To be totally honest, I’m not a big bath and body person. In fact, I don’t even like baths. They make me tired. Yesterday I was watching RV tour videos (more details on our RV move soon!) and a lot of people had installed door organizers for their bathrooms. I thought, well, that’s one less thing that I need because I make my own shampoo, deodorant, detergent and some other things. I don’t wear makeup. If I do it’s mascara and chapstick, the only makeup I own. I just like to keep it simple.
However, I had three boxes of tea that I didn’t like. I tried them out and, while I loved the smell, I didn’t love the taste. Plus I want to switch back to loose leaf tea only. So I tried to think of ways to use up the tea and decided on the ever popular scrub. I’ll be using the scrub on my feet because frankly, I don’t take care of my feet all that well. They’re often dirty from walking outside barefoot and a bit rough around the edges. So I concocted a way to use up what I didn’t want to go to waste. Here is my recipe for an orange (because I had an old orange sitting out) green tea scrub.
Needed:
1 cup sugar
5 tablespoons Epsom salt
10 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoons maple syrup
3 green tea bags
1.5 tablespoons fresh squeezed orange juice
1 tsp lemon extract (I used my homemade lemon extract)
orange zest (optional)
Just mix everything together. Make sure to open the tea bags and dump them in. And scrub, scrub, scrub.
I bet this scrub smells AMAZING!
It smells sooo good and really sweet with that touch of orange and lemon.
thank you for sharing! yes I think the scrub will smell really nice
and it’s really cool that you make your own shampoo and such
Oh you are so welcome! Let me know if you try it out. My feet already feel better and smoother.
I also hate baths! Well, the idea of baths is nice but bath tubs gross me out. Yeuck! I’m also transitioning to loose leaf tea.. it’s so much cheaper! And I never really realized how much waste each individually wrapped tea bag produced. Also such a good idea to use tea you don’t like in hygiene/beauty products. Note taken!
It really is so much cheaper. I used to have a steeper and would steep loose leaf tea a few times before tossing it. But the steeper started leaking and so I’m in the market for one of those little dangle-y ball things. I’m ready to go back to a less wasteful method of enjoying tea.
I LOVE bath and body stuff, and have been transitioning to all natural products over the last few months. I’m so excited because I have everything to make this recipe, in my kitchen right now. Score! Also, I would never judge your feet because they likely look just like mine. I’ll take going barefoot over pretty feet, any day! x
I suppose I love it too but I don’t love buying it. I love making it. I love simple natural ingredients. I do very much love soap and hope to share more on soap making.
I’m so excited that you’re going to try it out. Let me know how it goes. You know, Matt made fun of my dirty feet the other day but nothing beats feeling the ground under your feet. I feel more connected that way. I just knew you would “get it” and not chuckle at my poorly groomed feet.
probably the most informative post i read all week. i never knew you could make a scrub out of tea. i’m not a fan of baths either. i always think i’ll like them but then i feel so suffocated and come out really quickly.
This is a wonderful idea! There are lots of teas that smell good, but don’t taste good and I also love body scrubs!
~Sara
I love this! It looks like it smells amazing, plus I’m on even more of a budget now that I’m a single lady so this is perfect for saving me money! Thanks for sharing!
I can’t wait to try this, what a fantastic idea!
Oh wow, I applaud you for making all your own body products!
I would love to try this recipe out, it looks like it would work wonders!
xx Carina
A nice way to recycle the used green tea bags!
thank you
Hi Aubrey,
This sounds so great, thank you for sharing. I was wondering, how much scrub does the above recipe make? I think I will give it a go for Christmas presents this year!
I would say it makes a little over a cup, maybe a cup and a half. Thanks for asking!
this is so awesome, great idea!
I love scrubs! I never thought of adding tea, thanks for the idea!
Sounds wonderful! I too would like to makes it for Christmas. How long do you think this would keep?
That’s a great question. Honestly, I don’t see an end to the shelf life. I’ve made scrubs prior to this and with the same core ingredients and it’s kept for about 7 months now and still going strong. ^_^
Thank you Aubrey – I can’t wait to make some!
This scrub probably smells amazing! I don’t use scrubs very much, but I think I’ll try this one out. It could make a great gift for friends too. =0)
Thanks for the recipe!
I love using scrubs – this one sounds delicious! I don’t like baths either – it’s all about the showers for me!
I love bath and body stuff…I just don’t like the price of it all. I’d love to make more of my own from scratch but so many seem to require fancy-schmancy ingredients. This looks simple and no doubt smells lovely!
I saw you posting on another blog a lot so followed through here and then when poking around at your tumblr I misread your little snippet as: soon to be full-time *river* before I realized it was RVer. Both are pretty awesome!
Love it! I have tried to make most everything I use skin and hair-care wise and let it be as natural as I can. I’ve made a scrub out of sugar, coconut oil, and bergamot/sweet orange essential oils and it beats anything you can buy. I would love to try this! Green tea and orange… heaven.