Making sugar scrub favors with canola oil?
January 29, 2016 3:44 PM   Subscribe

I'm trying to save money, and making sugar scrub favors with canola oil is SO much cheaper than coconut, sunflower, safflower, or olive oils. Is this a bad idea? I can't seem to find many blog posters who use canola oil, but it's a fraction of the price. I'd like to avoid any disasters like rotting, but I also don't want to break the bank.
posted by onecircleaday to Grab Bag (5 answers total)
 
Best answer: I have, and for scrubs you intend to use up quickly, it's just fine. I wouldn't recommend it for large batches or gifts though - the sugar (or salt) will break down faster than it will in coconut oil or olive oil; at least, that has been my experience. If you love using scrubs every day and are making them for yourself, it's perfectly fine, and since it's cheaper, you can splurge a bit on essential oils or herbs to add to it, if that's your thing.

Also, I found this, which has recipes.
posted by the webmistress at 3:51 PM on January 29, 2016


Best answer: I believe the reason many bloggers don't use it is because it has a bad rep on "natural" DIY blogs. See the comments on Wellness Mama Homemade Sugar Scrub for an illustration of this, e.g., Canola oil is highly processed. It is genetically modified version of oil used for varnish! I will leave it up to you to decide if you think it's GMO-poison; I just believe that the reason you rarely see canola oil used on these blogs is more about the highly marketed benefits of coconut/olive oil that has made them into buzzwords.

Canola oil has a longer shelf life than a lot of other oils because it is more highly processed (usually heated instead of expeller or cold-pressed), so you're good there!
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 3:58 PM on January 29, 2016 [3 favorites]


Best answer: You can also google for scrub-makers who use rapeseed oil-- it's the same as canola oil, literally the same stuff, but for reasons you can probably guess, it doesn't sell under that name, except as a specialty oil, thanks to a consortium of rapeseed product marketers in the 1970s. Canola comes from CANada and "ola," which is a root word of "oil."

the thorn bushes, above, is right about shelf-life. You're presumably already familiar with how sugar spoils. Oil goes rancid in the presence of oxygen and warmth, typically, so if you can seal your mixture in an airtight container, or better still a bag (either way limiting the amount of oxygen present in the container), and in the fridge, you'll postpone rancidity and spoilage for a long time.
posted by Sunburnt at 4:28 PM on January 29, 2016


Response by poster: Thank you all for the great answers! To anyone who's interested, I found that Amazon (USA) carries Carrington Farms organic coconut oil for .30 cents an ounce, which is less than half of Costco's price. This allows me to use the coconut oil at a reasonable price, yay! It's $16.99 for 54 ounces. Incredible price, and it has great reviews.
posted by onecircleaday at 4:59 PM on January 29, 2016 [3 favorites]


I can't think of any reason why using canola oil would be bad.
posted by Foam Pants at 12:34 PM on January 30, 2016


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