With its rich texture and unforgettably sweet aroma, sugar is one of the most popular natural beauty ingredients on the market. Sugar scrub is a great go-to product to help exfoliate the skin and to pamper yourself on a self-care night. Although many benefits come from using sugar scrub on the skin, it’s essential to know precisely how sugar scrub works. Here is everything you need to know about sugar scrub and whether it’s safe to use on your skin.
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How Does Sugar Scrub Work?
Sugar scrub works to exfoliate the skin as a physical exfoliator. The tiny granules from the sugar buff away and remove dead skin cells, encouraging cell turnover and fresh skin growth, leaving you with glowing skin. This leaves your skin looking and feeling rejuvenated, refreshed, and soft. But, if you don’t use sugar scrub correctly and on the right parts of your body, you could be left with red, raw, or irritated skin.
Should you use a sugar scrub on your face?
The short answer is no. Sugar scrub isn’t an excellent option to use to exfoliate your face. There are many facial sugar scrubs on the beauty market, but they can be pretty harsh and rigid on the face.
A body sugar scrub will have larger sugar granules and particles, while a facial scrub will have smaller ones, but – these granules can still be too harsh on some people’s skin. Tiny granules like the ones in facial sugar scrubs can cause damage to sensitive facial tissue, like scratches and irritation to the skin. Even if you don’t struggle with sensitive skin, it’s best to avoid sugar scrub on your face and opt for a washcloth or mild exfoliation.
Our Pick
Makeup Eraser Tone & Exfoliate Puff ($15)
Makeup Eraser cloths made headlines when they became the first washcloth on the market to remove makeup, including waterproof makeup, with just water. One side removes makeup while the other gently exfoliates the face to remove dead skin cells, leaving your skin touchably smooth. This kit costs $15, but you can also pick up a single puff to try them out before committing to a set.
Finding A Sugar Scrub For Your Face
Although this is likely to irritate your skin, some sugar scrubs on the market aren’t horrible. If you don’t have sensitive skin and are looking for a decent sugar scrub, check out brown sugar face scrubs. Then, make sure that you carefully read reviews. After purchasing a new sugar scrub, take the time to do a patch test on your face to ensure that it doesn’t irritate your skin.
Can you use a sugar scrub on your lips?
Although sugar scrub isn’t ideal for exfoliating your face, it can benefit your lips. Our lips are generally chapped and dry because of their lower density of oil glands. Exfoliating them with sugar scrub once a week can help your lips feel soft and heal from damage from weather elements like the sun or harsh winter weather. When applying sugar scrub to your lips, be gentle so as not to cut your lips or leave them feeling raw by over-exfoliating.
Sugar scrubs with Vitamins C and E and botanical butter and shea butter will both hydrate and exfoliate the lips. Seek out scrubs with petroleum and beeswax, as these ingredients help hydrate and moisturize your lips.
Avoid using lip sugar scrubs with chemical plumping agents if you’ve never used them before, as these can irritate your lips. Lip products with hyaluronic acid and peptides can give your lips a naturally plump look without chemical ingredients.
Our Pick
Vegan And Cruelty-Free Sugar Scrub By Hanalei ($16.99)
This sugar scrub is specially designed the be the ultimate treatment for your lips. Hawaiin sugar gently exfoliates the lips, helping to remove dead skin. Then, moisturizing ingredients like shea butter nourish, smooth, and protect lips for a kissably smooth pout.
Can you use a sugar scrub on your body?
Yes – you can use a sugar scrub on your body! It’s safe and beneficial to exfoliate your body with a sugar scrub as it has many healing properties. The sugar scrub will naturally remove dead skin cells from the top layer of your skin and reveal your healthy skin cells underneath. By hydrating and moisturizing your healthy skin cells, sugar scrub will leave you with rejuvenated, smooth, and soft skin. It also helps stimulate and increase blood circulation, giving your skin that beautiful, healthy glow.
Our Pick
Tree Hut Tropical Mango Sugar Scrub ($10.99)
This sugar scrub contains fine sugar granules to exfoliate your skin, revealing the smooth skin underneath. It’s packed with powerful ingredients like shea butter to give you smooth, moisturized skin. A powerful combination of six oils nourishes the skin, leaving it hydrated and protected.
How often should you exfoliate?
Before using sugar scrub on your skin, you must know how often you should exfoliate. Beauty experts recommend exfoliating your body one to two times per week if you have sensitive skin, two to three times per week for normal skin, and three to four times per week for oily skin.
The best time to exfoliate your skin with a sugar scrub is after you bathe and towel dry your skin. Massage the scrub into your skin in a circular motion to help you improve your blood circulation. If you would prefer exfoliate in the shower, you can lather yourself in the sugar scrub and wash it off in the shower to get the same results.
Benefits Of Sugar Scrub For Skin
There are many excellent benefits of using sugar scrub on your skin, whether on your lips or your body. We’ve rounded up the top 8 benefits of using sugar scrub on your skin.
- Naturally exfoliates, hydrates, and smooths the skin – sugar scrub clears dead skin build-up by removing dead skin cells.
- Brightens tired, dull-looking skin to promote glowing, healthy skin.
- Helps to prevent and draw out any ingrown hairs – applying sugar scrub in a circular motion around problem areas helps draw out ingrown hairs.
- It fights aging, wrinkles, and dry skin.
- It helps you get a flawless, even tan by removing the dead skin when used before tanning.
- Removes toxins like pollution, UV rays, and pesticides.
- Unclogs pores – scrubbing away dead skin cells helps to unclog pores and prevent breakouts.
- Helps skin easily absorb skin care products – when dead skin cells are scrubbed away, your skin can better absorb skincare products like lotions and moisturizers.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re looking to add sugar scrub into your weekly self-care and pamper routine or want to help exfoliate your skin, there are many reasons why you should incorporate sugar scrub into your beauty routine. When appropriately used, sugar scrub is a great natural exfoliant that will give your skin a refreshed, natural glow.
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