How to use a salt scrub in the shower, step by step

Before you step in

Take out what you are going to use before you start, and leave the jar outside the shower. A handful covers a couple of areas; you need less than it feels like the first time.

The reason the jar stays outside is not tidiness. The scrub sits in oil, and every wet hand dipped into it carries water down into the product. That is why a wooden spoon comes with several of the sets — it portions, and it keeps the salt dry.

Step by step

1. Wet your skin, then step out of the stream. Skin should be damp, not rinsed. Standing under the water washes the crystals away before they have done anything, and you use twice as much scrub for half the effect.

2. Start low. Feet, ankles, lower legs and upwards. That is where skin is thickest and takes most, and it gives your hands a feel for how much pressure is needed before you reach the thinner areas.

3. Short circles, light hand. The crystals do the work. Your job is to move them across the skin, not to press them into it. Ten to fifteen seconds per area is enough.

4. Do the hard parts separately. Heels, elbows and knees take more than the rest and can have an extra pass. Inner thighs, neck and chest get less — or get skipped.

5. Rinse properly. Salt left in a fold of skin will itch later. Rinse until it no longer feels gritty under your hand.

6. Soap only where you want to. Soap after a scrub takes some of the oil with it. To keep more of it, soap only where you actually need to.

7. Pat dry. The towel should dry, not rub. Your skin has just lost its loose layer and doesn’t need another round of friction.

8. Put something on while the skin is warm. This step does the most for how your skin feels tomorrow. Body oil spreads most easily on warm, slightly damp skin. Body lotion sinks in faster if you need to get dressed.

The four most common mistakes

Scrubbing under running water. The most common of all. The crystals need friction against skin, not against a jet of water.

Too much pressure. A scrub does not become more effective because you lean on it. It just becomes harsh on skin that would have stayed. Redness that lasts for hours afterwards means the pressure was too high, not that the scrub was too strong.

Scrubbing straight after shaving. The razor has already done part of the job. Leave days between them — more on why on salt scrub and shaving.

Skipping the last step. A scrub with nothing after it is half a routine. The oil in the scrub helps, but what survives the rinse is less than what you apply yourself.

How much, and how often

A closed hand holds roughly what one lower leg needs. For a whole body that tends to be three or four such portions.

Frequency is once or twice a week for most people, more often on feet and elbows. There is a separate page on what decides it: how often should you use a salt scrub.

Where on the body, and where not

A salt scrub is made for the body. Feet, legs, arms, back and shoulders take it well. Inner thighs, chest and neck take it with a lighter hand. The face should have something else — the crystals in a body scrub are too large for facial skin.

Skip broken, cracked or sunburnt skin entirely, and wait until it has healed.

A bath instead of a shower

It works, but two things change. Salt dissolves in bath water, so some of the crystals are gone before they reach your skin — take the scrub out of the jar and apply it to skin above the waterline rather than below it. And the oil leaves a film on the tub: rinse it straight afterwards, and expect it to be slippery.

Afterwards: the jar

Rinse the spoon, wipe the rim and close the lid properly. Keep it cool and outside the shower. A salt scrub that stays dry keeps as it should; one that takes on water does not.