DIY Coffee Body Scrub for Natural Skin Care
BUT FIRST: Coffee. My first love, coffee. As we all know, coffee is one of the world’s most popular drinks. Here at Glow & Green, we all love coffee too. Cappuccino with almond milk is my way to start a great productive day.
Honestly, my day begins with a cup of joe, and I can’t imagine my life without it. In this recipe, I would like to leverage the idea of being able to use every single particle of coffee without discarding any of it. Since I love coffee so much, why not make it fun, right? So, I decided to make a DIY body scrub out of it.
I know, I know, you will find a number of coffee scrub recipes all over the internet. But what is so cool about our method is that we make this product from used coffee grounds. We make coffee every single day, and without any thought, we just dump the coffee grounds into the compost or garbage can.
We want to break the notion that used coffee grounds are waste! So let’s find out what’s inside these coffee beans.
Benefits of a DIY Coffee Body Scrub:
Used coffee grounds consist of polyphenols, which can be a hero in any DIY body scrub. So, are you wondering what polyphenols are? Polyphenols are a group of 4000+ antioxidants. The function of polyphenols in plants is to protect them naturally from the sun’s robust and damaging UV rays.
If you eat food rich in polyphenols, you can preserve internal cells from free radical damage. It will protect you from illnesses, such as cancer and heart disease. When you make coffee, these coffee molecules still contain those polyphenols. There are several scientific studies out there where they evaluated spent coffee grounds, and it was found that a series of healthy units was observed, mainly phenols and polyphenols such as caffeoylquinic acids, caffeic acid, and ferulic acid. (Check out this article)
When I found out about the polyphenol content of coffee waste, I started thinking about how I could repurpose this impressive potent quality for use in skincare and body products. So, I came up with a simple plan where you save you coffee grounds throughout a week, dry them in the sun and use them on the weekend. This could be your perfect #selfcare Sunday ritual, if you think about it. This DIY body scrub can also help you reverse signs of aging. These signs may include sunspots, fine lines, and wrinkles, etc.
Also, the scrub action will slough away dead skin cells. When winter is harsh, we want this exfoliating action on our body to give our skin a boost in blood circulation and flow. This will help reduce the appearance of cellulite and uneven skin tone. That’s why many coffee body scrubs claim to have cellulite removing properties. But when you understand the science behind these products, I would say it’s easier to make them at home.
As you know, it takes a bit of work, but we always vouch for a simple DIY body scrub for every skin type.
In this recipe, we want to use babassu oil. You can absolutely use coconut oil instead of this, if you have coconut oil handy. But to make it a little bit more interesting and different, we are using babassu oil. Babassu oil is similar to coconut oil in its applications and appearance.
Like coconut oil, babassu oil is also stable at room temperature (here, we are talking about cold weather countries!). This ingredient will give your skin that firming, moisturizing, and melting effect upon contact.
I love babassu oil because it has a mild, neutral fragrance and a light consistency that absorbs quickly into the skin. After removing dead cells from your skin, I think it is vital to incorporate a moisturizing emollient into your skincare recipe.
Babassu oil is a rich source of fatty acid. The fatty acid composition consists of lauric acid, oleic acid, stearic acid, palmitic acid, and linoleic acid. Babassu oil fights against body acne, and its anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties will nourish your body.
So without further due, let’s make it!
To make this body scrub, we will use a simple 3:2 coffee grounds to oil ratio. I like my body scrub to have bit of a runny consistency, so I use this ratio. But you guys are welcome to experiment with a 3:1 coffee to oil ratio.
To salvage your coffee grounds, here’s what you need to do during the week. Make sure you drain all the coffee grounds. Put them on a small plate and spread them around. Put this plate near the window when you know the sunlight will shine in.
In 1-2 days, they will be dried out perfectly. In a nutshell, we want to make sure that they are completely dry.
Here what you need to make this awesome scrub:
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3 tbsp: Spent Coffee Grounds, Dried (make sure no moisture remains inside the particles)
1 tbsp: Babassu Oil (You can use coconut oil instead)
1 drop: Essential Oil
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Before you go for a shower, mix both the main ingredients together on the small plate using a teaspoon. Make sure the end mixture is homogeneous. Add essential oil at the end and mix it well again.
The above measurements are more for making a single, one-time use batch. But if you are interested in making this DIY body scrub in bulk, then make sure you keep water away from the main container.
If you introduce water, it will only stay fresh for a couple of days. We strongly suggest keeping both ingredients separate and only mix them just before getting into the shower! That will give you more peace of mind.
In terms of essential oil choices, we asked around at Glow & Green HQ. We love adding lavender, peppermint (during Christmas time), or sweet orange to our DIY body scrub. All these essential oil choices will enhance the coffee aroma. Think about what flavor of coffee you would like and go crazy!
One pro tip: You can include Epsom salt or pink salt in your body scrub as well. If you do that, then bump up the oil portion of your recipe!
I hope you all enjoy this recipe! Feel free to ask questions in the comment box! We will be happy to answer!
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