My Soft Skin Secret

I'm all for self-acceptance.  Even though I know I don't turn heads walking down the street like a Victoria Secret model does, when I get ready for the day I look at at my 170 pound self in the bathroom mirror, stretch marks and all, and I stick my tush out an tousle my hair, pout my lips and murmur to myself "Ooh I look good!"  It's like I have reverse body dysmorphia.  


So, most of the time, I like my body.  But when I tune into Downton Abby on Netflix and PBS, I find myself in unabashed admiration of Lady Mary's alabaster skin.  This past week I played "I-Spy" with her freckles.  Among a pale sea of perfectly smooth skin, I counted just two of them.  Someone sign that girl up for a Neutrogena commercial!  


I'm sure I should credit the makeup and lighting teams for such envy-producing skin because I know that most of us fair-skinned folk have a rough go of it.  I sunburn easily, have the oh-so-common little red bumps on my upper arms called keratosis pilaris, and my feet are so pale during winter that it looks like I'm wearing bleach-white socks.  Once when walking by Wrigley Field before a Cubs game in early Spring, some bro-dude scalping tickets said: "Anybody selling tickets or need tickets or need...[seeing me walking by in my shorts] a tanning salon?"  I'm a White Sox fan now.


I don't go tanning, and I'm not so great at applying bronzer, so I'm stuck with my fair and sensitive skin.  But I have found a way to make it much softer in texture and appearance: homemade body scrubs.


I learned about using an olive oil and sugar scrub from a natural spa workshop in Chicago.  But I didn't start keeping a jar of it in my shower until I became vegan.  Books like Eating Animals, Skinny Bitch, The China Study, and movies like Food, Inc. and Forks Over Knives - they all imbue an acute skepticism towards the government and industry's marketing of food to the masses.  For example, the famous Got Milk? campaign told us that milk helps us build strong bones.  But permit me to drop this fact bomb on you: did you know that countries that drink the most cow's milk have the highest rates of osteoporosis in the world?  


This consumer skepticism spread quickly from my kitchen to my bathroom.  I started questioning the claims on the bottles of my shower gel and moisturizers.  It turns out that natural oils do an astounding job of moisturizing my skin, especially against dry winter weather, and I don't have to worry what "cyclopentasiloxane" is.  Now I love my homemade body scrub so much that I divvied up a big batch of it into individual jars, and gave it out as Christmas presents.  


I still make the occasional shopping trip to CVS for the products I'm not ready to give up yet, like my tinted moisturizer and benzoyl peroxide (hello, adult acne!). But I sure like being able to shop for my shower scrub in my pantry.  And no worries my skin absorbing weird chemicals - I eat both of the ingredients everyday!


I also use a 1/4 teaspoon of sugar to exfoliate my face a few nights a week.  If you find it to be too rough, you can also use baking soda.  And, if you are good with bronzer/self-tanner, the oil leftover on your skin from this scrub will make application a breeze!  

Soft Skin Hand and Body Scrub
2 cups sugar
1 cup olive oil
10-20 drops of essential oil like lavender (optional, available at Whole Foods)