How to: Blackberry Exfoliating Hand Polish


Have you been infusing dried blackberries in oil lately?

Excellent!

Have you also been wondering what to do with the blackberries after you strained the oil? Well, here's a suggestion: make a fabulous blackberry hand polish (that you may also want to try out as an exfoliating body scrub too).

Not only do dried blackberries function well as exfoliating nuggets, they will soften fairly quickly as they get wet so are not very likely to clog your drain and cause wailing and gnashing of teeth by plumbing-concerned family members (not that I know anyone who fits that description or anything).

And – they make your hand polish look all kinds of pretty!


Preservative Free But There are Rules

This is a preservative-free easy-to-make product but it does come with a major requirement: absolutely no moisture is allowed in the jar. You're going to have to get a bit old fashioned and find an adorable wooden spoon to scoop out a portion for each use, but if you can live with that part, then you can leave out the preservative. If you can't live with it, add an appropriate preservative at the manufacturers recommended amount.

I usually make these kinds of scrubs without a preservative because I am forever trying out things and it's easy to allow for lots of experimentation and variation if you make small portions and use them up quickly.

And this is a relatively small portion. It will fill a 100 ml / 3.38 oz jar.  Shall we get busy?

LisaLise’s Blackberry Hand Polish

Ingredient Grams Ounces
Epsom salts 27.0 0.95
Fine Himalayan Salt 67.0 2.36
Blackberry Exfoliating Paste 15.0 0.53
Blackberry Infused Oil 50.0 1.76
Turkey Red Oil 10.0 0.35


Method

1. Prepare blackberry exfoliating paste (method described here)
2. Weigh out ingredients and add to bowl
3. Stir until mixed
4. Transfer to jar


Substitutions - Salts

You don't have to include epsom salts if you don't have them. You can pretty much combine any readily-dissolvable grains of your choice for the salt portion.

For example, any of these will do
  • Dead sea salt
  • Fine himalayan salt
  • Brown sugar
  • Castor Sugar



Substitutions - Oils

The turkey red oil (also called sulphated/sulfated castor oil) helps the other oil dissolve and rinse away easily. If you don't want to use this, you can replace it with another oil (but expect a greasier feel overall)

Feel free to substitute the infused oils with the oil of your preference. Some great oils for scrubs are:
  • sweet almond
  • apricot kernel
  • safflower/thistle
  • olive

Substitutions - Fruit Exfoliating Paste

You can pretty much use any dried herb you have been infusing in oil for this kind of scrub. I quite enjoy these dried blackberries as they add an extra dimension of exfoliation and an all-natural fragrance that gently greets the nose when the polish meets water. The blackberries I used in this batch were purchased in a health food shop and sold as an all natural, additive-free snack food.

Other botanicals that might be fun to try:
  • lavender
  • pomegranate seeds
  • raspberries
  • calendula
  • rose

Do Tell

Have you every made your own exfoliating paste and used it in a scrub? Please share in a comment below. 

Comments

Jade Forest Co. said…
Does the salt add some preservative power? I've recently been creating pressed herb salt scrubs(not sure if ots a real thing but tgats what i call it). Last summer I had lots of leftover, fresh herbs from the garden, and I pressed them between layers of salt , to infuse the salt for scent, some color, and benefits (and to later use in a scrub). I havent had any issues with mold. I don't however plan to use them , without first laying the mixtures out onto cookie sheets to let any residual water content evaporate. But the salt has preserved well.
LisaLise said…
HI Jade Violet - This is exactly the way people used to preserve meats and other food items in 'days of yore' - by completely surrounding the item with salt. So you are right about salt having preservative power, but in this particular scrub, the salt is there purely for skin benefits.