Give Me Some Shugah!

March 2022 Issue
by Wendy Kushel

I had never heard of a sugar scrub until the day I got too much sun. I asked my friend, who was a makeup artist, if she had a remedy for being too tan. I had an audition for some TV thing, and too tan is a no-no. She told me to mix some sugar and coconut oil together and rub it all over myself in the shower. Wow! That was a good time and it felt amazing! My skin felt as soft as a baby seal except without the fish breath. I was hooked but still tan. Oh well, no acting career for me but at least now I know what a sugar scrub is and how fantastic it makes your skin feel. It’s nature’s extra sweet exfoliant!

My too-tan first attempt at homemade sugar scrub was basic but here are some other ingredients commonly found in sugar scrubs on the market these days:

Sugar: Duh—hence the name sugar scrub. Sugar is a natural humectant, which means it draws moisture from its surroundings and gears it toward your skin when you rub it in. Sugar also does its thing as an exfoliant, lifting and buffing the old rough dry yucky dead skin cells (Don’t you feel like you’re going through a car wash?) that have no business hanging around on your perfect extremely sexy bod.

Coconut Oil: Known for readily soaking into the skin, keeping it hydrated, which helps to reduce the dry skin we all get from living our best life. (Think beach, pool, boating, golf, tennis…)

Shea Butter: Shea butter is a fat. Ugh, there’s a word. Isn’t it crazy how good fat can be for you when you put it on the outside of your body? Fact is shea butter is from the shea nut. Oh, great! Fat and a nut, now I’m just describing myself. This luxurious thick body butter is amazing and chock full of vitamins A and E. Do you know what that means? Antioxidants, which help to protect your skin cells from stuff that can lead to dull-looking skin. Some folks also proclaim that shea butter has anti-aging properties, but I’m no doctor so I ain’t sayin’ yay or nay. (But, I love schmeering it all over my face.)

Some of the “better” sugar scrubs contain oils in addition to coconut oil. Some examples are jojoba (pronounced Ho Ho Ba—how fun is that) seed oil, sunflower seed oil and argan oil. All of these have huge amounts of vitamin E and omega 6 fatty acids (again with the fat). These particular fatty acids help keep skin hydrated, plumper (in a good way) and bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

Sugar scrubs are best when applied from the neck to the ankles in a circular motion. They should be used in the shower or bathtub because they need water so the sugar melts into your skin and the moisturizing oils spread all over your gorgeousness.

Note to self: Try not to let a lot of water settle into the container. Close it up between uses and consider using a serving vessel—not a cruise ship, a spoon will suffice.

Oh! One more thing…since sugar scrubs are oil-based they tend to melt around 78-degrees. Sorry but the outside shower thing in the hot summers of the LowCountry may not be the best option.

Happy Scrubbing!

Wendy Kushel is the owner of LowCountry Sugar Scrub, LLC based in Bluffton, SC. New to the Beauty & Personal Care Industry, Wendy’s background includes stand-up comedy, film, TV, and a lot of sales and marketing. For more information about Wendala’s® LowCountry Sugar Scrub visit www.lowcountrysugarscrub.com or call/text 843-949-8933.