An all-natural scrub for sensitive skin that doubles as a nourishing face mask? Yes, please

I am a huge fan of skincare products that instantly make my skin feel baby smooth. They’re often skincare peels or exfoliators, and this product falls into the second category. The kicker? It doubles as a face mask and is 100 percent natural.

Many of natural DIY scrubs often use sugar (and salt) as natural exfoliants to slough off that layer of dead skin cells, but rarely do we think about whether each of those ingredients has its own set of skincare benefits.

As it turns out, sugar is quite hydrating for your skin and also can provide anti-bacterial properties. Who knew?

All of which leads me to friend’s recent recommendation of a sugar face scrub. I’d heard about some sugar scrubs being a bad idea for your face, because if the grains are too large or coarse they can cause micro-tears in your skin. Nevertheless, I said okay and received a couple of samples to try.

When they arrived, I unboxed them in a hurry, which was a bit of a mistake as these jars are literally filled to the brim with sugar. Fair warning: This is a mostly “dry” sugar, which means a little manhandling will result in the spilling of some sugar. So handle with care or risk the wrath of ants.

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These sugar packs are from a brand I’d never heard of called Sucremor, and instead of face “scrubs”, they’re called Sugaring Massage Packs and come in different “flavour” variants.

What you’re supposed to do is scoop out some sugar with a little plastic spoon that comes with it, combine it with a little water to make it more emollient, then apply it to your face like you would any other face scrub. Work it into your skin in gentle circular motions until all the sugar is dissolved before you rinse it off.

How it works as a “pack” though, is that instead of rinsing it off right away, you can leave the melted or dissolved sugar on your skin like a face mask for about five minutes. This allows the blend of oils and sugar to really hydrate and nourish your skin.

My experience

Trying to scoop the sugar out initially without creating a mess was possible, but took some care; you want to make sure no water gets into the jar of sugar.

It applied really easily and felt gentle on my skin, and by about 30 seconds into the face massage, all the sugar crystals had dissolved. What remained on my skin was something of a hydrating oil mask, though it felt quite lightweight on the skin and not runny whatsoever.

I gave it another five minutes before rinsing my skin, and found that my face was immediately softer and smoother. Five minutes can seem like an eternity when you’re in a rush, but this is such a relaxing addition to my skincare routine at the end of the day.

Also, this massaging pack is so gentle and the sugar crystals so fine that you can even use it more regularly than you would a normal face scrub. Just keep in mind to use gentle motions when massaging the crystals into your face.

READ MORE: Give your sensitive skin the TLC it needs with these super gentle skin and bodycare products.

What’s in these Sugaring Massage Packs

The unique Hokkaido sugar is actually derived from beets. These beets are unique to Hokkaido and every step of its production can be traced, from farmland to the processing plant. In fact, the brand claims it’s the world’s only non-genetically modified beet sugar, which means it’s as “natural” as possible.  

In addition to the beet sugar, each of the massage packs also contains a blend of natural oils: Think coconut, grape seed, sunflower, safflower and vitamin E thrown in for good measure. What differentiates each variant are the addition of specific ingredients like citrus, lavender or mint oils and even vanilla essence, depending on the “flavour” you choose.

What skin types are these suitable for?

We daresay anyone with dry, normal, combination or sensitive skin (that covers just about everyone) will love these, even someone with skin conditions like eczema. In fact, Sucremor founder Mari Noboritate turned to sugar in an effort to help with her daughter’s eczema, with the woman saying that the prototype provided a marked improvement in her daughter’s skin. Less discomfort and itching were more immediate, and over time she noticed inflammation had disappeared as well as dark patches.

So if you love “natural” skincare or have skin that’s dry or sensitive, then give this a shot. You can shop the entire range of sugar massage packs at www.sucremor.com.sg/sugaring-massage.