I don’t know about you, but I can’t start my day without a cup of double-shot espresso vanilla extract cappuccino. I mean, I can lower it down to a regular Americano, but I can’t get going without coffee. I mean it. I can’t. I thought I wouldn’t be able to love coffee more than I do until I discovered that it could tighten skin and give my face a supple glow. This is a whole other thing! You’re probably familiar with the use of coffee for treating cellulite, but are you familiar with how to use coffee for skin tightening?
Glad you asked! In this article, we’ll go over how you can use coffee for skin tightening – along with your morning buzz!
Let’s get started.
What Does Science Say?
Without indulging in scientific jargon, caffeine, the main component of coffee, is an antioxidant.
Antioxidants are compounds that help your skin fight extra free radicals that harm your body and skin. By fighting off these evil molecules, they keep your skin in tip-top condition.
On another side, caffeine is a vasoconstrictor. This means that it helps tighten blood vessels when applied to them. Constricted blood vessels result in firmer skin and a better appearance for delicate skin like the under eyes.
Author Note: Caffeine also helps protect skin cells that are damaged from sun exposure. It also helps slow down photoaging of skin as a result of UV rays.
Here are 3 DIY recipes to tighten skin using coffee
Espresso Grind and Sweet Almond Oil
Exfoliating your skin using any allowed granular substances like sugar, salt, coffee works by creating micro-tears in your skin, resulting in a plumper look.
However, recently there’ve been arguments against physical exfoliation for this particular reason. Tearing your skin intentionally -even if we’re talking on a micro-level- can do more harm than good in the long run.
That’s why using an espresso grind is a perfect solution. Espresso grinds are so fine that they’ll barely tear your skin. They’ll only help shed a couple of superficial layers of dead skin cells. The caffeine in the espresso helps enhance blood circulation as well.
The result is a smoother, plumper face with a temporary tightening effect due to blood vessel dilation.
To help espresso grind glide through your skin and to moisturize, you can mix sweet almond oil with it.
Recipe
- Mix one tablespoon of fine espresso grind with two tablespoons of sweet almond oil.
- Apply to your face after cleaning it with a suitable soap-free cleanser.
- Gently massage the scrub over your face.
- Let the mixture sit on your face for 15 minutes.
- Wipe your face clean with a cloth soaked in lukewarm water.
- Tone and moisturize afterward.
Coffee and Coconut Oil
This recipe works for both skin and body. Yet, we prefer you use it on your body since we’ll be using regular grind coffee beans and coconut oil.
Unlike sweet almond oil, coconut oil has a high comedogenic index, meaning it has a high chance of clogging your pores, especially if you have sensitive skin. Thus, we recommend coupling coffee with sweet almond or jojoba oil for the face, and coconut oil for the body.
Recipe
- Start with one cup of freshly grind coffee (this will suffice for your whole body).
- Add half a cup of sugar (for an enhanced effect).
- Melt half a cup of coconut oil.
- Mix the ingredients till you reach a scrub consistency (thick paste with beads inside).
- You can use a dash of cinnamon for a warming effect.
- Start from downwards and move up your body in a circular motion.
- Use this two or three times a week when you shower to see an effect.
Instant Coffee and Honey
Using coffee for your skin doesn’t have to be in the form of an exfoliating scrub. You can make a face mask that’ll result in a skin tightening effect and reveal a supple glow to your skin. Adding honey for its soothing effect will result in excellent outcomes.
Note that this mask is not to be used on sensitive skin.
Recipe
- Grind one and a half tablespoon of instant coffee in a bowl till they’re powder-like.
- Add three tablespoons of honey and mix well.
- Apply to a clean face using clean fingers or a brush.
- Leave for 20 minutes to work.
- Wipe your face clean with lukewarm water.
- Dab some moisturizer on your face.
How Does Coffee Help Reduce Cellulite?
Caffeine is the prime ingredient in creams that fight cellulite for plenty of reasons. Apart from boosting blood circulation, caffeine helps dehydrate fat cells, hence, shrinking their size.
We’ve got to be honest with you. The results won’t be dramatic. You’ll just notice a subtle improvement in the appearance of cellulite. It might be temporary if you don’t do it frequently, as well.
Top Tip: To give your cellulite treatment a boost, look for creams with vitamin C alongside caffeine, where vitamin C enhances collagen production. Thus, improving the overall appearance of cellulite.
The massaging effect itself of a coffee scrub aids in lymphatic drainage, which helps tighten the skin.
To get these anti-cellulite effects, use one of the two coffee scrubs we mentioned above. If your skin is not sensitive, you can add a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar.
Motion is key here. You need to massage your skin as long as possible. You can use hand massagers or scrubbing gloves to give your skin a nice polish.
You can also use a firming cream like Sol De Janeiro’s Brazilian Bum Bum Cream. It includes the caffeine-rich Guarana extract in addition to some essential oils that’ll help moisturize your skin whilst exfoliating it.
Coffee Helps Treat Eye Puffiness Too!
One of the well-known benefits of topically applying caffeine-infused creams and serums is eye depuffing.
When you reach out to this warm hot coffee in the morning to soothe your soul, grab a caffeine-based eye cream to help reduce under-eye puffiness, and get the blood going in this area.
As we said before, caffeine constricts blood vessels when applied topically. Thus, it reduces swelling almost instantly. That’s the trick that all these caffeine-based creams rely on. In the long run, using these creams frequently will help tighten the skin under your eyes and improve the overall look of the area, thanks to its antioxidant properties.
To perk up your eyes using coffee, you can go easy by buying a caffeine-based cream or prepare a DIY coffee mask.
DIY Coffee Eye Mask
While the skin tightening effects of coffee are bound to using it as a scrub, which we can’t do for the under eyes, we can still use the tightening effect it has on blood vessels for the under-eye area.
Author Note: To add a tightening effect, we’ll combine coffee grounds with egg white that’s also known for its rapid skin tightening effects.
Recipe
- Mix two teaspoons of coffee ground with one egg white.
- Whisk them together till you get a seamless blend.
- Apply the mask under your eyes with clean hands gently.
- Leave for 10 minutes to take action.
- Wipe off gently with a damp cloth.
- Apply your eye cream.
The Ordinary Caffeine Solution 5%
The Ordinary’s caffeine solution is a highly soluble eye serum that works for all skin types. With a high concentration of caffeine and green tea leaves extract, you’re getting a booster dose of antioxidants that’ll perk up your eyes with consistent use.
This is to be applied twice daily.
Clarins Multi-Active Yeux Instant Eye Reviver
Another quality eye cream is Clarins’s Instant Eye Reviver. True to the name, this cream improves the appearance of dull eyes because it contains chestnut extract and caffeine.
The cool tip provides a soothing, cooling effect that enhances lymphatic drainage. Reviewers rave about this product. You might as well give it a try.
The Other Side of the Coin – Coffee Side Effects
Let’s be realistic here, while coffee is a beneficial ingredient with positive impacts on your mood, skin, and body; it does have its downsides.
There’s a widespread misconception that coffee treatments help with acne, but there’s no clinical evidence of this. Moreover, the use of physical scrubs might actually make the case worse, as moving coffee grounds might spread bacteria all over your face.
Acne is formed inside your pores. A collection of sebum, dirt, and debris clogs the pore, forming acne. Thus, sloughing off a fine layer of dead skin won’t get to the root cause of the problem. In fact, it might do more harm than good.
Another issue is with excessive coffee drinking, which dehydrates the skin. In the long run, overconsumption of coffee might ease the formation of wrinkles around the eyes, which you don’t want. Make sure to drink coffee in moderation.
Conclusion
Coffee isn’t a miracle worker, but it still has a lot to offer to your body, other than waking you up in the morning!
To get the skin tightening benefits of coffee, make sure to use coffee scrubs regularly, at least twice a week. Couple them with collagen-boosting ingredients like vitamin C or other antioxidants like green tea, and you’ll notice a big difference.
Stay caffeinated friends!