Scrubs and Masks

I am a very dry skinned person and often have difficulty with itching and flakiness as well as eczema in the past.  My main fight against this has been to find products that don't irritate my skin and improve my general health, but while this has been happening I've been needing products to help pull off the dead skin from my face and body (so lovely).  Obviously I wanted products which more on the natural and definitely that had none of those little, plastic microbeads.

Body scrubs.
It took me a while to find a 'natural' scrub I liked the look of to even think about buying.  I wanted something that was simple and natural enough that there would be a possibility for me to replicate the product later on down the line.

So, the scrub I ended up buying was the Naturally Thinking Body Polish Salt Scrub with Uplifting Bergamot and Circulation Reviving Orange.  This product smells gorgeous and the oils really helped moisturised my skin and put some moisture back in, but the salt granules which are meant to be the exfoliant are a little bit too large for me and I didn't really feel that they did a particularly good job at removing the dead skin on my body.  It also made the bottom of my shower very slippery and definitely stung if I had any cuts or scratches.  However, if you like oil based scrubs, definitely look at what Naturally Thinking has to offer as they have other scents and also have a scrubs that uses ground olives instead of salt.  I am intrigued by their body exfoliate lotion though - so maybe in the future.........

I had started to look for another natural scrub and was also reading about possible scrubs I could make at home when I came across an article about using a body brush to not only remove dead skin, but also help circulation and remove toxins from the body.  So I thought I would give it a go and brought one.  It's quite nice to just spend those few minutes before a shower to brush your body, you don't have to be harsh (it shouldn't hurt), and it has been very effective as removing the dead skin.  In fact, it's been so effective and simple I've stopped looking for anything else.  I then just moisturise after the shower - so thank you Japan for another great idea!

Face scrubs.
Face scrubs are always much harder for me than body scrubs as the skin on my face is more sensitive and can't take as much abrasion.  I had been using the Soap and Glory Scrub Your Nose In It for many years and it's been very effective in removing the dry patches on my face as well as cleaning my pores - in fact I would really recommend it.  But, as with the body, I wanted to find something more 'natural'.  

As I was looking for a body scrub at Naturally Thinking I decided to look at their face scrubs and picked up the Orange, Lemon, & Vitamin C exfoliating face polish.  Though I wasn't keen on the body scrub I do really like this face polish.  The granules are nice and small (made from pumice) and really do a good job of removing the dry patches on my face.  The coconut oil was also very moisturising and my skin felt so soft afterwards.  This is another product I would definitely recommend.

In my research on natural exfoliants I had repeatedly read that if you have dry skin on your face it's not good to use physical exfoliants as they can cause small scratches on the skin.  So I started to looking for something similar to a chemical exfoliant and came across a sample of the Juice Beauty Green Apple Peel Sensitive and loved it so much I brought the full pot.  This can sting a little on your skin when you first put it on and does cause me to flush this a little (apparently that's normal), but it goes away and once you've washed it off your skin is so soft.  It is pretty pricey at around £42, but it lasts for such a long time and is so effective I definitely think it's worth the price.  I also like that this product is in a glass jar, which is much easier to recycle.  I usually try and get this done once a week, and it is really helping keep my skin flake free as well as helping to even out my skin tone.  I did think about getting the full strength peel rather than the sensitive, but this is effective enough for me and I'm not sure my skin would be able to take the stronger strength.

The next product isn't really a face scrub (though it does have some scrubbing action when you remove it), but it has been part of the fight against dryness.  It's the Kae natural clay from Morocco.  Kae does a range of difference clay based on what your needs are and I thought this would be the most suitable for my skin.  It comes dry and I usually either mix it with water or with my face oil.  I definitely notice a difference in my skin with this and the best bit is that it seems to be lasting forever.

So, that's my very short journey to finding scrubs that suit me.  None of it is sponsored by if you're interested the websites I've got these from (other than Boots) are www.naturallythinking.com and www.naturisimo.com .