Coconut Oil + Sugar = EasyHappyLove

The Hubster and I enjoying a lovely summer evening together.

I have my grandmother’s feet.  Thick, wide, nearly always barefoot.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way.  They’re a sweet reminder of the woman who always had a homemade treat waiting for my sister and I when we’d get home after school.  The woman who perfected the art of the homemade potato chip.  The woman who always had hugs aplenty, and who hid her red-covered Harlequin novels under the cushion of her favorite mustard-yellow chair.

But sometimes these feet of mine get gacky.  Being barefoot so much means dry, rough, calloused feet.  And for me, finding the time to regularly make it in for a pedicure…well, it just doesn’t happen.  Too many other things have priority on my time.

The other day while I was bemoaning the mildly disgusting condition of the soles of my feet, I came across this blog (via Pinterest, of course) for a recipe for a homemade hand scrub.  I bookmarked the website under “Blog Stuff” (which is code-name for I’ll-probably-never-look-at-it-again) and promptly forgot about it.

Until yesterday.  Yesterday, I looked down at my feet and thought, “This is what hobbit’s feet must look like.  Minus the hair.”

Even minus the hair, it’s not a pretty picture.  Blarrrrrrg.

I needed a pedicure.  Badly.  But it was rainy outside.  I love the rain, but I wasn’t in the mood to be out in it.   Not to mention, it was laundry day.  Which meant the only clothes I had that were clean could be described as Nouveau Hobo.  Oh, yes.  The holes in the armpits of my very favorite slum-out t-shirt are the epitome of awesomesauce.

I needed an in-home solution for my Hobbit’s Feet.  And suddenly I remembered that blog post.

As I re-read it, I realized I would need to tweak it a bit in order for it to work for me.  For starters, her recipe called for olive oil.  While I LOVE olive oil for cooking and eating, I don’t dig the smell of it on me.  I decided to use coconut oil because (1) it’s a FABULOUS emollient and (2) when it’s expeller pressed, it’s scent-free.  (Actually, coconut oil has a laundry list of uses and benefits – I highly recommend you check out this link.) 

Also, her recipe called for lemons, but I was out of freshies.  Enter a sad little orange  a bit past its prime sitting on my counter.  It now had a different fate than being tossed in the trash.

Myndi’s Hodge-Podge Recipe for Awesomesauce Body Scrub

2 Cups white granulated sugar

1/2  Cup Coconut Oil (warmed slightly so it would turn to liquid)

1 orange, juice

1 orange peel, grated

Vanilla extract, just a little, to add a sweetness to the smell

Mix together.

Once it was mixed and the kitchen tidied up, off I went to my bathroom to try my new homemade scrub out.

And WOW.

My scary hobbit feet were no more.  All the rough skin was gone, and the coconut oil softened them fabulously.  And of course, my hands benefitted equally – they were soft and moisturized and lovely.

I’m in love, I’m in love, and I don’t care who knows it!

The only thing I think I would have done differently is to have made a little less.  Since it’s all food-based ingredients, it can spoil, and I don’t know that I’ll get through it all before it goes bad.  But, it’s a recipe that would be easily halved, and I’m hoping that keeping it in the fridge will increase it’s shelf life.

And I really dig the idea of making a batch to give away in pretty little jars.  What a lovely gift it would make!

What kind of homemade beauty remedies do you use?  Think you’ll give this one a go?  C’mon, share your beauty secrets with the rest of us!

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