You can make exfoliating lip scrubs and body scrubs at home using ingredients in your kitchen such as used coffee grounds and brown sugar! Keep your skin exfoliated the zero waste way!

We have a few simple zero waste exfoliator recipes to share! Most of the ingredients can be bought in bulk without packaging and plastic free and most of the ingredients will already be in your pantry.

Ive made these for myself, as well as as a gift for others. They are so easy to make, only involving measuring and mixing.

They are messy to make though! And messy to use too, but they leave your lips and skin feeling wonderfully smooth and hydrated, removing dry, flaky skin and moisturising at the same time.

Just a word of warning about rinsing too much coconut oil down your drains - it can block your pipes, so don’t use these homemade exfoliators too often and don’t rinse too much coconut oil down the drain.

It is also usually too oily for your face, so use these scrubs on your lips and body only to prevent breakouts.

Whether you need to get your skin and lips ready for a summer beach holiday or they need some tender loving care in the middle of winter, these DIY exfoliator recipes will sort your skin out!

Make Your Own Exfoliating Body Scrub

There are many varying recipes for an exfoliating body scrub - you can use used coffee grounds and brown sugar or just used coffee grounds or just brown sugar.

Start collecting your used coffee grounds in a plastic container or glass jar in the fridge or take a container to your local cafe and ask them to fill it up for you. Any cafe will have mountains of the stuff and my local was more than happy to hand me some to use to make gifts for my work mates.

Most of the ingredients you should be able to get from a bulk store, or in paper packaging or glass packaging. Some you can DIY, such as vanilla essence, but this takes a while so you’ll want it in your kitchen cupboard ready to go.

Once made, store them in a jar in the fridge and don’t leave them too long before you use them - no preservatives mean they won’t last forever. You may need to let it heat up and remix it before use if it has been in the fridge for a while.

Recipe One

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup of coconut oil

• 2 cups of used coffee grounds

• Add 2 cups of raw sugar

• Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla essence

Melt the coconut oil and let cool (if it’s Australian summer it’ll already be melted).

Add the coffee grounds, sugar, and vanilla essence.

Stir.

Recipe Two

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup oil (coconut or olive)

• 1/2 cup of used coffee grounds

• 1/4 cup brown sugar

• 2 tbs honey

Melt the coconut oil if needed and if using, add the rest of the ingredients and stir.

Recipe Three

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup brown sugar

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 10 drops of essential oil of your choice

Simply mix the ingredients together!

@thegreenmum suggests using sweet orange essential oil and says you can replace the sugar with old coffee grounds and get a similar effect.

Make Your Own Exfoliating Lip Scrub

You’ll need to make a lot less of the lip scrub and you’ll need a small container to put it in. I used a mini body cream bottle I took home from a hotel one holiday in my pre-zero waste days.

Or just make how much you need and use it straight away.

Easy to quickly whip up when your lips are dry and flaky, this recipe from @helloglowblog gets rid of those little bits peeling off and they don't come back!

Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

• 1/2 tablespoon raw honey

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon powder

Simply mix the ingredients together.

Then rub on your lips and rinse off with warm water.

Let us know if you’ve tried any of these and how you found them or if you have any other variations you use!

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