Natural Face Scrub

Bi carb soda, water, lemon and tea tree oil are all you need.

This is a facial scrub I've been making for a while and find it to be wonderful. It gets the face really clean. With 2 teenagers- one who works using deep fryers- I wanted to find something that would rid their faces of excess oils, have natural ingredients and not cost an arm and a leg. So I decided to make my own.

 I started researching the causes of acne. Acne is actually caused by the skins pores being blocked with oil, so this is why most expensive foamy facial cleansers will not help acne. The only way to really clean out the pores is to use an exfoliate. I wrote an article here on my top 5 natural skin exfoliates and decided that bi- carb soda would make a cheap and easy to store cleanser.

Bi carbonate of soda is good for everything. I use it to clean my oven, sinks, shower screen, in my homemade stain remover and cleaning spray, and I use it in bath salts and as a face scrub. I have now found I can buy bi carb in 25kg bags which works out to be only $1.27 a kilo, so exciting for me!

Making the face scrub is easy, just find a suitable container- a plastic one with a good lid is ideal.I store our scrub in the shower.

Fill the container just over half full with the bi carb.

Now add just enough water to make a smooth but thick paste and stir well.

Then add a 5 drops of lemon and 5 drops of tea tree oil. Lemon oil is a natural astringent and tea tree is great for treating acne. I also buy my essential oils in bulk which is much cheaper, but if you don't have these oils on hand the scrub will still work well without them. Because this cleanser is so cheap to make, (around 30-40c per container with oils) I find the oils to be a nice addition.

Stir to make a thick paste.