But are they ready for it? If you’re anything like us, and your knees and elbows are looking like alligator skin, the answer will be a resounding ‘no’. Our skin can suffer from dehydration during the winter for many reasons. Low temperatures and humidity levels cause the water in your skin to evaporate more quickly and make it feel tight and chapped. Central heating is another cause of scaly skin, as it basically drinks up your skin’s natural moisture.
There is little better than a long hot bath when wintery weather is at its worst. Deep baths and hot showers may warm you up in minutes, but they rob your skin of its natural oils and make it look inflamed and dry. Blotchy, red and scaly like a fish… no, as far as we know, that’s not on-trend for SS21. Let’s get your skin sorted out, shall we?
Sure ways to soft skin
Now, we know we run an artisan coffee roastery and not a five-star spa. We don’t know all the ins and outs of beauty (although it does take some work to keep Andy’s beard looking so stunning! ?), but we do have some top tips to get your skin ready for the sun.
Beautiful inside, beautiful outside – that’s our first piece of advice. Drink plenty of water and keep up with the fruit and veggies, and healthy fats and oils, too (nuts and oily fish – that sort of thing). Avoid using harsh soaps and shower gels, and use body lotion straight after your shower for maximum moisturisation.
Coffee bean-tiful
We think everything is better with coffee, but so far, our evening shower routine is sadly lacking on the coffee front.
Better change that, hadn’t we?
We’ve come up with a brilliant way to create a natural body scrub using brewed coffee grounds. 100% free from chemical nasties and cheaper than anything you could buy in health shops, our Smoothing Coffee Body Scrub will have your skin spick and span in no time!
Does coffee dehydrate your skin?
Before we start, we feel that a little myth-busting is in order. It is commonly believed that coffee is bad because it dehydrates and dries your skin from the inside out. It is true that caffeine is a mild diuretic but it’s perfectly fine in moderation, as with most things in life. Coffee is a natural product, contains anti-inflammatory antioxidants and supplies you with a healthy glug of H2O, as well!
There are other proven benefits. Caffeine stimulates blood flow, and so helps to fight against dry skin and skin conditions like eczema. Studies have also found that caffeine might spur on your metabolism and help burn fat, so can sit more than happily in a healthy diet! Using brewed coffee grounds is an eco-friendly and entirely natural alternative to the microbeads used in some shop-bought exfoliators, so it’s skin-kind and sustainable! Smiles all round!
Let’s get making!
To Begin
Back to the scrub. We’ve combined natural exfoliants and oils to give your skin a boost and leave it feeling silky smooth. Here’s what you’ll need.
Ingredients
150g freshly brewed coffee grounds (so you’ll just have to make yourself a nice mug of Two Chimps coffee, ohh well…)
30ml of Jojoba oil
30ml coconut oil (good quality coconut oil is solid at room temperature, so you may need to melt it)
10g Himalayan Salt or Sea Salt
15g Coconut Palm Sugar (demerara will also be fine)
15 drops of essential oil – we chose bergamot, which is a citrus-scented oil great for dry skin
Method
Measure out all of your ingredients.
Put into a bowl and mix well.
Pour the mixture into an airtight jar and leave for 1-2 hours to settle. If your coffee grounds and coconut oil are warm, they need to return to room temperature.
Apply the scrub to damp skin. We recommend doing this in the shower; applying the scrub in the bath may turn your bathtub into a giant cup of coffee (not that we’d be complaining)!
Massage the scrub into your skin in circular motions.
If you can, leave the scrub on for 5-10 minutes, letting the oils absorb into your skin.
Rinse off thoroughly and pat your skin dry.
Enjoy the feeling of silky-smooth skin!
Use this scrub up to 3 times a week to keep your skin super soft.
Our Coffee Body Scrub is simple to make and will keep for up to 6 months in an airtight jar. The natural oils will sit on top (just like they do in a good quality jar of peanut butter), so be sure to give it a good stir before your next pamper.
Looking for other make-at-home coffee crafts? Find these below:
Take a look at our online shop to explore our gorgeous range of freshly roasted artisan coffees. If you’d like something special to accompany your scrub, why not choose a coffee gift set too? It’ll be a match made in heaven!
Be sure to check out our blog, where you’ll find lots more lovely recipes and some nifty ideas for using up coffee grounds.
Meet the chimp behind this article!
Head Chimp founded Two Chimps alongside Laura in 2016 after being self-employed from the age of 21. He caught the coffee bug from using an at-home roaster, and the rest is history!
What Andy does outside of the treehouse:
When the weather’s nice, Andy loves going on bike rides with his trusty sidekick, microchimp Felix (who always leads the way, of course). Andy also enjoys spending time tending to the family’s vegetable garden, and looking after their at-home farmyard, which includes a cat, two guinea pigs, and six chickens!
Andy says…
“I believe every day is a school day, and I’m always looking for opportunities to stick my head in a book and absorb new knowledge. I also love a problem to solve and fix – there’s no such thing as problems, only solutions.”
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