Keep your skin smooth with this simple homemade pink grapefruit sugar scrub. It’s so quick and easy to make with just 3 natural ingredients. The grapefruit gives this body scrub a beautiful pink colour and it smells amazing. Grapefruit sugar scrub also makes the perfect gift.

homemade pink grapefruit sugar scrub in glass jar with fresh grapefruit and blue hydrangea

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Benefits of using sugar scrub

I can remember growing up that my mother used to make a simple scrub with sugar and lemon juice. She’d use it on her hands or her elbows to keep them smooth.

This divine smelling grapefruit sugar scrub works the same way. The sugar granules act as an exfoliant, helping to smooth rough skin, while the coconut oil moisturises. Pink grapefruit adds the subtle pink colour and the amazing smell.

You can use this sugar scrub to keep your hands soft and smooth, or use it as an all over body scrub. I love using it on my legs too. Personally I don’t use sugar scrub on my face, as I find it is too abrasive. Some people do use on it their lips. And when it tastes this good, why wouldn’t you?

How to use sugar scrub

Homemade sugar scrub is best used on clean skin. After a shower is the perfect time to exfoliate, once you have dried off with a towel.

Take a small amount of scrub in your hands, and gently massage over the skin in circular motions to exfoliate.

Wash off the scrub and pat skin dry before applying extra moisturiser if needed.

Another perfect time to use grapefruit sugar scrub is in the kitchen, after you’ve done washing up. Apply some scrub to your hands, massage all over, front and back, and then rinse off in the kitchen sink. You won’t even need to add hand lotion afterwards as the coconut oil will leave your hands soft. I keep my scrub near the kitchen sink just for this.

Pink grapefruit scrub ingredients

Homemade pink grapefruit sugar only has 3 ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 red or pink grapefruit (zest, and 3 tablespoons of juice)

These all natural ingredients will make your scrub smell delicious, almost so good that you could eat it. And if you wanted to, you could!

If you prefer to use raw (brown sugar), that’s fine, but it will mean your finished scrub won’t be quite as pink.

pink grapefruit, sugar and coconut oil with citrus zester on marble background

Red, pink or yellow grapefruit

You can use either red or pink grapefruit to make this sugar scrub. Both have juice that is a pretty shade of pink that will give a beautiful colour to the finished scrub. And the main reason for including the grapefruit zest and juice is for the delicious zesty citrus fragrance. Both red ad pink grapefruit will give this scrub an amazing scent.

For this recipe I used the Ruby Red grapefruit variety. You could use any variety of pink or red grapefruit to get the same effect. If you can’t find a pink or red variety, even standard yellow grapefruit will smell wonderful.

Method

Add one cup of sugar to a small bowl.

Measure 1/4 cup of coconut oil and add to the sugar. The coconut oil is best used soft (room temperature) but not completely melted.

Use a zester to zest the skin of the grapefruit into the bowl. Then cut the grapefruit in half and juice with a citrus juicer. Add 3 Tablespoons of grapefruit juice to bowl.

Mix all ingredients together until well combined.

Transfer the scrub mix to your preferred storage jar. A small wide-mouthed mason jar works well, but any clean container with a well. fitting lid is suitable.

This sugar scrub recipe makes about 1 1/4 cups. You can easily double the recipe to make more for gifts.

How to store grapefruit sugar scrub

Pink grapefruit sugar scrub is best stored in a cool place as the coconut oil will melt if it gets too warm. It will keep in an airtight container for up to 2 months (if it lasts that long!).

If you are going to give grapefruit sugar scrub as gifts – and it would be perfect for Mothers Day – store the scrub in a pretty jar and add a ribbon or label to finish.

Love grapefruit?

If you love the colour and fragrance of red and pink grapefruit, make sure you check out our amazing pink grapefruit gift ideas (to gift or keep for yourself!). Or make our delicious prawn and red grapefruit salad.

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