How to Incorporate Microgreens into your Beauty Routine: DIY Microgreen Exfoliant & Serum Part 4/4

The last two homemade cosmetics in this series are a scrub and a serum. A scrub is the one item in the whole series that does something plainly physical: the oats or the sugar lift dead cells off the surface, which is why skin feels smoother straight afterwards. The masks, toners and creams of Parts 1 to 3 sit on the gentler footing we set out there.

Now, picture this: you are tired and stressed, but that doesn’t matter today because it’s self-care day. You can do everything you want, or nothing at all. But after relaxing, as the saying goes, your body is a temple, so it’s time to take care of it. You exfoliate your skin and now it’s silky smooth, but it feels a little dry? Hydrating cream helps for sure, but sometimes that doesn’t feel enough, something feels missing. What is it? Extra hydration!

That’s why in this post we will also share a DIY Microgreens Serum — an oil blend you can make yourself, and the last of the homemade cosmetics in this series.

What we corrected in this article. This page used to say that adding microgreens “boosts your scrub with vitamins and antioxidants”, that the serum keeps skin “extra nourished and hydrated”, and that this was a “skin treatment series for achieving glowing, healthier skin”. Skin is a barrier, blended plant nutrients largely do not cross it, and none of those claims had a source behind them. The recipes are unchanged. The same correction has been applied across all four parts of this series.

Table of Contents

Microgreen Exfoliants

A scrub works mechanically: the oats or the sugar are what lift dead cells off the surface, and that is the whole of it. Adding microgreens does not boost a scrub with vitamins or antioxidants — skin is a barrier, and nothing you rinse off after two minutes is delivering nutrients through it. They go in because they are green and you have them.

1. Gentle Oat & Microgreen Scrub (for sensitive skin)

Ingredients

1 tbsp finely blended spinach or pea shoot microgreens
2 tbsp rolled oats (ground into powder)
1 tsp honey

Instructions

Blend oats into a powder.
Mix with chopped/blended microgreens and honey.
Apply to damp skin, massage gently in circles for 1–2 minutes.
Rinse with water.

Notes

Super gentle, use it twice a week, conserve in a glass jar.

2. Sugar & Microgreen Scrub (coarser grain)

Ingredients

1 tbsp chopped sunflower or radish microgreens
1 tbsp sugar (fine grain works best)
1 tsp olive oil or coconut oil

Instructions

Mix microgreens and sugar in a small bowl.
Add oil to create a paste.
Massage gently onto damp skin for 1–2 minutes.
Rinse.

Notes

The sugar does the exfoliating and the oil leaves a film on the skin afterwards; the microgreens do neither. Pure cane brown sugar is the gentlest while coarser turbinado sugar is the opposite. Use twice a week.

Microgreen Serum

A serum is a light product applied after cleansing and before moisturiser. Commercial ones are built around specific active ingredients at tested concentrations; this is not one of those. It is an infused oil with a little aloe and vitamin E in it, and the reason to make it is that it is simple and cheap.

Microgreen infused-oil serum

Ingredients

2 tbsp microgreen-infused oil (spinach, sunflower, or pea shoots blended in jojoba, almond or grapeseed oil)
1 tsp aloe vera gel
2–3 drops vitamin E oil (antioxidant & preservative boost)
Optional: 2 drops of rose or lavender essential oil (for scent)

Instructions

Microgreens Oil preparation. Place fresh dried microgreens in a sterilized jar. Cover with your chosen carrier oil. Let it infuse for 1–2 weeks in a cool, dark place, shaking daily. Strain out the microgreens.
Mix the serum. In a bowl, whisk together 2 tbsp infused oil with Vitamin E oil. Add 1 tsp of aloe vera gel and essential oil drops if desired (it won’t dissolve fully since it is water based).
Transfer to a dropper or pump bottle.

Notes: Store in the fridge for freshness (lasts about 2 weeks without preservative).

After cleansing and toning, shake the bottle for the ingredients to mix and apply a few drops to your face and neck and pat until absorbed.

Summary

That is the end of the series. Four parts, a dozen or so recipes, and one consistent position throughout: these are homemade cosmetics you can make cheaply from a tray of greens. They are not treatments, and we have not promised you a change in your skin.

Across its four parts, the series covers an almost complete microgreen-based skincare routine:

Part 1: Face Masks & Smoothies for the Skin
Part 2: Toners & Skin-Soothing Baths
Part 3: Infused Water & Face Cream
Part 4: Exfoliants & Serum

A separate follow-up article looks at skincare products and brands that already feature microgreens, and at what users report about them.

Links of interest

“Eat your skincare: vitamin C, collagen and microgreens”

Eat your skincare: vitamin C, collagen and microgreens

How to Incorporate Microgreens into your Beauty Routine: Microgreens-Infused Water and DIY Face Cream: Microgreen masks and Smoothie Booster – Part 1/4