Natural Skincare with a Purpose: My Story Behind Scrub Me Skin Care

Hi! I’m Katherine, I am the owner and esthetician of my small business, scrub me skin care.

If you know me, you know the main part of my business is my esthetic services. Most of my time is spent working with facial clients and performing face and body treatments and custom facial massage. I also take time to educate myself further on facial treatments, skincare, and facial massage.

What you might not know is that I have a passion for making skincare with purposeful ingredients, and I’ve been making skincare items for about 15 years! scrub me skin care items are made by my family and myself. I create all the recipes as well. My goal? To make high-quality skincare items with minimal ingredients derived from the earth. Here is my story behind my skincare making 🧡

scrub me secret: education is a big part of my life! Not only do I seek out classes to further my knowledge on skincare, massage, etc, I also write this blog to share knowledge with all of you and share so many skincare tips and tutorials on my Instagram.

My Journey into Natural Skincare: Creating Handmade Soaps, Scrubs, and Shea Butter for All Skin Types

Shortly after graduating from esthetician school in 2010, I started making my own body scrubs using ingredients that I hand-chose, utilizing my knowledge from school and other things I had read about making skincare. Of course, I wanted to share the scrub with friends and coworkers; everyone loved it! This was the beginning of ‘scrub me’. I started my company with the help of my mom, who taught me how to make shea butter, and we took classes to learn how to make cold process soap. I still use my mom’s whipped shea butter recipe to this day!

scrub me secret: Our shea butter is only 2 ingredients plus essential oils. I try to keep minimal ingredients in each of my product recipes. I find that’s better for sensitive skin types like myself.

Why I Started Making Natural Skincare Products for Sensitive Skin

My skin is delicate and sensitive. Over the years, I have learned I am extra sensitive to fragrance and perfume in products and certain ingredients used to enhance the texture of skincare items. At the age of 19, when I graduated from esthetics school, I was struggling with chronically dry skin and small bumps in certain areas on my body. I would also get red bumps and marks very easily, and I had quite a few stretch marks that had texture.

Most of my aesthetic training focused on care for the face and neck; we did learn about ingredients for the full body, and there was some focus on body care treatments. This inspired me to dive deeper to figure out what I could use for my body to help my skin feel smoother, less sensitive, and healthier.

scrub me secret: the very first body scrub recipe I ever formulated contained crushed grapeseed, bokek salt, essential oils, and A LOT of oil. At the time, I was using liquid coconut oil and sweet almond oil. That recipe was tweaked over the years to make it perfect before we eventually retired the sea salt body scrubs in 2023. We make soap bars that contain natural exfoliants, and we carry exfoliation gloves that I find to be amazingly effective for dry body exfoliation. These are less mess ways to scrub.

My skin started to improve!

Over the course of months of using my own handmade soaps, body scrub, and shea moisturizer, my skin felt less sensitive, had less texture, and retained moisture more easily. Now, years later, I no longer struggle with bumpy skin, red skin, or irritated patches. My stretch marks are still there, but are less visible and have a smooth texture. I am more comfortable and confident in my skin because of these items and ingredients.

Creating Using Purposeful, Natural Ingredients in Skincare Products

While it’s a common theme among skincare and wellness products today, focusing on purposeful ingredients that have benefits for your skin wasn’t a popular concept 10-15 years ago. Many top-selling skincare items at that time had perfumes, artificial colorants, and ingredients that were not beneficial for your skin but added volume to the product or allowed for better consistency. Exact ingredients of skincare items weren’t a main focus like they are today. I’m SO glad times have changed and consumers and companies are more conscious of what is in the products we put on our skin.

So that’s to say, in 2013, when scrub me became a full-fledged business, I planned to set myself apart from what I was currently seeing in the body care space; I wanted every ingredient I used to have a benefit or purpose for your skin. scrub me’s motto becomes “Everything you need, and nothing you don’t.”

scrub me secret: I didn’t set out to be a vegan skincare company, but many of the ingredients I gravitated towards to make soaps and other skincare items were plant-based and vegan. With a few of my family members being vegan, I decided to keep that community in mind when making products. All of my scrub me skin care items are vegan.

Handmade Recipes with Plant-Based Skincare Ingredients

Ever since I started learning about the ways ingredients from the earth could treat and heal our skin, I felt connected to that side of skincare. I do enjoy learning the science behind chemical ingredients and learning which ones help our bodies and which are harmful, BUT plant-based ingredients and holistic skincare were something I was very drawn to. I dedicated time and focus to learning more about essential oils, plant-derived oils, Shea, herbal extracts, clays, and other things the planet provides for us. Then I started learning how to properly incorporate those ingredients into skin care products and learned about recipes. I really love essential oils; if you use a high-quality oil correctly (meaning the right amount added at the right time), this can add a lot of benefit to your skincare product. Different essential oils have different benefits for your skin, I find it fun to research them. I also love clays, plant extracts like green tea and grape seed, and certain antioxidant-rich oils.

This is how I create a soap or other skincare product recipe:

💡 I write down what skincare benefits I want this product to have. Examples: healing and preventing wrinkles, or deeply cleansing without drying out skin

💡I think about what ingredients would be good for accomplishing those skincare goals. Sometimes I will research new ingredients, and sometimes I will write a recipe using a combination of ingredients I know we already have.

💡Using my knowledge I have from skincare making courses and research, I write a recipe for the soap, balm, body oil, face oil, or whatever it may be.

💡A small test batch of the product is made before a larger batch for retail is made. My family and I make and test all the skincare ourselves 🧡

💡Once I’m certain I like the product I I find it to be beneficial for our skin, I package it, label it, and share it with you!

scrub me secret: our scrub me soaps are beautiful, right? I don’t feel bad about saying that because I’m not bragging about myself 😉 I’m bragging about my dad, he’s the artist behind our soap designs! I make the recipes and he makes the soap bars.

Connecting Through Handmade Skincare

I retail my skincare online and in my skin care studio!

I don’t know about you, but I love creating and making things and sharing them with everyone. I love art, cooking, baking, and of course, making skincare! For me, making facial and body care is about connecting with people and sharing items that I believe will bring joy to people’s lives. I keep making and sharing my skincare items because I love to and I love hearing from those whose skin benefits from scrub me items. Every time I get a repeat order or an order from a new place, I am happy that someone will enjoy a skincare item I made.

I make my skincare with love, and I feel connected to those who enjoy my items. And to those who read my blog.

Endless Skincare Options That Work for All of Our Skin

Skincare items that scrub me skin care offers:

🧼 An array of nutrient-rich body soap

☁️ Whipped shea body butters and body oil

💆 Facial cleansing bars, an antioxidant facial mask/scrub, facial oil (our most popular product)

✴️ Healing multipurpose balm, lip balm, and lip scrub

Thanks for letting me share!

-Katherine