The Repurposing Life

Homemade Coffee Body Scrub

I love everything about coffee—the taste, the smell, the caffeine—and being a busy momma of twins, I’m always in great need of it, but with very little time to brew it. The smell of coffee is so intoxicating that people everywhere love the scent.

In fact, it is one of the five foods in the world with the most complex flavor profiles. Among this group are: aged cheeses, wine (and spirits), chocolate and aged/fermented vinegars. Instead of buying coffee–scented soaps and candles, if you want more coffee aroma in your life, try this body scrub.

It’s a great zero waste idea, you can collect your own daily used coffee grounds until you have enough to make this simple coffee scrub, or use the coffee grounds from a shop. Coffee shops often give away freely their used coffee grounds to the public.

In addition to smelling like coffee, you’ll love the spa–like benefits of this oil–based body scrub. Plus, it’s extremely simple to make—you don’t even have to go to the store.

The Benefits of Coffee in Scrubs

Coffee has many benefits when it comes to skincare. Using coffee in scrubs can lead to many positive skin outcomes. Not only will it exfoliate and rejuvenate your skin, it will also make it feel smooth, soft, tight, bright, and moisturized.

Exfoliating your skin before any method of hair removal (waxing, shaving) will also prevent those pesky ingrown hairs. You may also find that this coffee scrub can reduce cellulite, redness and swelling.

Step 1: Choose Your Coffee

The first step to making your own body scrub is to choose the type of coffee you want to use. It’s totally up to you if you want to use fresh or used grounds. You can even use flavored coffee to get the scent you prefer.

Step 2: Pour Coffee Grounds into Bowl

Once you have the coffee of your choice, pour the grounds into a bowl.

Step 3: Add Sugar and Salt to Bowl

Next, combine the other two dry ingredients. Using raw sugar and sea salt over table sugar and salt is important because they come in larger crystals, which makes them better for exfoliation. If your skin is sensitive, though, you can opt for the smaller crystals.

Step 4: Stir Dry Ingredients

Mix the ground coffee, sea salt, and raw sugar together. Stir until all of the dry ingredients are evenly blended. This will smell incredible, just like a delicious latte (please refrain from eating the mix with a spoon).

Step 5: Add Oils to Bowl

Once all the dry ingredients are combined, add the two oils to the bowl. Coconut oil and olive oil are some of the best oil options because of their skin benefits. Olive oil is a wonderful moisturizer, and coconut oil helps heal infections, kill viruses, and provides anti–fungal properties.

Step 6: Stir Everything Together

Next, mix the oils into the dry ingredients. If using regular coconut oil, you can warm it up for a few seconds until it stirs together more easily.

Step 7: Lightly Scrub Your Skin

After everything is combined, your scrub is ready to be used. In the shower, massage 1 Tbsp. gently into your wet skin—on any part of your body—just make sure not to scrub so hard that it hurts. It is best not to use this scrub more frequently than 1–2 times per week.

Because the scrub is made with coffee grounds, it will be very dark on your skin (and in your tub/shower), so make sure to rinse it off well. You also need to make sure to wash the scrub off with hot water in order to not clog the drain.

Once you’ve rinsed off and dried your skin, you should notice how smooth and moisturized your skin feels. If you love the smell of coffee, you’ll definitely love this incredible scrub.

Step 8: Storage

Store in an airtight glass jar at room temperature away from heat and light.

Feel beautiful, healthy & happy through at–home spa–like experiences & powerful DIY with our other skin care posts and hair care posts, stay informed of new posts in this and other series by subscribing to our newsletter. Let us know in the comments below if you try it out, we’d love to hear from you.