salt with additional sugar.
For the complete ingredient list and detailed instructions, scroll to the bottom of this post for the FREE printable recipe card.
How to Make Moisturizing Kitchen Hand Scrub
Combine the sugar, kosher salt, lemon zest, and olive oil in a medium sized mixing bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon to mix well.
For a slightly stronger fragrance, add lemon essential oil if desired.
Transfer into a pretty jar and tighten the lid. Then, wipe the outside of any spills or drips. For an extra touch, tie a pretty bow around the jar if you plan to gift this scrub.
Scroll all the way down for a printable version of this including measurements!
How to Customize Sugar Scrub Recipe
The beauty of this recipe is that you can change it up in lots of ways to customize it according to your personal preferences.
You can try a different oil. Coconut oil, for example, is very versatile and is a great addition to a scrub recipe.
You can use a different citrus or a combination of citruses to scent this scrub recipe. Or, if you want to you can make a Citrus Sugar. You can also add essential oils to enhance the properties of the ingredients and provide a natural way to scent it.
What Oils Can You use in Sugar Scrubs
- Fractionated coconut oil (liquid, not solid)
- Sunflower
- Sweet almond oil
- Grapeseed oil
If you prefer to use something other than olive oil for the carrier oil in this recipe, try one of the above listed substitute options.
In this recipe, I prefer olive oil. But, I also like fractionated coconut oil that I purchase through doTerra. For more about the benefits and uses of coconut oil, check out these 7 Easy Ways to Use Coconut Oil in your Beauty Routine.
ESSENTIAL OILS FOR HOMEMADE SUGAR SCRUB
Pure Essential Oils need to be diluted with a carrier oil because they are too strong to use full strength to moisten the sugar/salt scrub portion of the mixture alone.
If you are using this homemade sugar recipe for gifting purposes, please be aware of your your receiver’s personal and/or family allergies when choosing carrier and pure essential oils.
How do you use Kitchen Hand Scrub?
Just massage it on your hands (as if you were washing your hands with this rather than soap).
Then, rinse with warm water.
All-Natural Moisturizing Kitchen Hand Scrub will remove dry skin and odors from the hands while leaving the skin moisturized.
Save this recipe for All-Natural Moisturizing Kitchen Hand Scrub to Pinterest!
More Homemade Sugar Scrub Recipes
Looking for recipes similar to this All-Natural Moisturizing Kitchen Hand Scrub?
Here are a couple other homemade sugar scrubs that I have made.
Vanilla Lavender Sugar Scrub features vanilla scented sugar and dried lavender buds.
Mint and Rosemary combine for a pleasant aroma and are invigorating to a tired body in the morning in this Rosemary Mint Sugar Scrub.
A Lavender Eucalyptus Green Tea Detox Bath is a great way to rejuvenate the mind, body, and skin.
Read all about why detox baths work and tips for the best, most beneficial detox bath. Package it up pretty for a nice homemade gift.
These DIY Moisturizing Bath Bombs only contain 4 ingredients, are incredibly simple to make and are perfect for soothing dry, scaly, itchy winter skin.
Homemade Bath Bombs will look like a special luxury spa item.
1-Ingredient Whipped Coconut Oil is a fantastic, all-natural, chemical-free addition to your regular beauty routine. It stays light and smooth unlike solid coconut oil.
You can fancy it up by adding some essential oils to scent it and packaging it nicely.
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All-Natural Moisturizing Kitchen Hand Scrub
Featuring lemon, oil, sugar and salt, this All-Natural Moisturizing Kitchen Hand Scrub is a simple DIY gift to prepare – perfect for the holiday season or teacher gifts.
Materials
- 1 1/2 c sugar
- 1/3 c kosher salt
- zest of 1 extra large lemon (or other citrus)
- 1 c olive oil
- lemon essential oil, optional
Tools
- 2 - 8 ounce Jars or 1 Pint Jar with lids
- Bowl
- Measuring Cups
- Zester
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. If you would like a slightly stronger fragrance, add the lemon essential oil.
- Spoon into a pretty jar, tighten the lid.
- Wipe any spills or drips from the outside of the jar.
- Alternatively, you can use orange or lime zest for a different fresh citrus smell.
Notes
For an extra touch, tie a pretty bow around the jar if you plan to gift this scrub.
Recommended Products
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Save this recipe for All-Natural Moisturizing Kitchen Hand Scrub to Pinterest!
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All-Natural Moisturizing Kitchen Hand Scrub
Featuring lemon, oil, sugar and salt, this All-Natural Moisturizing Kitchen Hand Scrub is a simple DIY gift to prepare – perfect for the holiday season or teacher gifts.
Bridget Rouser says
Made this as Christmas presents. Even my 13 year old son couldn’t believe how nice it made his hands feel!!!!!
Amy says
I love this!! I am going to try it with peppermint though for Christmas gifts!
Lucas says
It turned out to grainy the sugar didn’t disolve
Katie says
The sugar isn’t meant to dissolve because it is meant to be a scrub to exfoliate, polish, and moisturize dry kitchen hands.
BarefootMedStudent says
This looks positively wonderful! As a student on a tight budget, I always struggle with nice gifts. I’ll certainly try to make this one for the ladies in my family.
M says
I made it…. and STILL love it!!!!
kirsten says
I made this for a graduation present for my friend. I used Orange and a Strawberry extract, smells okay, but could have used way less oil. What should I do to make it less oily?
Katie says
I’ve never had a problem with it having “too much oil” as you have experienced, but the way I would troubleshoot is to add more sugar and/or salt until you reach whatever consistency it is that you desire.
Marissa says
Can you substitute epsom salt for salt? just wondering.. I’m going to try a batch of this!
Katie says
I have not personally tried that substitution. If you do try it, I’d love to hear how it works.
Linda Reynolds says
You are so refreshing! This website, your ideas and tips are so helpful to me….I’ve learned so much…and I’m sure I’m more than twice your age!!
You are a delight and I pray much good things for you and your family….<lbr
Linda Reynolds
South Carolina
Cheryl says
Great idea! Thanks for the idea.
Pam Byington says
this would be a great mothers day gift or house warming,or just for myself!
Sheena says
I recently read a post on a homemade face cleanser (made with oils) they suggested using sunflower oil for the moisturizing part of the cleanser, stating that it is more moisturizing than olive oil. I have yet to try it but thought I’d suggest it since they say that and some have mentioned the olive oil scent is too strong…I’m not sure about the scent of sunflower oil.
Sheena says
Also wanted to say this sounds great and I can’t wait to try it and share it!!
Jennifer says
I’ve made several batches of this for gifts this holiday season and also several for myself. I tried it with olive oil, but thought that the it over powered the lemon scent. Then I tried both safflower and sunflower oils which are still affordable and easy to find. I liked both of them much better.
Kelly says
I’ve made several batches of this for gifts over the past few days and have tried several variations including, Orange-Clove (using orange zest, clove oil, orange extract & olive oil). I’ve also found that grapeseed oil is a much lighter color and has a very light scent which doesn’t overpower the citrus or essential oils the way the olive oil does. These hand scrub variations might be my new hobby!
Jamie says
I just made this for Teacher gifts for Christmas. I tested a little and it is amazing! I think my husband is going to love it, his hands get terrible delivering mail in the MN winters. I too had trouble getting mine to smell like the Lemon essential oil (Used probably 30-40 drops in my double batch of scrub), smelled more like the olive oil. Works great though, hope the teachers appreciate it!
Thanks fro the great idea!
Irena says
Hi! Thanks for this great recepie! I have just tried it and it’s great.
Shianne says
I just went in the kitchen made and tried it out myself. My hands feel heavenly. I’m a nurse and wash my hands in excess at times. They are often dry and sometimes cracked but not now. However I don’t know if I did something wrong but mine smells like olive oil. I even put extra lemon extract in it.
Katie says
You could try using a lighter olive oil or canola oil instead, but I like the fresh scent of lemon and olive oil for the kitchen. If you want no scent from oil, try doTERRA’s Fractionated Coconut Oil. It is completely unscented and silky smooth. I didn’t know about this brand back when I made the original scrub recipe, so that is why I had used olive oil.