Skincare Review: L’Occitane Shea Butter One Minute Hand Scrub (and a Cheap Kitchen Alternative)

Hey everybody, happy weekend! How’s it going so far? We had guests over for dinner. The couple’s 9-month baby boy has eyes that take up half of his face and eyelashes that are longer and curlier than what I would have with false eyelashes. Oh well, life isn’t (always) fair!

Since you might have some time to spare for skincare on weekends, I’m going to share the L’Occitane Shea Butter One Minute Hand Scrub review with you today. In case you can’t lay your hands on it anytime soon however, I’m also sharing a recipe for a cheap kitchen alternative at the end!

Quite a while ago, I walked into a L’Occitane store and saw the lady working on her own hands by the sink. Being the curious creature I am, I walked over to see what she was doing. She might have been a little embarrassed, so she offered to do the same to my hands. That’s how I got to know L’Occitane Shea Butter One Minute Hand Scrub. Since my hands are always rough and dry I grabbed a pot and took it home.

L’occitane Shea Butter One Minute Hand Scrub is a bi-phase hand scrub. According to the L’Occitane US webiste, it contains “an exfoliating organic sugar to gently scrub and eliminate dead skin cells. – oils (shea, sweet almond and grapeseed oils) to help soften and nourish hands.” It also comes with a spatula with which you mix the two together before each use. It smells exactly like the Shea Butter Hand Cream, which I am pretty neutral about. You are supposed to use it when your hands are dry (because otherwise the sugar melts too fast). Again, you only need a tiny little each time. I basically stir the mixture with the spatula and put whatever is on the spatula on my hands. I have enough for a scrubbing session that way! That’s why even after weekly-use for quite a while (sorry but I don’t remember when I got it. I would say about a year and a half ago though), I still have half a jar left!

The grains are pretty rough (I had problems believing sugar grains are so big, but they are), so if you get overenthusiastic like I did the first couple of times I used it, you might end up with scratches on your hands. That was ouch, so I learnt to be gentle and take my time. I concentrate on the rougher parts of my hands, namely the hardened skin around my nails. Afterwards, I rinse it off with warm water. It does leave an oily film behind, but it is not greasy and since I have dry hands, once I pat them dry this doesn’t bother me anymore.

All in all this is a pretty decent hand scrub. I like how L’Occitane shea butter is a fair trade product, how there is no harmful chemical in what they make, and of course animal testing is out-of-bounds. It is a company with principles that I respect, and one of my all-time favorites!

With that said however, I have found a way to make a knock-off version of this scrub in the kitchen, and it is amazingly easy to do.

It’s just one tablespoon of sugar and around two teaspoons of olive oil, can you believe that?

Basically, if you mix these two together, you get a scrub. There is more oil in the L’Occitane version, and the homemade one is drier, but this almost free homemade concoction works just as well. You can add more olive oil if you want to, but if you add too much the mixture could leave your hands very greasy afterwards. I would say that olive oil leaves a slightly greasier film behind, but with the dry skin I have in winter, once I pat my hands dry I am not too bothered. If you are, you can always use a bit of soap after you scrub. If you just use a little bit, your hands wouldn’t be so greasy but there will still be some kind of protective film on your hands.

Here is a side-by-side photo so you can see how the L’Occitane hand scrub looks too:

I have enough for my hands, feet, and a bit extra for my calves with this amount. If you have some time this weekend, why not whip up some of this scrub and treat yourself to a home spa session? If you have essential oil, you can even add a few drops to the scrub to make it smell nice! Like all homemade treatments, it could be a little messy to prepare. It you are always pressed for time, you might prefer something that comes in a jar.

How about you? Do you scrub your hands or feet? Do you think you’ll give your paws some winter scrubbing love with this recipe?

Sunny xx