A few years ago while visiting friends in Virginia my husband and I found a cute airstream that housed a store with cute handmade items and a, “do it yourself” sugar scrub corner. I hadn’t really done much exfoliating outside of St.Ives Peach scrub, or a foaming sugar scrub from Bath and Body Works. I was on vacation and I love DIY stuff so I made a little lavendar sugar scrub, not knowing it would change my life. Earlier that month I had read how a sugar scrub had changed someone else’s life in a magazine and I didn’t believe them. I am here to tell you, a scrub will change your life.
I, like 50%+ of other people, have Keratosis Pilaris, aka chicken skin. I have red bumps on my upper arms, and no matter how much lotion I use it isn’t really soft or smooth. UNTIL I exfoliated with this magic lavender scrub I made. Now I am sorry to say that I have no idea what went into the lavender sugar scrub at this point, but I did find a very easy recipe with 3 ingredients I always have in my kitchen, and I have similar results! The only thing missing is that sweet lavender smell to be completely honest.
So why chose coffee? Taste of Home said it best, “The sand-like texture of coffee grounds makes a great exfoliant in homemade scrubs. The grounds work to gently remove dead skin cells, which helps to rejuvenate and boost circulation.” It’s also been known to help temporarily reduce the appearance of cellulite!
Very simply, you just need used coffee grounds, brown sugar and coconut oil. I have used wet coffee grounds and I have used dried out coffee grounds. I have used both refined and unrefined coconut oil. The results are all similar but as far as the coffee grounds I do kind of prefer them to be dried out because the coconut oil will add moisture and when I’m in the shower some water will get into my container just from me reaching in to get some.
Where should people use this scrub? I’m no professional but I can tell you I’ve used it on my arms, legs, face and belly. My favorite places to use this are my face and arms. Anywhere I tend to get really dry skin I found it was helpful in retaining some moisture!
Project Time: 10 minutes
To make a coffee sugar scrub you will need:
1/2 cup used coffee grounds
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup coconut oil
container to mix ingredients
containers to gift scrub in!
Simply mix all the ingredients until it’s well blended. If it seems a little on the dry side you can add a little more coconut oil OR you could add a few drops of Vitamin E oil (you find this in the vitamin section at the pharmacy) If your coconut oil doesn’t seem like it’s melting or soft enough you can nuke it in the microwave before hand so it’s softer. My kitchen is usually warm so I don’t have this issue.
I was able to divide this out into four equal sizes in these little Ziploc containers. I found them in a pack of 8 for about $2 at my local grocery store!
Other tips I have to share are I use both of the butter containers you see to stock up on my coffee grounds! The large one that I used for mixing I typically use for my fully dried coffee grounds and the smaller one I use for the grounds that I’m waiting to dry out. I do this because I only make a small amount of coffee daily since I’m the only coffee drinker in my house. Obviously if you’re making a full pot of coffee, you might only need one go at it to have enough!
Also when I use this scrub myself I just grab little nickel to quarter size chunks out with my fingers as it’s soft and easy to manage in the shower. I recommend plastic containers so if something slips and falls you aren’t dealing with shattered glass and bare feet! After using this there will sometimes be a few coffee grounds in the tub, I simply just wipe them up with a napkin or toilet paper. You can also rinse them out if you have a hand held shower spray! Also be cognizant that the bathtub can get a little slick because of the coconut oil.
I hope you guys enjoyed today’s handmade holiday how to! If you have a scrub recipe you love please share in the comments below! Be sure to check back tomorrow for another Handmade Holiday how-to!
xoxo
-Robin
