Coffee Scrubs

Most Coffee Types Are Good For Your Skin, Some Are Not.

With Coffee Scrubs gaining in popularity, we thought we'd take a look into these to find out which are the best coffee types to use for our skin. We found quite a bit of information out there as to what's good to use, but we didn't find anything telling us what not to use.

So, we did some in depth research to find out what's what.

There really are some coffee types out there that you should not use for your coffee scrub. Really shouldn't. Reeeeeeally shouldn't!

Our 'quick read' article quickly sums up why you should be using a very specific kind of coffee for your scrub, and why you should always avoid a specific kind of coffee.

Let's get straight to it :-

Coffee as a Scrub.

5 minute read.

Coffee as a Scrub.

There are many places on the internet which show us how to make different kinds of coffee scrubs and the different kinds of benefits they bring to our skin. But ...

How many of them tell us what kind of coffee we should or shouldn't be using?

You really should pay attention to the kind of coffee you use for your scrub. Let's take a quick look at the facts and see what's what.

Coffee Scrubs Can Do Amazing Things For Our Skin ... Probably.

The truth is that there has been hardly any (if any at all) credible scientific research carried out with regards to whether rubbing coffee into our skin actually has any benefit. However. thousands of people swear by it, so if thousands of people like using coffee scrubs, then it's safe to say that it's certainly having a positive effect for them. People from all around the world say that they've experienced many benefits from using coffee as a scrub:

Some of these are: (In no particular order).

Exfoliation.

The right kind of coffee 'ground' can help you get rid of dead skin and leave it feeling clean and fresh with a healthier 'glow'.

Cellulite Reduction. (woohoo!)

If you're lucky enough not to experience this (very) annoying condition, then skip to the next one. If you have experienced this, then it's worth noting that a lot of women have reported seeing a benefit after regularly using a coffee scrub as a treatment.

Puffy Eyes.

Eye creams that help tighten up bags under the eyes sometimes contain caffeine as a key ingredient. The main cause of eye-bags is that the skin under the eyes doesn't remove moisture in the same way as the skin does elsewhere on the body. This build up of excessive moisture in the skin is the most common cause of eye-bags. Caffeine constricts the blood vessels (slightly) and induces a dehydrating effect in the skin, thus reducing the moisture level and reducing the those darn pesky bags (slightly).

Happy Shiny Hair.

Some girls think that you can only use coffee on your hair if you're a brunette. This isn't strictly true. Massaging caffeine/coffee into our scalp and combing coffee grounds through our hair brings many benefits for the health of our hair and scalp. Check out our article on 'Coffee and Your Hair' for a good guide on what's what.

Happy Healthy Face. (men too!).

Coffee facial scrubs are gaining in popularity due to the many benefits they bring to our skin. Check out our article 'Facial Scrubs' for more details on this. It is very important that you do not use the wrong kind of coffee for any kind of scrub, so let's keep reading and find out the facts.

Skin.

Some people have even experienced amazing results by regularly using a coffee scrub to treat certain skin conditions like eczema.

There are actually more benefits which have been experienced from using coffee scrubs, but we won't go into these here as that isn't what this article is about.

We'll start with the 'Not so good coffee types' first, then we'll look at the 'Good coffee types' and the 3 key things we should look for in a good quality coffee bean.

Not So Good Coffee Types.

Honestly, you shouldn't really be using anything that is 'non organic'. Whether it be caffeine rich or decaf or anywhere in between, we don't always know what's in our coffee bean.

The coffee industry uses many different chemicals to grow and process non organic coffee. Whilst the chemical levels present in our coffee are always within Food Standard safety limits, if you're looking for a healthier skin glow over time, they are usually best avoided.

Non organic coffee is among the most heavily chemically treated foods in the world. It is steeped in synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides... and this is just the growing of the coffee fruit.

These are just some of the chemicals used in the growing of non-organic coffee.

Just some of the insecticides used:

Imidacloprid, Chlorpyrifos, Methyl Parathion & Disulfoton.

Just some of the fungicides used:

Triadimefon, Cyproconazole, Propiconazole.

We probably wouldn't know what these things are, but trust us on this, they are toxins and are formally classed as such by the World Health Organisation. Further info is available under the 'Sources' tab at the bottom of this page.

While we're on this, let's take a quick look at 'Decaff'. Do you think it's healthier? Well, it depends on what kind you use. Let's take a quick look.

De-caff' ....

It's worth noting that if you want to use a decaff' coffee for your scrub, the only thing it can be used for is exfoliating the skin. The other benefits shown above mostly come from the caffeine itself, so it might be worth trying a coffee that isn't decaff for your scrub.

If you do just want to exfoliate using a decaff coffee, take a look at the 4 methods the coffee industry uses to decaff' the coffee bean so you can choose the right one for your skin.

The 4 'Decaffing' methods used are:

Non-Solvent Based.

Solvent Based.

1. Swiss Water Process.

2. Carbon Dioxide Process.

3. Indirect Solvent Process.

4. Direct Solvent Process.

These kinds of decaff' are perfectly fine to use. You will often find that decaff' coffees labelled as 'Organic' will have been processed using either method 1 or 2. These really are fine to use as a scrub (and for drinking) because they do not contain any of the toxins which are present in the non-organic coffees.

Methods 3 and 4 are different. The 2 main solvents/chemicals used by the coffee industry to remove caffeine these days are:

- Methylene Chloride.

- Ethyl Acetate (synthesized).

These are also classed as toxins by the W.H.O. Further info is available under the 'Sources' tab at the bottom of this page.

While it is important to note that the amounts of these chemicals actually present in the coffee literally are microscopic

(Often less then 1 part per million), we still need to think about whether we want to be rubbing these things into our skin.

Actually, we don't need to be thinking about it.

We shouldn't ever be rubbing this stuff into our skin! Ever.

It's safe to say that it just doesn't make sense to use coffees which contain these chemicals, even if it's just in tiny microscopic amounts . Over time it will more likely have a negative affect on the health of our skin rather than the positive affect we're looking for.

So, read every coffee label?

Really?

Stand in the middle of the aisle with a huge magnifying glass trying to read tiny print on every coffee label on the shelf?

Nope!

... and thankfully the food standards authorities across different countries understand this. So, they make it Ez Pz.

All we need to do to is look for the 'organic' logo on the coffee packaging/label, which should be easy to see straight away.

The 'Organic' logo slightly differs across different countries, so we've included a few of them at the bottom of this page so you'll know what to look out for, wherever you may be.

Let's get to the good stuff ...

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The Good Coffee Types?

There are 3 key things we should look for when choosing our coffee.

These are:

1. It Has to be Organic.

No exceptions.

2. The Type of Bean.

The magic is in the bean. In addition to the caffeine, coffee also contains naturally occurring acids which act as natural antioxidants and also have anti-fungal and anti-microbial properties. So, we want the bean that offers the most of all these nutrients.

Let's take a look at the different organic coffee bean types available and see which one is the best to use.

Liberica: (including Excelsa, dybowskii and dewevrei).

This bean type is the rarest and has a slightly sweeter aroma than the other beans but, if you want to try this one (if you can get it), be prepared to pay the higher price.

(Caffeine around 1.2 %).

Arabica:

Around 75% of all coffee purchased is made with the Arabica bean.

(Caffeine around 1.6 %).

Robusta: (aka canephora).

Rich and strong with the highest naturally occurring level of caffeine available from a bean.

(Caffeine around 2.2 %).

... And that's the 3 coffee bean types which are generally available worldwide, with their caffeine content).

Ok, so far we've established 2 of the 3 key things we need to consider for the perfect coffee scrub coffee. (1. Organic 2. Type of Bean).

So, what's the 3rd thing?

3. The Roast.

It would be easy to think that the type of roast you choose wouldn't really matter. However, if you'd like to get the maximum benefit from your scrub, the roast type matters a lot.

To get straight to the point, The more you roast the coffee bean, the less of it's natural ingredients remain. Just like any other foods we cook, the more it's cooked the less of it's nutrients remain.

The 'darker' the roast the lower the acidity level. The lighter the roast, the higher the acidity level (and all the other natural nutrients within the bean).

Therefor, "Light roast" is definitely the one we want.

What is the best kind of coffee to use as a scrub?

... To summarise, the 3 key things we need are:

1. Is it organic? - 2. The kind of bean and 3. The Roast. So....

Organic Robusta.

Light Roast.

This bean naturally contains the highest amount of caffeine and with a light roast it will also have naturally higher levels of all the other key nutrients we need in a good quality coffee scrub.

With it being organic, it doesn't contain trace amounts of toxins like the non-organic stuff does.

So, it's the best by far!