Thing #35: Hand-make a present

Upon arriving in Ruwais last year, I was incredibly frustrated that I couldn’t find a ton of things I had considered necessities back home.  My quest for decent beef and dairy products (my beloved cheese!) lead me to believe that the cow had become an endangered species.  And don’t even get me started on beauty products.  Of course, that was before I discovered almost everything I needed was harboured in the ‘normal’ shops of nearby Abu Dhabi and Dubai.  Now I treat trips to either city with the same frenzied purpose as a squirrel preparing for hibernation.

It was tough going for a while though and I had to become resourceful.  I even taught myself to make my own body scrub! I know, I was practically Tom Hanks in Cast Away.

Lavender Salt Scrub

This body scrub was intended as a substitute for one of those essentials I couldn’t find in Ruwais: Dead Sea Spa Magik Salt Scrub (my absolute favourite).  The lavender was my own idea- you don’t have to use lavender.  I’ve heard some people refer to it as an old lady smell (to me, cabbage is an old lady smell).  You can use almost any essential oil your heart desires.  Next time, I’m using peppermint and calling it foot scrub!  No bigs.

I made this for Katie when it was her birthday.  Here’s how:

Shopping List

A glass jar (whatever size you wish)

Table salt and/or Sea Salt flakes (I use a mix of both)

Small handful of dried lavender (optional)

Extra-virgin coconut oil

Almond oil

Lavender essential oil

Labels/ tags/ string

How to Make It

First, make sure your glass jar is completely dry and spotlessly clean.  Fill the jar 3/4 full with the coconut oil.  Coconut oil is solid at room temperature so you might need to warm it up first.  Then mix in the salt (and the dried lavender) until it forms a thick mushy paste.  Top up with almond oil so the jar is nearly full.  Then add about 10 drops of the essential oil (more if its a really big jar).  Mix well and add more salt to reach desired consistency.  Package it up all pretty and give it to someone special.

A note on the Day Zero Project:  Thing #100 on my list is to donate €5 to charity for each achieved goal.  At the start, I had some great suggestions of charities to support/ promote from you- but none recently, so I’ve been donating to one of my own favourite charities UNICEF Ireland.  If there is a particular charity you’re passionate about, please let me know about them (thelmafrayne at gmail dot com).

€5 has been donated to UNICEF Ireland for the completion of this ‘thing’.  Click here if you too would like to donate online.