Caffeine is our fuel, but what about its benefits for the skin? If you’re a coffee-lover, you’ll be happy to hear six reasons you should use coffee grounds as a scrub. Since it’s an essential source of antioxidants and nutrients beneficial for skin, scalp, and hair, it can be used to exfoliate, boost blood flow, and balance pH levels. Here’s what coffee grounds can actually do for your skin!
7 Awesome Benefits of Coffee Grounds Scrub
As soon as you add coffee scrub to your weekly beauty ritual, your skin will take advantage of so many benefits at once!
Coffee is a high source of antioxidants
Probably the main reason why coffee is so praised in the skincare world it’s due to its high antioxidant activity. According to research, caffeine actually penetrates the skin layer, so you’ll benefit from all the antioxidants coffee has to provide. These are great news since antioxidants help fight free radicals, which are often associated with photoaging, wrinkles, sagging, dryness, and pigmentation. Plus, antioxidants strengthen your skin barrier function. Studies also confirmed that caffeine helps protect cells against UV radiation which may as well slow down skin aging. That doesn’t mean you should skip sunscreen if you have done a coffee grounds scrub. In fact, proper SPF protection is always mandatory regardless of what you have applied to your skin. That’s the golden rule!
It promotes clear and radiant skin
As I’ve already mentioned, coffee contains antioxidants, so rubbing coffee grounds on your skin will make it look glowing and fresh. Besides, the grounds can be used to help exfoliate, smooth, and soften the skin naturally, making it look firmer and tighter. In plus, it’s a smart way to prep your skin for any treatment, as products are better absorbed into the skin after dead cells are stripped away after your coffee scrub.
It reduces inflammation
In addition to being a good source of antioxidants, coffee beans contain polyphenols and hydrocinnamic acid, two compounds that can soothe red skin, breakouts and are known to reduce inflammation.
Dead skin cells are gently removed
Applying coffee beans as a scrub helps you get rid of dark spots, fine lines, and wrinkles. How? Since it exfoliates, it helps to generate new skin cells, removing dead ones. Cumulation of dead cells on the skin is one of the leading causes of premature aging, so to reduce the rate at which your skin deteriorates, try coffee scrubs.
It helps boost blood flow
The caffeine present in coffee beans acts like a stimulant that improves blood circulation. Your skin will indeed feel softer, smoother, and rejuvenated. Improved blood flow has the benefit of helping the skin to grow new cells faster, resulting in healthily-looking skin.
It does a great job with your scalp
Because coffee is naturally acidic, applying it to your scalp and hair can be an excellent way to help rebalance the pH levels. Try rubbing coffee grounds into the scalp before you shampoo to get away dead skin cells and stimulate hair growth.
It reduces the look of cellulite
Use it on the body parts where you have cellulite, and you’ll be surprised by its effect. This is possible because coffee is a diuretic and dehydrates the skin cells, meaning it makes cellulite less visible, though not eliminates it, as the American Academy of Dermatology states.
Editor’s tip
Mix coffee beans with honey if you have sensitive or acne-prone skin. Also, make sure to follow up exfoliation with a moisturizer. It’s better absorbed and helps maintain the appearance of healthy skin longer. Coffee grounds scrub might be one of the most popular and effective beauty tips you can easily use. It’s the perfect solution when you are on a budget or ran out of scrub, and it can be used on the whole body, face, lips, scalp, and hair — a cult-favorite multitasker. And my favorite coffee-beauty-tips involve ice. What I do is pouring coffee in ice trays to freeze, and whenever I need a skin boost, I rub a coffee ice cube on my face. It makes my skin look fresh, rested, and firm — looove it!
The takeaway
What about next time when you drink your coffee instead of throwing away the leftovers, try to make a scrub with it? Even though there’s not enough data to draw a conclusion about the effects of coffee grounds on skin, there’s no reason not to try it, at least once. It’s generally considered safe, but be careful not to over-exfoliating your skin with coffee grounds (or any other exfoliator) because it may disrupt your skin barrier. Once a week will do just fine!
