So, this is a bit off topic for those of us who love drinking coffee. We have previously discussed the benefits of drinking coffee. How about using coffee as a skin care product? A coffee scrub, when used on your body can have several beneficial effects. They are easy to make at home and easy to use. You only need a few ingredients you probably have in your pantry and about 20 minutes to combine and use.
Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of using a coffee scrub:
1. It is a natural exfoliant
Yes, coffee grounds can help remove dead skin cells from anywhere on your body. Depending on the coarseness of the coffee grounds you can have a soft scrub (finely grounded beans) up to a deeper exfoliation with coarse ground beans. I suggest using a finer grind at first and working your way up to a deeper, coarser scrub.
2. It reduces Inflammation
Coffee acts as an anti-inflammatory. It contains hydrocinnamic acid and polyphenols the can reduce inflammation and reduce redness and breakouts.
3. It can decrease puffiness around your eyes
This one is interesting. The caffeine in coffee restricts your blood vessels around the eyes and can reduce dark circles and puffiness. I suggest your are very careful when using a coffee scrub around your eyes and use a finer grind.
4. Raw Sugar Contains Skin Rejuvenating Glycolic Acid
There is raw sugar in the coffee scrub recipe below. The glycolic acid in sugar is an Alpha-Hydroxy acid. This will remove the upper dead skins cells, peeling them away and making room for the fresh skins cells below. This will make your skin look smoother and brighter
5. Coconut oil also have many healing effects for your skin
Coconut oil, the 3rd ingredient of the coffee scrub is a great moisturizer with antioxidants the help prevent premature aging and can delay the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
How Do You Make A Coffee Scrub?
I found this simple recipe for a quick and easy coffee scrub. All you need is:
- 1/2 cup of coffee grounds
- 1/2 cup raw sugar
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
Combine the sugar and coffee grounds while you melt the coconut oil. The oil does not need to be completely melted. Just soft enough to make it easy to combine with the other 2 ingredients. Mix all 3 and let the mixture firm up.
How To Use The Coffee Scrub
These directions are from The Healthy Mummy:
- It gets messy so use in the shower or put an old towel down!
- Wet your skin and then turn off the shower or jump out of the bath
- Starting at your feet, apply the scrub and rub into the skin in circles, spend more time on stretch marks or cellulite areas. Use a pressure that feels firm but not too hard as you don’t want to irritate the skin
- Once its been applied all over, let it dry on your skin for 5-10mins to absorb
- Rinse off in the shower – If you have oily skin you might want to wash using your usual soap/body wash, otherwise if you just rinse it off you will be left with a bit of coconut oil residue that will not do your skin any harm
Experts say that you should only exfoliate your skin up to 3 times a week.
Let us know how this works for you. Leave a comment below.