Coffee and Oatmeal Body Scrub: Do It Yourself

Coffee and Oatmeal Body Scrub: Do It Yourself

Let’s get one thing straight first, the word is not brown. It’s bronze. More specifically bronze goddess.  Bronze skin has a way of darkening very easily in the sun. Being a bronze goddess, I bake like a double chocolate cookie in the summer. It’s not so much the tanning that bothers me (you can never be too bronze!), but the tan lines that I hate. The straps of my sandals are permanently etched into my feet for the entire duration of summer. Not pretty

Body scrubs are a great way to bring your skin tone back to its original shade. You slough off the top layer of skin (I know, ew) to reveal new “un-tanned” skin.

I have tried a bunch of store-bought body scrubs to help get my skin tone back to normal, but none of them seem to be strong enough to do the trick. Not to mention, I am allergic to pretty much anything. Coco butter, coconut oil, certain types of detergent, you name it. When you have sensitive skin, finding body products that don’t cause any irritation can be a pain in the a……rear end  Plus it’s so much better to make stuff at home because (1) you save money, (2) less harmful ingredients, so no irritation or allergies, (3) it’s fun.

This body scrub uses coffee and oatmeal as the base, and sugar as the exfoliant. Coffee helps increase blood flow to the skin surface as well as helps reduce the appearance of cellulite. Oatmeal is naturally moisturizing. Honey has been known to be a moisturizer and detoxifier, and the oil helps as a powerful moisturizer. Before we start, I should mention that you take care while making homemade body products. Anything that you are allergic to digestively may also cause reactions when used topically. On the bright side, you control what goes into your products, so you can make sure you don’t use anything you think might harm your skin.

Alright then, here we go:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup coffee grounds.
• ½ cup oatmeal.
• ½ cup sugar.
• ½ cup honey.
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Start by grounding the oatmeal to a fine powder.

Measure out the rest of the dry ingredients into a large bowl.

Mix the ingredients and add the honey and oil.

Combine until everything is coated with honey. Add some more honey if you need

You should have a sticky consistency, with no dry ingredients left. As an optional step, you could add some essential oils of your choice. Powdered cinnamon is also great (smells AMAZING!).

[Warning: if you’re a coffee lover, you may feel compelled to eat this stuff. And why not? It is made of edible ingredients, but it doesn’t taste that good. Trust me, I tried it].

All done! Easy peasy. You can quickly whip some up just before your bath, or you can make extra and store it in your bathroom. I would recommend not storing it for over 1-2 weeks. While it may not go bad, there could be an ant attack (honey and sugar, can you blame them?).

If you feel like the texture is too rough for you, you can always add less sugar or skip the sugar entirely. The coffee alone should give you enough grit to exfoliate sensitive skin.