This homemade coffee body scrub is a tiny superhero in a jar! It exfoliates gently which is great for sensitive skin, especially the face. It increases blood flow by helping dilate blood vessels and tighten our skin.
Therefore, it’s an awesome treatment for those of you who are affected by cellulite (which is about 80% of all women!!). Depending on what oil(s) you’re using, it also moisturises, rejuvenates, and brightens dry skin!
What else? Right: it’s zero waste because you’re “reusing” your coffee grounds for it AND it’s extremely cheap... because you’re reusing your fresh coffee grounds.
Contents
Benefits
- cellulite treatment: reduces dimples and the appearance of cellulite
- removes dead skin cells
- rejuvenates, brightens and tightens skin
- depending on the essential oils: revitalising and youthful-looking skin
- nourishes dry skin (if used with oil)
- the smell of coffee in your shower 😉
The caffeine in coffee is doing the magic! It helps the dilation of blood vessels which increases the blood flow. Massaging does that as well, but adding caffeine will support it even more.
When your blood is flowing properly, your skin looks rejuvenated and bright, and it tightens as well.
If you want to, you can add raw or brown sugar to this recipe to remove dead skin cells even more. The sugar will make it a stronger peeling though and I do not recommend it for people with sensitive skin.
Another great ingredient is honey but I won't go deeper into this because I've written a whole blog post about a honey coffee scrub!
Ingredients
- fresh coffee grounds
- organic coconut oil or water
- essential oils (optional)
- brown sugar (optional)
It's very simple. Two ingredients and that's it! You'll only need the coffee grounds from the coffee you made and some oil or water to form a paste.
Coffee: it doesn’t matter what coffee you use. Don’t use decaf though if you want to treat cellulite (you’ll need the caffeine)! Please note: the coarser the coffee grounds the stronger the peeling effect.
Oil or water: I prefer using coconut oil because it moisturises the skin simultaneously, and I think it makes the coffee grounds glide over the skin much easier. Also, if you want to use essential oils, adding a carrier oil is a must!
As it’s hot where I live, I love using coconut oil (it stays liquid most of the year). You may want to use sweet almond oil or olive oil instead as they’re always liquid. If you don’t like using oil, you can form a paste with just water as well.
Brown sugar (optional): Sugar is a great addition to homemade scrubs, not only because of the nice exfoliating effect. Brown sugar is less coarse which makes it a great ingredient if you like to use this recipe for a face scrub!
You can read more about the benefits of sugar in my post for a lemon honey sugar scrub recipe.
Essential oils (optional)
Affiliate Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links. That means I may earn a small commission, if you purchase the linked product, at no extra cost for you.
Essential oils are not necessary for this homemade coffee scrub recipe but I love adding them because some of them stimulate blood circulation which we need to achieve the best results.
I love using Geranium and Grapefruit oil because geranium is known to beautify the skin and grapefruit for a mood-lifting citrus scent. If treating cellulite (I’ll talk about that later on), grapefruit essential oil is great for that, too!
Black Pepper, Cypress, Cinnamon and Ginger are powerful essential oils since they stimulate circulation and dilate blood vessels.
Instructions
Preparation: DIY beauty treatments are so easy to make! Especially this one! All you need is fresh coffee grounds (no instant!). I know, a coffee lover won't have a problem with that!
When you make fresh coffee at home (no matter which sort: ground coffee beans, capsules, K-cups…), you always end up with coffee grounds.
If you’re using a filter coffee machine or a basket espresso machine, simply empty the filter/basket after brewing your coffee and put it in a jar or container to cool down.
If you’re using capsules (Nespresso, K-cups, etc.), you can cut them open to get the grounds out. Please, only use pure coffee—no flavouring or anything in it, if possible.
How to make your coffee scrub
Simply, combine oil (and essential oil(s), if using) or water with the fresh coffee grinds in a small bowl. You may need to adjust the amount of oil or water, depending on how wet your coffee grounds still are (or on the coarseness of your coffee). It should be a wet paste (as you can see in the picture), but not runny!
How often to use this homemade coffee body scrub
If using it for your face or your whole body, I recommend not using body scrubs more than once a week. In some cases, twice a week is fine as well because it’s only a gentle scrub. You just want to give your skin some time to produce new skin cells. That’s all.
If using this homemade coffee body scrub as a cellulite treatment, then 2-3 times are OK (adipose tissue (fat) is less sensitive) and leave out the sugar!
How to use this homemade coffee cellulite scrub
As I mentioned earlier, caffeine helps the dilation of blood vessels and tightens skin. The scrubbing motion additionally increases circulation in the affected area.
Be careful when using homemade scrubs on sensitive areas such as the inner thighs, chest, face and scars (including stretch marks).
This kinda plumps up your skin, making cellulite look less obvious. Over time, little dimples will disappear.
You can use cinnamon and grapefruit essential oils to fight cellulite. Cinnamon oil (only use 1 drop in this recipe! It’s very strong!!), black pepper, ginger and cypress are known to help dilate the blood vessels, while grapefruit helps break it down and prevent new fat cells from forming below the skin.
For a cellulite treatment, use this coffee body scrub 2-3 times a week (regular use is recommended), massaging it in a circular motion on your problem areas. After a few weeks, you should see a noticeable effect.
BUT, remember!! This is a treatment. NOT a cure! It won’t magically get rid of cellulite. Science still hasn’t figured out the cause for it, so all we can do at the moment is to give it a treatment—as natural as we can, of course.
Dry brushing, fascia massage and exercise (that helps me the most) are also very beneficial for cellulite reduction!
Storage
Use your own coffee scrub immediately or store it in a glass/mason jar. I keep mine in the shower as I use oils, which work as natural preservatives.
If you made this homemade coffee body scrub with water you may want to store it in the fridge to avoid mould.
This body scrub has a relatively long shelf life, especially when kept in the fridge—at least 2 weeks, probably much longer!
Warnings & Safety
If any skin irritations occur, stop using the coffee scrub. It may be from scrubbing too hard, an allergic reaction to any of the oils you're using or your skin simply has enough and needs a break.
If this happens, take a break and slowly start again, or change your oils. If the irritations occur again, stop using this scrub.
One thing that I just want to mention is that coffee grounds may clog your drain. I mean, there’s a reason why you should throw coffee grounds in the bin/garbage or compost them, and not flush them down the drain…
However, I think that the little amounts, used once a week max, should be fine. Just thought, you needed to know that.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoon coffee grounds cooled, wet or dried
- 2 tablespoon oil or water coconut, olive, sweet almond oil, etc.
- 4 drops essential oils optional
Instructions
- Combine oil (and essential oil(s), if using) or water and coffee grounds in a small bowl. You may need to adjust the amount of oil/water, depending on how wet your coffee grounds are (or on the coarseness of your coffee). It should be a wet paste (as you can see in the picture), but not runny!
- Jump into the shower. After washing, apply body scrub wherever needed. You can give your whole body a nice massage and scrub!For cellulite treatment: Massage coffee scrub vigorously (as much as you can tolerate! Don’t irritate your skin—you don’t want to hurt yourself!) in a circular motion on affected areas (usually thighs and/or bottom). Leave out sensitive areas.
- Rinse thoroughly. A little redness is normal because you’ve just increased the blood flow—that’s what we wanted to achieve!
- Finish with a moisturiser of your choice. I just use coconut oil or almond oil (because of its soothing properties), but use whatever you prefer.
Notes
- If you have leftovers, keep them in an airtight container or a glass jar (that’s best when using essential oils) in the fridge. If using a glass jar like I do just be careful with it in the shower ;).
- You could add raw sugar to the coffee scrub to make it coarser and to enhance the peeling effect. I find, however, that you don’t need to. The coffee grounds are enough for my skin.
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