There’s nothing like a warm cup of coffee in the morning to help get your day started. For people who hate the mornings, coffee is your best friend – your ride or die. No matter how you take your coffee, with milk, sugar, or as a large iced mocha with non-fat whipped cream, it’s one of the most versatile ingredients.
But coffee isn’t just good for the soul; it’s also good for your skin. Its texture and caffeine components make a great natural body scrub and exfoliator. Coffee scrubs are gentle on the skin but effectively scrub away dead skin cells, leaving you with a radiant, glowing complexion. What’s even better is that you can make your coffee scrub at home. All you’ll need is some fine coffee grounds and a few extra ingredients from the kitchen.
We’ll be grinding down why coffee will be your new favourite skincare ingredient and how you can make your own homemade coffee scrub for naturally soft and smooth skin:
Is coffee scrub good for your skin?
What makes coffee such a great natural ingredient for an exfoliator is its texture and caffeine content. Caffeine can not only wake your sleepy brain up but also work as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory treatment. So for those who suffer from acne, red marks, or even ingrown hair, using a coffee scrub can help to reduce the appearance of redness and even soothe any signs of inflammation.
As a natural collagen, caffeine helps to stimulate blood flow which can help naturally tighten your skin and prevent premature aging. In other words, exfoliating your skin with a coffee scrub can help leave your skin looking radiant. If you have cellulite, using a coffee scrub can also help reduce its appearance over time.
In addition, caffeic acid has antimicrobial properties, which can also help keep the skin protected from unwanted germs.
In terms of texture, coffee grounds are fine enough to be used as an exfoliant for all skin types but also has enough grit to scrub dead skin cell build-up. Coffee grounds also doesn’t dissolve in warm water, so you can use it while taking a shower.
What kind of coffee should I use to make body scrubs?
The beauty of making your own coffee scrub is that you can make your own exfoliator with any type of coffee ground. Ideally, fresh ground coffee works best, but dry grounds will work well too. But just make sure the grounds are soft and fine as sand, as anything too coarse could be rough on the skin. This is especially important for those with sensitive skin types.
How to make a coffee body scrub at home
Ingredients
- ½ cup ground coffee (the finer the coffee ground, the better!)
- ½ cup coconut oil (melted)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
- In a medium-sized bowl, mix the coffee ground and brown sugar together. You can use a hand mixer, but a wooden spoon works fine too.
- In a separate bowl, mix the coconut oil and vanilla extract.
- Combine the dry ingredients and wet ingredients until you have a soft mixture.
- If you have recently heated the coconut oil, wait until the mixture has cooled down before applying it to your body.
- Store the homemade coffee scrub in a glass jar or tightly sealed container and store it in a cool and dry area.
Pro tip: Coffee scrub can be used anywhere on the body, even the face. But if you still find the mixture is too rough on your skin, you can reduce the amount of brown sugar the next time you make it.
How to use a coffee scrub
- After washing your body in the shower, apply a handful of the coffee scrub onto the body.
- Gently exfoliate the mixture into the skin and let it sit on the skin for approximately 5 minutes.
- Rinse off the mixture until the skin is clean.
- When out of the shower, apply a hydrating moisturizer to the body.
Pro tip: Using a scrub regularly can help remove excess dead skin cells. If you’re shaving or using an IPL device, it can help prep your skin for effective hair removal.
For IPL device users: exfoliating your skin between sessions is a great way to keep your body nice and soft. We recommend exfoliating your body 12-24 hours before using your IPL device to ensure that your target area has enough time to recover.
