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DIY hand scrub with lemon & lavender

ByPetro Neagu Published Updated
26 Comments

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Revitalize your hands with this simple DIY hand scrub that smells amazing, comes together in minutes and for cheap, but looks and feels like such an elegant gift! This amazing homemade hand scrub is great for gardeners but very efficient at removing odors from hands too!

DIY hand scrub

Homemade hand scrub

Do you love working in the garden too? It’s pure therapy for me, for cheap! Gardening is great but it can totally wreck your hands! All that digging and shoveling and working with dirt without gloves most times, really took a toll on my once soft and pretty hands. I found that this DIY hand scrub with lemon and lavender is the perfect solution!

I’ve spent a lot of time in the garden this past summer, doing a little upgrading here and there or testing new plants. I love spending time in the garden so much that I forget about time so I end up working there for hours, even under the hot sun! But the sun and working with bare hands (I kind of hate using garden gloves, I love feeling the dirt and the plants with my hands!) made my hands looking in real poor condition! I needed a cure asap!

Hand scrub

Made with lemon zest, sugar, salt, lavender buds and essential oils, this homemade lemon hand scrub feels and smells amazing! Super affordable and crazy quick to put together, this gardeners hand scrub makes a wonderful gift idea this holiday season! Just place some of this super duper exfoliating lavender hand scrub in a cute container, dress it up with a pretty ribbon (or go the rustic route as I did with twine), then add an adorable label and your wonderful gift is ready in no time!

More beauty ideas you will love!

Even if you’re not a gardener, this lovely DIY hand scrub does an amazing job at removing odors from your hands. Remember that awful smell your hands get after cutting onions and garlic? Or after handling fish? Eww! This lemon hand scrub takes all that yuck away in just a couple of minutes!

Exfoliating hand scrub

To make my DIY hand scrub a little more eye catching I added yellow food coloring but you could totally skip this step if you wish. I also added fresh and dried lemon zest but I found dried zest works best. Also I used table salt because I know this type of salt is good for my sensitive skin but if you know your skin reacts well to sea salt, use that instead.

I also made a couple of labels, one for the lid and one for the jar. These are free for my craft email subscribers so feel free to subscribe below. Or purchase here if you’d rather not join the newsletter.

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Lemon hand scrub

Lemon hand scrub

Materials:

  • 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons salt
  • 3/4 cup coconut oil, melted
  • optional – 2-3 drops yellow food coloring
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest, preferably dried
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 5 drops lavender essential oil
  • 5 drops lemon essential oil
  • 1/4 cup dried lavender buds

You will also need:

Directions:

  • In a medium bowl, add all ingredients (including food coloring if you opted for) and gently mix with a silicone spatula to fully combine.
  • Transfer the mix to air tight containers or small jars with lids.
  • Store in a cool, dry room.
  • Scrub over dry or dirty or smelly hands then rinse thoroughly then pat dry with a towel. Your hands will feel clean, soft and revitalized after use and will smell amazing!

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DIY hand scrub

Homemade hand scrub
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5 from 5 votes

DIY hand scrub with lemon & lavender

Revitalize your hands with this simple DIY hand scrub that smells amazing, comes together in minutes and for cheap, but looks and feels like such an elegant gift! Great for gardeners but very efficient at removing odors from hands too!
Prep Time5 minutes
Active Time5 minutes
Total Time10 minutes
Category: DIY
Region: International
Keyword: diy hand scrub, gardeners scrub, homemade hand scrub, lavender lemon scrub, lavender scrub
Yields: 2 jars
Author: Petro Neagu

Materials

Tools

Instructions

  • In a medium bowl, add all ingredients (including food coloring if you opted for) and gently mix with a silicone spatula to fully combine.
  • Transfer the mix to air tight containers or small jars with lids.
  • Store in a cool, dry room.
  • Scrub over dry or dirty or smelly hands then rinse thoroughly then pat dry with a towel. Your hands will feel clean, soft and revitalized after use and will smell amazing!
Tried this recipe?Mention @easy_peasy_creative_ideas or tag #easy_peasy_creative_ideas!
about petro

ABOUT PETRO

Hi, I’m Petro, author and founder of Easy Peasy Creative Ideas. Sewist, crafter, avid DIY-er, foodie, photographer, homemaker and mommy to one. I’m an expert at coming up with quick, clever sewing tips, recycling crafts and simple, easy recipes! You can find my ideas featured in reputable publications such as Country Living, Good House Keeping, Yahoo News, WikiHow, Shutterfly, Parade, Brit & Co and more. Thanks for stopping by and hope you’ll stay for a while, get to know me better and come back another time. Stick around for real fun projects! Read more…

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26 Comments

  1. Ellen Fourroux says:

    Hello! I’d like to start gathering everything so I can make these for next Christmas, however, I have read others comments that after making this scrub, it solidify’s and they can’t use it. One of your replies states that it is expected to solidify…………if so, how are you able to dig it out or soften it in order to use it? Thank you!

    Reply

    1. Ellen, I usually make small batches of this, keep the jars at room temperature and never had this issue. You can add other oils such as almond oil to soften the scrub.

      Reply
  2. Jo Spinks says:

    Hi Pietro
    Thanks for responding so quickly! Mine looked exactly like your photos at first, then changed to a solid mass after a few hours which is why I thought it should be liquid coconut oil. 😁.

    Reply

  3. My went moldy in less than a month, what did I do wrong.

    Reply

    1. It could be a mix of factors: the quality of the ingredients used, expiration date, warmth and/or humidity in the storage space etc The last batch I made lasted me over 2 months, when I finished it. I kept it in a dry, cool room when not in use.

      Reply

  4. My daughter is allergic to coconut can I substitute a different type of oil?

    Reply

    1. You could substitute for plant based butter such as almond or cocoa butter

      Reply

  5. What ounce jars did you use?

    Reply

  6. What if you don’t use the lemon zest or Lavender buds will that make a big difference

    Reply

    1. It won’t be lemon lavender scrub, Wanda, just a simple sugar scrub.

      Reply

  7. Will the lavender buds rot in the scrub?

    Reply

    1. They didn’t in mine, Samantha. I have a batch I made last spring and it’s still good.

      Reply

  8. How do you get dried lemon zest?

    Reply

  9. I made a double batch yesterday;). I just loved it! Today when I opened my jar to use some……. it was as hard as a rock!!! I’m so disappointed. I followed the recipe exactly…… what could have gone wrong? Is there a way that I could return it to how it was yesterday? Any help would be appreciated;) ✌🏻

    Reply

    1. Did you store it in the fridge? You need to keep it at room temperature, in a dry, cool place. I would bring it to a warmer room until it softens a bit.

      Reply

      1. I have it on my kitchen counter;)

      2. I also had the same problem. Sometimes double the batch does not always mean x2 of everything. I added a bit more oil. everyone I made this for LOVED IT. when you are making any product like this usually within the first hr. you should be able to tell if you need more oil or sugar if its too loose.

    2. Any suggestions on how to soften it? I opened mine after three months it’s been sitting on my counter and it’s hard and sticky, and I wet my hands and tried to use it and it just made my hands sticky and it took a long time to get it to rinse off

      Reply
    3. Jo Spinks says:

      I think the recipe should state “liquid coconut oil” rather than melted.
      I used solid coconut oil, that I melted first, thinking it was the right thing to do. Within hours it has solidified again at room temperature so I will need to remake the scrub with liquid or fractionated coconut oil (as I know it).
      Love it despite this – smells and feels wonderful!

      Reply

      1. Hi, Jo! Thanks for your feedback! It’s melted coconut oil, not liquid. Its purpose is to bind the ingredients together and it’s expected to solidify after a couple of hours.

  10. Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?

    Reply

    1. Hi, Vanessa! It keeps for a few good months if stored in a cool, dry place. I still have some from almost a year ago.

      Reply

  11. This looks so good! What a great gift to make for family or friends!

    Reply

    1. Thanks, Suzanne! That’s true, great gift, easy to make and inexpensive! My family loved theirs last year!

      Reply