Banish Sandpaper Hands with this Homemade Sugar Scrub

Written By Tanya Thomlinson
A small mason jar of sugar hand scrub sits on a countertop with its green-and-white checkered lid resting against it. At the bottom of the photo, a cupped hand holds about a teaspoon of hand scrub.

This sugar scrub exfoliates your hands and leaves them baby-soft. And, you can make it easily in a few minutes with inexpensive ingredients you probably already have!

In keeping with February’s theme of self-care, I’m including a recipe for a homemade sugar scrub. I have to use a hand scrub at least once a week. Yes, I said “have to”. For one thing, I’m a massage therapist, so I wash my hands about a hundred times a day and that’s only a very slight exaggeration. And for another thing, I live in Calgary, where the air is ridiculously dry. Those two little facts combine to create a recipe for really dry hands. So yeah, this hand scrub is self-care for me … but it’s also kind of for my clients. Because believe me: nobody wants a massage therapist whose hands feel like medium-grit sandpaper.

When my latest jar of scrub was getting close to empty, I asked myself why I was always spending money on expensive scrubs when I could likely make one quite easily, for pennies, using ingredients I already had. Five minutes on Pinterest showed me that I was right. There were so many that looked good, I decided to combine what looked like the best elements from several, and create my own recipe. And I’m so happy with the result, I wanted to share it here with you.

Gather all your ingredients together.

DIY Sugar Scrub

2/3 cup white granulated sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup fractionated coconut oil

Essential oils (your favourite fragrances or combination thereof)

A blue glass bowl containing white and brown sugar sits on a countertop. A measuring cup containing 1/4 cup of fractionated coconut oil is being poured into the bowl. In the background is a small empty mason jar and two bottles of essential oils.

Adding the fractionated coconut oil.

Combine white and brown sugar in a medium-size mixing bowl. Pour in fractionated coconut oil and whisk together well. Add a few drops of your favourite essential oils and whisk until well mixed. I used Citrus Bliss and Vanilla, and my scrub smells like a Creamsicle. Oh. My. Word. So good. Scoop the scrub into a 300 mL mason jar and seal tightly.

A blue glass bowl containing a sugar scrub sits on a countertop. A metal whisk is being used to combine the ingredients.

Whisking it all together.

A small mason jar filled with brown sugar scrub sits on a countertop. Its green-and-white checkered lid sits on the countertop, leaning against the jar.

Scoop into a 300-mL mason jar and it’s ready to use … or to give to someone special!

To use: I like to slather my hands with a really thick unscented hand cream and massage it in so my hands and wrists are covered. Using a spoon or spatula, scoop a generous teaspoon of sugar scrub into your hand and scrub all the dry, dead skin away. Rinse well and follow up with some of your favourite hand cream. I usually do this right before bed, so the hand cream has all night to sink in and soften my skin.

I won’t be buying pricey scrubs anymore. In related news, I’ve got a great idea for 2023 holiday gift-giving!

Tanya Thomlinson
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