Beauty Treasure Chest: Etta + Billie Exfoliating Scrub Bar

This is one of my shower favorites!  I don't have time to do this every day, but at least once a week, I like to exfoliate my legs before shaving.  Exfoliating sloughs off dead skin and lets you get a much closer shave.  I've used tons of salt scrubs and sugar scrubs.  I've even made my own with jojoba oil and sugar.  One problem--they're messy and gloppy and goopy and sloppy.  The Etta + Billie Natural Exfoliating Scrub Bar is the perfect solution.  At first you may need to wet the bar with warm water to get to the salty part before you can start scrubbing.  Don't use this on open cuts (it stings) or your face (not for sensitive areas).  But it's perfection for your legs, arms... I even use it on my hips/sides to try and keep my stretch marks moisturized (and hopefully prevent more from showing up).  Well, that was embarrassing, but true... This is not soap.  It doesn't lather.  It's a like a salt scrub in convenient soap bar form (although, Etta + Billie does sell soaps!).  Just wet it a little and rub in circular motions.  I like to follow with exfoliating mitts to get an extra close scrub. The Etsy listing says the bar lasts 5-8 showers.  But since I only use it once or twice a week, I usually get a month and half to two months out of a bar... longer in the winter when I'm lazy about shaving my legs. Aren't I full of embarrassing admissions tonight...  It's $7.95 for a 3.5 ounce bar.

So anyhow... What else is great about Etta + Billie?  Check out the ingredients in this Scrub Bar.  Good quality natural ingredients.

Ingredients: Sea Salt, Organic Theobroma cacao (Cocoa) seed butter, Fair Trade Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) fruit butter^, Organic Lavandula angustifolia (Lavender) essential oil, Lavandula angustifolia (Lavender) essential oil^, Rosemary Extract, Tocopheral (Vitamin E)  

^grown w/o pesticides/herbicides 

The Shea Butter in this product is wild harvested and processed by a women's collective in West Africa.        

I'm currently using a Coriander and Ylang Ylang scented scrub bar.  I believe I got a couple of these as a gift (which I requested) after having purchased one myself in the past.  Sorry for the weird used product picture.  My bar only has a few more shower and shaves left in it.  I best get over to the Etta + Billie Etsy site and stock up.

The exfoliating scrub bars also come in a few other scents:  Lavender, Peppermint and Cocoa, Grapefruit and Cardamom (I'm excited to try this one!), and Geranium  Patchouli.  Etta + Billie carries other natural goodies too--soaps, lotions, butters, and bath salts--just to name a few.  From perusing the shop's Esty listings, I can tell you the ingredients are good quality oils and butters that are nourishing and moisturizing for your skin.  Lots of organic ingredients.  My guess is when organic is unavailable, Fair trade or wild harvested are used.  No creepy chemical preservatives you can't pronounce (Yay for natural preservatives Rosemary extract and Vitamin E).  Another sign that a company takes being all natural seriously--no synthetic fragrances.  I saw a Sweet Orange and Ylang Ylang solid lotion bar.  I'm citrus obsessed and Sweet Orange essential oil is my favorite (smells just like a fresh peeled orange-yum!).  She also has a Cinnamon and Oatmeal soap scented with--you guessed it--cinnamon and oatmeal!  Sounds like breakfast... or a cookie!

Etta and Billie is currently working on becoming a San Francisco Certified Green Business.  I glanced at the retail checklist to become certified and wow... talk about reducing your carbon footprint.  Now I'm not sure what standards an independent business would be held to to attain green certification, but I think it's a moral business choice to respect the Earth and our posterity.  Nobody is perfect, but each little thing helps (I admit it, I'm not even close to being perfectly green, but it's good to try).  Go green!  Okay, off my soapbox.

I was wondering about the name of this brand... guessing it had something to do with singers Etta James and Billie Holiday, but I was wrong.  Here's the lovely true story from Etta + Billie's Etsy profile:

I decided to name my business Etta + Billie after my grandmothers. I spent a lot of time with each of them growing up and they have always been a huge part of my life. Etta + Billie seemed like the perfect way to honor their selflessness, tenacity, support and courage. 

My Grandma Etta passed away before my business ever really started but my Grandma Billie loves my products and has made me promise to give her a million once I make my first two ;).

Check out Etta + Billie on Etsy.
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