honey honey

Yesterday my hands had so many rough spots that I was constantly getting caught on my sewing -- threads clung to me like velcro. I suppose it would've been the same with certain yarns. This happens to me a lot. Oh my gosh, I can't believe I never thought of this before. I feel like I've discovered cheese in my sheep bladder milk vessel (they say that's how cheese got started in case you're wondering there).

honey sugar scrub!

This is the easiest recipe ever. The sugar exfoliates at the same time the honey moisturizes.  As I was mixing this up with my hands, instead of with a spoon as I normally would, the roughness was completely smoothed and when I went to sew, there was no clinging action. I even picked up strips of frayed silk! Nada. The crazy part of this is now I remember reading about using sugar scrubs on the hands to soften them but didn't connect the dots far enough. For some reason I guess I thought only gardeners needed a sugar scrub for their hands but now I see that stitchers need it as much, if not more!

In making this, I had a January craving for a citrus fragrance so used grapefruit, lemon & bergamot orange essential oils, but anything goes. Just the honey alone smells good enough to eat. But don't because both the almond oil and the essential oils are for external use only. I had to catch myself as I was about to lick it off my fingers.

Here's how.

 Items needed: Sweet almond oil, honey, sugar, essential oils.

  Add 1 1/2 cups sugar to 1 T. sweet almond oil in a ceramic/glass

bowl -- work it in with your hands. 

                                       

 A little at a time, add about 1 1/2 cups honey, again working it in

with your hands, until it's a smooth paste.

Stir in about 30 drops of essential oil.

Put it in a lidded container with a wide opening so you can get your hands in there to scoop it out.  To use in the shower, apply a small amount to wet skin in a circular motion -- some recommend sweeping upward toward your heart to encourage circulation.

Rinse off with warm water.

Store what you won't use in the next week or so in the refrigerator,

but bring it to room temperature (or try popping it in the microwave) again

before using. This should be good for a month or two, just keep an eye on it.

Now how about a little ABBA singing "Honey Honey" just a short 37 years ago!