How To Reuse Coffee to Rehydrate your Skin

This weekend I treated myself to making my luscious coffee scrub again. This time of year, cold and muddy for us, just begged me to bolster myself and rehydrate my skin. My skin has been feeling so dry, what with the heating on and lots of wool clothing. So, needs must. Time to reuse my coffee to rehydrate my skin.

DIY Time

Making your own beauty products is actually really, really simple. Quicker in general than even going to the store to buy them. And – serious bonus – I know exactly what I am putting on my skin, as well as the satisfaction of having made them. Also, I am too tempted by beauty product clutter. As I try to simplify my life, I am also trying to simplify my beauty routine.

The first hurdle was in getting going, that impetus to actually do rather than think. Yes, we are all ‘time’ shy; been there, got that, bought the bridge. With the holiday season passed and now launched into the New Year, I made sure I used some of my precious time for this. Realising as well, I should make a big batch in case it was a while until I do it again.

Morning Coffee

Now, if you are like me and you love your morning coffee, then this recipe is for you. I came across this concept when trying to find a use for old coffee grounds, as I make a lot of them. Most of them get used in the garden to keep slugs away (by surrounding plants or plant beds with the used grounds). But in winter, when slugs aren’t an issue, I like to put my old coffee to other use.

This is such an easy and favourite recipe. The only time consuming part, it could be argued, is remembering to dry your coffee grounds. The best way, I found, was to keep my coffee grounds from my morning coffee on a day when I knew I was going to use my oven.

How To

Spread the coffee grounds on a baking tray whilst whatever you have in the oven is cooking. When the cooking is done and you turn off the oven, put your baking tray of coffee in. As the oven cools it will slowly dry out your grounds. Once the coffee grounds are completely dried you can store in a jar until you are ready to make your scrub. (I love that we are dehydrating to rehydrate.)

You want roughly half the amount of coconut oil to coffee grounds. So if you fill a cup with coffee grounds, use half that cup for your coconut oil. The quantity is not really important. It is really more about getting the consistency of scrub you like. If you like it less grainy, put in less coffee. Like it a bit more scrubby, add more in.

To make the scrub you melt the coconut oil. I recommend a double boiler method for this. I use a glass Pyrex bowl nestled in a simmering pot of water. As soon as the coconut oil is liquid, turn off the heat and stir in the coffee grounds.

Then to make it an even better scrub, you add sugar (or sea salt), about the same amount as the coffee. You can also add some cinnamon or nutmeg or ground cloves. Whatever makes you enjoy the scent even more. Me, I went for a mixture of cinnamon and nutmeg this time, about a teaspoon each, but you can vary it to get the smell you like.

Rehydrate yourself

Once you have made your mixture, pour it into a solid plastic or glass jar. I reuse old peanut butter jars as I like to recycle things, but also my peanut butter jars have a nice wide opening. Much easier to get my hand in. I also prefer a plastic lid, so it doesn’t rust with the moisture from the scrub. The downside of glass, although it looks lovely, is of course potential breakage.

The scrub will solidify as the coconut oil cools, so hence a nice wide open jar. To use, just scoop out some with your fingers and smear over your body while in the shower, then wash off. You will feel so soft and rehydrated and smell like morning. So now, you’ll pardon me, my coffee scrub is calling me.

Before I run …

If you are a coffee lover like me, then you are always looking for new ways to reuse coffee, stories about coffee and/or coffee lover gifts. For the latter (blatant advertising moment), I often seek out coffee related items for our shop. It also gives me the excuse to delve a bit more into coffee’s history. (Half the fun of owning a vintage & antiques shop is the research.)  So, if you are a coffee lover, or you know someone who is, we have a great variety of coffee related gifts in our Shop,