A good body scrub should make you feel relaxed and pampered — but reading the ingredient lists on some of these products can seriously raise your stress levels. Take Crabtree & Evelyn’s La Source Body Scrub, for example. This product scores a perfectly scary 10 — the highest hazard score given out on nonprofit Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database — because it’s made with weird ingredients like triethanolamine, methylchloroisothiazolinone, and a whole bunch of parabens.

So — Avoid that stuff. Instead, try out these three safe and sweet body scrubs, tested and beloved by eco-conscious girls:

Ingredients Citrus and Spice Ultra-Moisturizing Scrub. This M.B. Carey & Co. scrub’s the most scrumptious-smelling and luxurious of the bunch — and the one with the simplest ingredient list too! Here’s the whole list:

Coarse salt, mineral oil, white petrolatum, ground cinnamon, crushed cloves, essential oil of sweet orange

If you love orange spice cake, you’ll really love this scrub — all the intense citrus-clove aroma with none of the calories! The scrub looks amazing too, with its chunks of cloves swirled in the cinnamon-colored salt base.

Ingredients’ natural luxury doesn’t come cheap though — a 2.5 oz jar costs $6, and a 19 oz jar $40. Lavender, Pine, or Mint and pachouli scrub are also available.

Trader Joe’s Purify Grapefruit Chamomile Sea Salt Scrub. BlogHer miguelina says this scrub is “like a beach day in a jar” that smells like a tropical drink. Yummy!

Made mostly of sea salt and a bunch of different natural oils, this Trader Joe’s scrub does also contain tocopherol acetate (Vitamin E), which is considered a moderate hazard in Skin Deep, and ascorbic acid (Vitamin C). Overall though, the scrub’s quite safe and natural. The best part: A 22 oz tub costs less than $6!

Nettiescrub Lemon Body Buff. This handmade scrub’s scent is rather subtle, so if you’re the type who finds the smell of essential oils overpowering, Nettiescrub’s a good brand to try.

Made with sugar, organic and natural oils, aloe water, and grapefruit seed extract, the sugar scrub feels a little gentler than the salt scrubs I’ve tried. Available online and in some California stores, a 4 oz jar costs $12; a 16 oz jar $24. Nettiescrub also offers grapefruit, lavender, and cedar scents — as well as balms, soaps and soy wax candles.
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Of course, you can always concoct your own natural scrubs. Tammy at A Mom in Red High Heels shows you how you can make your own natural Sugar Mommy Scrub, and Aly Walansky at Pretty by Nature has instructions for making your own Grapefruit Salt Scrub.

Center photo by miguelina

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