Coffee and Brown Sugar Pre-Shave scrub

Exfoliation before shaving is very crucial. When you clean an exfoliate your skin before shaving, you remove the dead skin cells and oils that are covering your hairs. This dead skin and oil keeps you from getting as close of a shave, which means more shaving per week.

That being said, here is my recipe for a pre-shave exfoliating scrub. It's specifically a pre-shave scrub because there are NO oils and there is a small amount of soap to help with stripping the oils from your skin.

What you need:
- Instant coffee crystals (you can also use coffee grounds for a rougher exfoliation but they are messier in the shower so I just use the instant coffee.)*
- Baby shampoo (or another shampoo if you'd like)
- Brown sugar
- Honey (honey helps mosturize, heal scars, and it's naturally lightly antibacterial)
- A small amount of water

* So why have coffee at all if I'm not using one that exfoliates? -- The caffeine in coffee can help your skin cells dramatically! It has been shown to help prevent skin cancer, remove cellulite, and make skin firmer and healthier looking.

Step 1 - Add your honey to the coffee. Mix it well.

Step 2 - Dissolve your coffee crystals and honey in some water. If you are using fresh ground coffee then heat this water so that it can help the caffeine release more effectively.

Step 3 - Add the baby shampoo and stir. Be sure to stir gently so you don't cause foam.

Step 4 - Lastly add your brown sugar RIGHT before you use it. If you want a good exfoliation then add it as late as possible so that it doesn't start to break down in the coffee-water. Mine was a little juicy but you can add as much sugar as you want. Mine works fine but if you want extra exfoliation then add more sugar.

Step 5 - Apply and then rinse or wash off. I always use this in conjunction with my DIY shaving lather!

Enjoy! :-)

DIY Shaving Lather

So I found an interesting recipe for a DIY shaving gel/lather on Pinterest and I decided to give it a shot. I altered the recipe slightly for my own devices though so I'm putting it up on here.

Here's the recipe and the tools you'll need
- Small shampoo squirt bottle
- Baby oil
- Baby shampoo
- Conditioner (I used the old stuff I still had from when I switched from commercial to DIY and organic)
- Other shampoo if you'd like -- I used some of the old shampoo from when I made the transition to organic shampoo. I decided I should find SOME way to use it up.

Step 1 - Put your shampoos into the bottle FIRST. I filled the shampoo bottle up about half way with the shampoos.

Step 2 - Add your conditioner and then shake well. I did about two squirts of the conditioner but it was a thin mix so I may do three next time.

Step 3 - Add some oil. I only added a small amount of the oil. I estimate it was about a tablespoon's worth. You don't want to add TOO much oil because excessive oil on your skin will prevent the razor from getting the closest shave possible.

Step 4 - Shake very well and then test it on your skin to make sure it's a nice consistency. I like this recipe a lot because it's thin and light but still coats my legs well and leaves a delicate lather.

Enjoy! :-)