5 Face Scrubs You Can Make With Ingredients From Your Kitchen

Simple homemade face scrubs are the perfect recipes to attempt if you’re new to do-it-yourself skincare. The ingredients are inexpensive and easy to find (in fact, you probably have most of them in your kitchen already!). Plus, homemade face scrubs are really hard to mess up!

We’ve shared the right way to exfoliate and how to chemically exfoliate with natural alpha hydroxy acids, but it’s also easy to physically exfoliate. You can raid the cupboard and mix and match common kitchen ingredients for a customized face scrub (much like we did with customized body scrubs).

Run the back of your hand across your cheek and see if it feels dry or a little scaly. If so, then it’s time to exfoliate. Dry skin makes it difficult for your skin to absorb the rich creams, oil and serums that you’re using to repair skin, target acne or prevent aging. Those fancy ingredients can’t penetrate and get to work if layers of dead skin are in the way.

5 Homemade Face Scrubs

Exfoliation is a key part of any facial routine; I recommend a gentle scrub 2-3 times a week to help slough off dead skin cells and unclog pores. Nighttime is the best time to exfoliate so your skincare products can better absorb overnight. Give any one of these simple scrubs a try – your skin will feel soft and smooth!

Gentle Oat Scrub

Soothing and anti-inflammatory oats are ideal for sensitive skin. Ground oats gently unclog pores while their natural saponins cleanse and absorb dirt and oil.

•  ½ cup old-fashioned oats
• Water

In a blender, pulse the oats until finely ground. Pinch the ground oats into palm of hand, then add water until paste forms. Gently massage into face and neck. Store the ground oats in an airtight container for later use.

Honey & Brown Sugar Scrub

A natural humectant (along with honey), sugar makes a gentle scrub to buff away flakes, clear pores and lock in moisture.

• 1 tablespoon brown sugar (the finer the better)
• 1 tablespoon honey, preferably raw

Mix the brown sugar and honey together and, with clean fingertips, gently apply the scrub to your face in circular motions to aid in exfoliation without damage. Rinse with warm water and use a wash cloth to remove all of the honey, if needed.

Baking Soda Add-In

With its super fine texture, baking soda acts like an at-home microdermabrasion for all skin types. The inexpensive ingredient also absorbs excess oil so it’s especially helpful for oily skin.

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Possibly the easiest scrub to make, just add 1 teaspoon of baking soda into a small amount of your cleanser and you’ve just made your product work double duty as an exfoliating cleanser.

Coffee & Oil Scrub

Used coffee grounds are mild enough to use all over the body – even on sensitive areas like the face. Plus, leftover grounds are still chock full of caffeine and antioxidants, which leave the skin looking perky and toned.

• 1 tablespoon coffee grounds
• 1 tablespoon oil (jojoba, olive, or rosehip)

Talk about reduce, reuse, and recycle! Don’t throw away the wet used coffee grounds from your morning brew. Just add 1 tablespoon of oil to them and you’ve got a gentle, collagen-boosting scrub ready to go.

Rice & Egg White Exfoliating Facial Scrub

Ground rice powder makes an excellent cleanser for brightening complexions and lightening skin discolorations. Brown rice flour has oil-absorbing and anti-inflammatory benefits that help treat oily and sensitive skin. Combine with a tablespoon of ground almonds if you’re battling aging.

• 2 tablespoons brown rice
• Egg white

Using a coffee grinder, grind brown rice grains until fine. Add an egg white and whip to create a paste, then gently massage the scrub into the skin in circular motions to exfoliate dead skin. Rinse with warm water to remove.

Want a face scrub customized to your skin type? Check out these simple face scrubs for dry, oily, mature and sensitive skin. Don’t let dry skin get in the way of your glow!

Photos by Ana Stanciu