A few years ago I found an online article by Melissa Breyer for Care2.com on how to make a natural body scrub. She suggested that if you have too many bananas in the fruit bowl and some are getting over-ripe, skip the banana bread and feed your skin instead. She shared a luxuriant yet simple homemade banana sugar scrub.

There are lots of commercial bath scrubs out there, but we want to think twice before using these. The skin is the largest organ of the body and it will absorb what's applied to it. So we want to be sure to apply things that will nourish as well as smooth it.

And bananas are a "natural" for body care. Their creamy pulp is luscious and soothing, and works well as a carrier for other ingredients. Banana is nourishing (loads of potassium the skin can actually use) and moisturizing, and can be used for gentle exfoliation and skin-tightening.

In this simple formula, bananas and sugar are combined for a wonderfully aromatic and gente exfoliating body scrub. Other readers of the article left comments - all positive. Folks said the aroma was amazing and their skin felt wonderful long after their showers.

The only downside, if it's a downside at all, is that it should be used VERY quickly because the sugar starts dissolving immediately, minimizing the exfoliation effect. Others also said it rinsed easily down the drain - the banana dissolved as the water from the shower hit it.

And now I'll add my own tip to Melissa's wonderful idea: If you have more than one over-ripe banana, and you don't want, or don't have time to bake with them, peel them and freeze them in plastic zippered freezer bags. This way you'll have bananas galore when you're in the mood for another nourishing scrub!

Banana Sugar Scrub

Cleanse and smooth dry skin naturally with this nourishing sugar scrub!

Ingredients:
1 over-ripe banana mashed
4 or 5 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract or essential oil of choice (optional)


Directions:

Mash ingredients together with a fork into a chunky paste. Do not overmix or it will become too watery. If you want a banana scrub for your face, reserve some of the banana and mash it separately without sugar.
In the shower, before turning the water on, slather the sugar mixture and gently massage over your body. For your face, gently massage plain banana there, avoiding the eye area.
Rinse off with warm water.

Recipe formatted with the Cook'n Recipe Software from DVO Enterprises.

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