I like a nice cup of organic coffee in the morning–the stronger, the better. No light roast for me. You may already know that I am a coffee drinker if you’ve read my post about coffee and under eye puffiness. Well, there are a lot more uses for that morning coffee, or more to the point, the grounds left behind.

If you are a gardener then you already know how wonderful coffee grounds are for your soil. Don’t stop there when considering what to do with your coffee grounds. For use in skin care, coffee grounds can perk up your skin in some really terrific ways!

A simple facial mask made from coffee grounds can not only rev up your skin, but may help reduce acne breakouts, and help fight wrinkles. As I mentioned in my earlier post, coffee and caffeine are among the hottest new additions to the skin care scene, and a whole bunch of name brand, expensive skin and body care products now contain caffeine in some for or another. It’s all of those antioxidants in coffee, and that circulation improving caffeine!

To make a coffee mask, take about 1/4 cup of warm coffee grounds and mix them with an a lightly beaten egg white. To this you can add a drop or two of the essential oil of your choice, with lavender, sweet orange oil, and rosemary making some good choices. Apply this concoction to your face, you will need to be lying down to keep it in place, and let it dry for 10 to 15 minutes. Rinse with warm water, and your skin should be soft, smooth and glowing.

Another use for coffee grounds is a body scrub that also treats cellulite, and I know that many of us have a bit of that ugly stuff! Many a cellulite cream on the market contains caffiene, and you know how expensive those are! Why not make your own cellulite fighting scrub?

This is a bit messy, so before you begin, lay down some newspapers on the bathroom floor and have some plastic wrap handy. Them mix 1 cup of coffee grounds with 1/4 cup of sweet almond oil, or olive oil, and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Now, go stand on the newspaper and vigorously scrub those pesky area of cellulite for a minute or two with the mixture, then cover the area with the scrub on it with plastic wrap. Now stand there feeling foolish for about 10 minutes.

Towards the end of the 10 minutes, take the rest of the coffee ground mixture and go to town scrubbing the rest of your body, paying close attention to rough areas, like knees and elbows. Now remove the plastic wrap, jump in the shower and rinse yourself off. The results should be soft, smooth and invigorated skin. Don’t expect any cellulite to disappear overnight, or vanish completely. Keep it real with regards to your expectations!

Now that you are well armed with some strong solutions for tough skin and body care problems, I will now let you get back to your daily grind. When you have a moment this evening, scrub a dub dub!