MAKE YOUR OWN BODY SCRUB – WITH COFFEE GROUNDS

Coffee grounds from your coffee maker (after you’ve made coffee with them), a generous slurp of vitamin E oil and a large spoonful of salt. Mix it all up thoroughly – and you have a cheap, natural, eco-friendly – and very effective – body scrub.

I’ve been making my own coffee scrub for a while now and my skin (and my purse) loves it.  Yes, the shower smells of coffee while I am in there – but once you’ve rinsed off the aroma disappears. If you fancy giving a more floral perfume – add some essential oil. Perhaps lavender, or orange, or even rose (if you are feeling a bit decadent).

This home-made body scrub is not only cheap and easy to make – it’s also effective; coffee is said to help reduce the appearance of cellulite if applied topically (the grounds also create an exfoliation action – so double whammy there!), vitamin E oil (Evening Primrose, or even Olive Oil) are all good skin moisturisers and salt is a great exfoliator and cleanser when used as a scrub. Who needs chemicals when all you need can found in your kitchen?

Assuming you drink coffee (or a friend is willing to save their grounds for you) then this part of the scrub is basically free – as it’s a waste by-product of making the coffee. Although it is very good for composting – so if have too much for your beauty regime, then put the surplus in the garden. If your budget will stretch to it – get organic, Fairtrade – that way you are also helping the environment and the farmers.  Good quality Vitamin E oil does cost a few pounds – but it also goes a long way. And salt – well that is pennies from the local supermarket and you don’t even need to get the posh Himalayan stuff.

So a medium Kilner Jar of body scrub will cost you less than a £1 – far, far more cost effective than anything you can buy that is ready made. And more eco-friendly too as it uses a waste product, requires no additional processing, and has fewer carbon miles.

However, a word of caution; it doesn’t last very long. Without preservatives etc., the coffee will start to grow mould after a couple of weeks. You can prolong the life of your scrub by keeping it in the fridge, but it won’t last forever!  So use it generously – don’t hold back!

There are all sorts of beauty products you can make yourself – and a good place to get an introduction is at Midas Touch. They run a range of craft workshops and some of the proceeds go to charity: http://midastouchcrafts.com/