Homemade Face Scrub For Glowing Skin

This recipe is for a homemade face scrub that contains jojoba beads to exfoliate your face.

Forget store bought, learn how to make a homemade face scrub that will gently exfoliate your skin without all the chemicals.The lovely jojoba beads in the face scrub is what gives it the gentle exfoliating power. Not only is this face scrub simple to make, it is also inexpensive.

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As always, you can customize the formula to fit your specific skin care needs.

How often should I exfoliate my face?

Normally I would say that you want to be careful with how often you are exfoliating, but this homemade face wash is such a mild exfoliator, it could be used for everyday use. Plus, the jojoba beads are round with no sharp edges that can cause skin irritation.

Using your homemade face scrub

Apply the face scrub to your face. Using two fingers, gently rub the face scrub in circular motions all over your face to exfoliate.  When you are done, rinse your face with warm water and pat dry.

Water Phase Ingredients

Xanthan Gum

Xanthan gum is a natural product that used to thicken our face scrub. It creates a gel like consistency for the face wash. The really cool thing about this is that even though it thickens the face wash, it does not jeopardize the foam from the surfactant.

Propylene Glycol

Propylene glycol is used as a humectant and a wetting agent.

Table Salt

Table salt is used with the Xanthan Gum to increase the viscosity of the face scrub.

DIstilled water

Always use distilled as all water is not created equal.

How to mix Water Phase ingredients?

Ok, so the water phase ingredients need to be mixed in a specific way. If you just toss all the water phase ingredients into a container, it is going to be super hard to get the xanthan gum to mix in. This is because the gum starts to hydrate almost immediately, often before the gum is dispersed. You will wind up with little clumps of it stick together (called fish eyes or lumping). This can sometimes be corrected with a high sheer mixing with an immersion blender but it is a pain to do.

The best way to prevent this is to mix the xanthan gum with your propylene glycol first. It will be a milky color when mixed.

The xanthan gum is not going to start to swell until it is mixed with water. The glycol allows the xanthan gum to spread out easier, thus reducing the changes of it swelling too early.

After this slurry is fully mixed, add it to the water phase. You will heat the slurry on a double boiler until it is fully mixed.

Below are how the mixture looks before and after heating it.

Next you will add your last water phase ingredient to the slurry, the salt. You will notice it start to thicken almost immediately.

Oil Phase Ingredients

Olive oil

You can swap the olive oil out for another oil of your choice. I prefer olive oil on my face because it is moisturizing and it does not clog my pores!

Cool Down Phase Ingredients

Decyl Glucoside

Decyl glucoside is my goto surfactant. This surfactant is non-ionic surfactant, meaning it does not have a charge but it still lowers the surface tension of water. It is suitable for sensitive skin. In fact, it is often used in baby shampoo because it is so mild. Even though it is mild, it has a good foam to it.

Preservative

Remember, anytime you add water to a formula or it is likely water will get in it, you must use a broad spectrum preservative. I am using optiphen plus in this formula.

Jojoba beads

Jojoba beads are made from jojoba oil. The reason why these are used in this scrub is because the edges of the beads are smooth. They do not have any sharp edges that can cause microscopic tears on your skin.

Since these beads are made out of jojoba ester (wax), it is important not to add them to the face wash until it is below 120° F or they can melt.

Another thing that I love is that they come in a whole slew of different colors so you can customize your face wash.

Here you can see the finished face wash on a blue spatula. You can see the white jojoba beads that I used.

Print Recipe

Homemade Face Scrub

Learn how to make your own face scrub with jojoba beads right at home with this recipe. I love the exfoliating benefits the jojoba beads bring to this face wash.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

Servings: 8 ounce

Cost: $5

Equipment

• Double boiler
• Container with lid
• Scale to weigh ingredients
• Spatula
• Mixing container with pouring spout
• Infrared thermometer

Ingredients

Water Phase

• 5.98 ounce | 74.84% Distilled Water
• 0.11 ounce | 1.33% Xanthan Gum
• 0.32 ounce | 4% Propylene Glycol
• 0.03 ounce | 0.33% Table Salt

Oil Phase

• 0.40 ounce | 5% Olive Oil

Cool Down Phase

• 1.04 ounce | 13% Decyl Glucoside
• 0.16 ounce | .50% Essential Oils
• 0.08 ounce | 1% Preservative
• Jojoba Beads

Instructions

• Weight your water phase ingredients.
• Start by mixing your Xanthan Gum with the Propylene Glycol to wet the gum.
  
• Add the slurry to the water mixture.
  
• In a separate heat safe container, weight out your olive oil.
• Heat both the water phase and oil phase on a double boiler. Stirring the water phase ingredients the entire time.
• After the water phase ingredients are mixed thoroughly, remove from the heat.
• Add the salt to the water phase ingredients and mix well. You will notice that it will thicken almost immediately.
  
• Add the heated oil phase (olive oil) to the water phase and mix.
  
• When the temperature is below 120° F, add all the cool down ingredients, except the jojoba beads. Mix well.
• Add your desired amount of jojoba beads and carefully mix.
  
• Pour the exfoliating homemade face wash into your container.
  
• Enjoy!