7 Surprising Ways to Use Coffee in Your Beauty Routine

While coffee’s primary function is as a mood and energy booster, and best served in a cup, there are loads of other uses for this miracle bean. Coffee can be used in your beauty routine in a number of surprising ways! Whether it’s used coffee grounds or fresh mixed with oils or freshly brewed coffee, there are a number of uses that may not be obvious at first glance.

1. Exfoliant

Ground coffee can be mixed with a little coconut oil and, if you like, some essential oil such as peppermint, to create a lovely, luxurious exfoliant. This can be massaged gently into your facial skin or smoothed onto the rest of your body in the shower for a really fresh, scrubbed feel.

The coarse coffee grounds help draw dirt and dead skin from your pores and do the same job as some very expensive specialist body scrubs that can be found on the market. And as an added bonus, any coffee grounds that go down the bathroom plughole should help to shift any blockages further along the pipes!

2. Soften feet

In much the same way, ground coffee can be used to soften the feet. For those who may have been running around all day, a home-made foot spa can be a great way to relax. Massaging ground coffee into the soles of your feet, being careful to stay away from any cracked skin, is a budget-friendly way to revitalise tired tootsies.

Follow up with a warm basin of water and a few drops of lavender oil for a truly calming half an hour. Dead skin will peel away and leave a lovely, soft foot underneath.

3. On hair

Coffee can be used on brown and black hair for a colour-boost. The mahogany tones will highlight dull hair and leave it looking glossy, picking up and enhancing natural beauty.

There are other benefits too: caffeine is known to be an accelerant, stimulating growth. Not just when imbibed, but when smoothed onto hair, as well! Using coffee on your hair every so often is a good way to help it grow more quickly, ideal for getting over that poorly thought-out lockdown fringe.

4. Lip scrub

Mix coffee with a teaspoon of honey and smooth it onto your sore lips. Leave as long as you can bear – the smell of coffee and honey is so delicious, you’ll have to try your best not to lick it off – and then gently wash. The result is plumper, softer lips.

This is especially useful for when you are spending a lot of time outdoors: the cold air and sun can both damage the delicate skin on our lips, so taking a moment to look after them is really important.

coffe scrub

5. Fake tan

This may not get you looking as though you’ve just come back from Majorca, but that’s surely a good thing! Using coffee to gently stain your skin will leave you with a fake tan that’s all about the glow.

The beauty hacks are the perfect way to get a slight tint that makes your white shirts pop, without looking as though you had an accident at the tanning salon. Apply coffee to all visible parts of your body including legs, arms, and décolleté, leave it for a few minutes and then wipe it off. For a really luxurious shine, put your absolute favourite moisturiser over the top.

6. De-puff eyes

To bring down puffy eyes, an all-too-common problem after spending hours staring at our screens, caffeine is very effective. The teabag trick is well-known, but coffee less so.

To use coffee on your eyes, where the skin is very thin and delicate, it is best to pour a few drops of freshly brewed coffee onto a cotton pad, then sit for five to fifteen minutes with the pads on your eyes. This will brighten your face and reduce the look of bags and puffiness – and has the added benefit of giving you a few minutes to yourself with your eyes closed!

7. Perfume shopping

This next tip is really out of the left field. Perfume shopping can be a delightful way to spend an afternoon. The possibilities of who you will be when you put on each scent, the way the notes of bergamot or vanilla mingle with your skin: perfume is decadent and yet essential to everyday life.

However, our sense of smell tires very quickly. After just a few different scents, the way we smell will change. Using coffee is a clever way to ‘reset’ your senses! Take a deep sniff of some coffee in between each different perfume and you’ll get the full effect. This is much the same way sorbet is used as a palate cleanser during a meal.

Conclusion

Coffee can be a surprisingly effective tool in a beauty routine. With uses including softening skin, feet, and lips, calming down sore eyes, adding a glossy tint to hair or a natural tan to winter skin, and acting as a scent reset for perfume shopping, the uses are varied and many.

Author’s Bio
Gabi is a free time healthy lifestyle blogger, obsessed with coffee drinks. She believes that every great day must begin with a big mug of nice smelling coffee. Gabi is also interested in eco-living and zero-waste ideas.