Yes, you did read that correctly. I am staggered at the price of some of body polishers, scrubs and the general quality of these that are available in the market. Uma’s anti-aging body scrub is US$ 50 for possibly 1 – 2 uses if you are a large person. That would cost a large person about US$200+ per month in just exfoliating scrubs. That’s ridiculous.
Each week, I’ll create a exfoliating body treatment out of the store cupboard ingredients that you’d typically find in a South Asian household.
Why do you need to exfoliate?
As you get older, your skin becomes slower at getting rid of the dead skin cells that form the visible layer of the skin. The rate of removal of dead skin (desquamation) can go from 28 days to 40 days, if not more. The problem with accumulating dead skin is that it increases trans-epidermal water loss from your skin and therefore, skin becomes drier. Dry skin is visually less appealing and accelerates the pace of your skin looking wrinkled and aged.
A simple solution is to exfoliate weekly or bi-weekly.
Today’s concoction
The stars of today’s exfoliating mix are pineapple and tomato. The aim is to use the fruit acids that are contained in the tomato and papain enzyme (in the pineapple pulp) to loosen the dead skin and allows you to scrub it off (with the chickpea flour). The olive oil has fatty acids that should prevent the lipid barrier in your skin from drying out.
You should find your skin is smooth and supple after the first use. You can use this upto a maximum of twice a week.
Instructions for use
- Use immediately after you’ve formed a paste
- You want to take a teaspoon at a time and rub small portions of your body counting to five (slowly) each time.
- Do not leave the paste on for longer than the duration it takes to rub your entire body.
- Do not use soap and excessively hot water.
- Do not store any excess
Should I use organic?
Preferably yes. You can always just keep a bottle of cold-pressed organic olive oil and use it only for this purpose. Also, you can adjust amounts to use less olive oil.
I hope that helps and please drop me a line (email@happyskindays.com) or leave a comment below with any suggestion you have