how not to be a flake

Blake and I have really dry skin. So dry that he only gets baths about once a week after swim lessons, and if I forget to lotion him up regularly, it's unbearably itchy for him when I DO remember. I can only bathe every other day, and require large quantities of lotion afterward, or my skin gets so taut and dry and chalky that you could use me to line out a football field ("No, Addie, roll THAT way!").

I made this the other day, loosely based on a concoction that Reese gave me for Mother's Day last year, which I loved and used sparingly until it was all gone. It scrubs off these annoying bumps I get on the backs of my arms (due to low omega-3s in my diet + dry skin), and leaves my skin all soft and silky... but beware the oil left on your bathtub floor. That stuff is damn slick, and I have almost fallen more than once. Consider yourselves warned!

Sugar Scrub

• 1 plastic container
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup olive or coconut oil (I used coconut, Reese used olive)
• Scented perfume oils (optional)

I didn't use scents because the coconut oil had no overt smell of its own, but the scent Reese used in the olive oil scrub was very pleasant (some sort of fruit or flower). Mix the ingredients together and stash in your bathroom with a stirring stick (the sugar settles). Put a dollop in your hand or on a washcloth and scrub away.

I've had scrubs containing salt before, and nothing stings quite so badly as a salt scrub post-shaving. Stick with sugar.