Forget those nasty little plastic beads in your average facial or body scrubs, they end up in our waterways and are not good for our water, aquatic life or the environment. We are already drowning in so much plastic overload. Avoid it at all costs! So how about making your own body or facial scrub? Easy Peasy, and what’s even better, you can make it with the product you’d almost certainly be chucking out or composting! Used coffee grounds. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.
We compost all our coffee grounds, and we even compost a local coffee shop’s grounds too. Every week, we collect 2 big bags of their used coffee grounds and I spread it on my veggie beds or layer it in our compost bins. Last week, as I was distributing it in one of my cleared veggie beds, an idea came to me: I wondered if I could dry the grounds out in the oven and make a body scrub with the grounds? The queen of experimentation, I laid them in a small shallow pan and put it in a low oven for about an hour, stirring occasionally. It worked!
The benefits of a coffee scrub, apart from the fact that it’s going to cost you nothing if you recycle your old spent grounds, is that you will be able to slough off dead skin cells, leaving your skin fresh and invigorated. It certainly gets the circulation going! Apparently coffee grounds also detoxes the skin. The oil (coconut or sesame seed oil) conditions the skin and acts as a seal to lock in hydration, especially in winter. So get drinking that coffee and collecting your grinds. Small pottles of Facial Scrub with a nice handmade label also make great gifts!
The rough guide to Coffee Scrub
- 2-3 TBspn coffee grinds
- 1 TBspn organic golden sugar (optionl)
- 1 tspn vanilla essence or cinnamon powder
- 1 TBspn coconut oil or oil of choice, preferably cold-pressed
Mix up the ingredients and spoon into a dry, clean jar for later use. Play around with your recipe, say, add peppermint essential oil for a body scrub (avoid for face as peppermint could burn eyes). The cinnamon adds a cuppacino aroma.
To use, simply form a paste in the cup of your hand with a teaspoonful of scrub and a little warm water. Rub gently onto face in small circular motion and leave for 5 minutes before rinsing off with warm water, pat skin dry with clean cloth or towel. No need to moisturise afterwards as the oil does that for you!
Note: This healthy personal care regime is a little messy and one needs to rinse the basin clean afterwards! Ditto, the above when using as a body scrub in the shower. Who needs expensive beauty products that pollute the world? Enjoy your coffee recycled, the second time around and feel the Results!
Ciao, Jizzy!
