In the colder months, my skin tends to be a bit drier, so I like to use scrubs that gently exfoliate and leave a bit of oil behind to moisturize. I rarely use self-tanner in the winter, so that's not an issue.
I've always used (or made) scrubs that are purely sugar-based, so they dissolve as you use them. But when Simply Scrub contacted me for a collaboration, I was intrigued by the ingredients of their scrubs and wanted to give them a try.
Simply Scrub has a body scrub collection that is 100% organic, 100% natural, and 100% chemical-free. They offer four different scrubs:
- Coffee
- Soursop
- Chocolate
- Rose
I used all four scrubs over the course of 2-3 weeks, and here are my thoughts:
Coffee scrub
Ingredients: organic coffee beans, organic coconut oil, Dead Sea mineral salt, organic tea tree oil, organic brown sugar, organic jojoba oil, organic grape seed oil, vitamin E oil, organic shea butter, organic honeycomb, and organic vitamin E.
This scrub looks and smells exactly as you would expect - like coffee! It was my favorite scrub overall, especially in terms of exfoliation. I couldn't feel the salt or sugar, but the finely ground coffee beans provided a good amount of exfoliation. It didn't remove my sunless tan (I was trying to remove most of it so I could start over), but it did leave my skin feeling soft and smooth without any traces of oil. It's totally different from my usual scrubs, but I enjoyed using it. The coffee grounds were fairly easy to rinse out of the shower.
I think this scrub would work best for those who have normal/oily skin, want a good amount of exfoliation, and/or only want lightweight hydration (no oil left on the skin). Great for the warmer, summer months! Those with dry/very dry skin may find they still need to apply additional moisturizing products after use.
Soursop scrub
Ingredients: organic soursop leaves, organic coconut oil, Dead Sea mineral salt, organic tea tree oil, organic brown sugar, organic jojoba oil, organic vitamin E, organic green tea, organic shea butter, organic mint leaves, and organic grapeseed oil.
As you can see from the photo, this scrub sort of looks like chopped-up greens. The scent is interesting - kind of herbal/fresh/green, but with a tart, "sour" twist. This was my second favorite of the four. Again, I couldn't feel the salt or sugar with this scrub, and since the leaves aren't as abrasive as coffee grounds, I didn't feel as much exfoliation as with the coffee scrub. But after rinsing, my skin was soft and smooth without any noticeable oil left. This one was fairly easy to rinse out of the shower once I got all of the "grass clippings" (Ha!) going toward the drain.
Like the coffee scrub, I think this scrub would work best for those who have normal/oily skin, want a moderate amount of exfoliation, and/or only want lightweight hydration (no oily feeling on the skin). Great for the warmer, summer months! Those with dry/very dry skin may find they still need to apply additional moisturizing products after use.
Chocolate scrub
Ingredients: organic cacao nibs, organic coconut oil, organic cocoa butter, organic shea butter, organic brown sugar, organic jojoba oil, organic honeycomb, organic vitamin E, and organic sweet almond oil.
Chocolate is my weakness. When I opened this jar of scrub, it smelled good enough to eat (but please don't!). Such a yummy, chocolatey scent! The consistency is a little crumbly at first, but once you put it in your hand, it begins to melt. I found that I could rub it on my skin easily enough, but after a few seconds, it became more difficult, and chunks would fall to the shower floor. It seemed as if once the oil in the scrub was on my skin, it made it difficult for the cocoa nibs to move across my skin to exfoliate. So while it was my favorite scent, there was only minimal exfoliation, and it left oil on my skin after rinsing. It took a little patience to rinse the chocolate out of the shower, but the smell was divine!
I feel like the chocolate scrub is more suited for those who want light exfoliation, have dry skin or are trying to get a lot of hydration for their skin (don't mind oil left on their skin). For those with normal/oily skin, this is probably more suited for winter months when skin tends to be drier.
Rose scrub
Ingredients: organic rose bud petals, organic avocado oil, organic sweet almond oil, organic shea butter, organic brown sugar, organic jojoba oil, organic tea tree oil, organic coconut oil, and organic vitamin E.
This scrub looks so pretty - all of those little rose petals! It even smells delicate and pretty! But I had a little trouble using this one. The rose petals kept balling up between my hand and my skin, then that "ball" would fall onto the shower floor before I could really rub well onto my skin. I tried using less, but the amount didn't seem to matter - it just wanted to ball up. It provided the least amount of exfoliation of the four scrubs. After rinsing, I could feel that there was a pretty good amount of oil left on my skin. Clean-up: while those rose petals were pretty, it took forever to rinse them out of the shower!
Like the chocolate scrub, I think the rose scrub is more suited for those who want minimal exfoliation, have dry skin and/or want a lot of hydration for their skin. Normal/oily-skinned folks will probably like this one better in drier, winter months.
My thoughts:
First, I want to thank Simple Scrub for sending me their scrubs to try! I enjoyed using all of them. Two of them suited my needs better right now (in the warmer, summer months), and the other two will be better during the winter when my skin is drier and I want more oil on my skin.
Let me give you a quick "FYI" on different types of oils - because they're not all the same. Some lightweight oils (grapeseed, fractionated coconut) absorb quickly and leave skin soft. So you usually can't feel any trace of the oil. Some slightly heavier oils have average/moderate absorption, like jojoba, coconut, sweet almond, cocoa butter. They may take a bit longer to absorb, but they're still fairly lightweight and usually leave minimal to no trace. (Note: Even though jojoba is considered to be a little heavier, it is supposed to be most like the oil our bodies make - so it actually absorbs very well for most people.) Then there are the heavier oils that take some time to absorb (avocado, shea butter), so you are going to feel them on your skin for awhile.
The two scrubs that worked best for me - soursop and coffee - contain coconut, jojoba, and grapeseed oils. These oils tend to absorb more quickly and don't leave any traces on the skin. Perfect for my skin type and the hot, humid weather we're having here. They also contain shea butter, which is a heavier oil/butter, but it's further down on the ingredient list, so it wasn't a problem for me.
The chocolate and rose scrubs both contain almond oil, and the rose scrub has avocado oil listed as the second ingredient. Almond oil is an "average" absorbing oil, but it tends to not absorb as quickly as jojoba. Avocado oil is a heavier oil, which makes it slower to absorb and likely to leave some traces on your skin. Since my skin isn't particularly dry in the warmer months, I could feel the oil on my skin even after I rinsed off the scrub. When winter rolls around, the extra moisture will be appreciated. Make sense?
How to purchase and other details:
The scrubs are available from the Simply Scrub website in 3.5 oz. jars ($13-$16) and 9 oz. bags ($24-$36). They also offer a couple of gift packs with three jars of scrub in a gift bag ($36-$39). Free shipping is available for orders over $40.
You can sign up for the Simply Scrub newsletter on their website (scroll to the bottom of the page), and stay in touch with them on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
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