Get Buzzed: Coffee Scrubs Promise Smooth Skin
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iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — The beauty industry is abuzz.
According to a growing number of experts, there’s an easy secret to smoother skin and it’s hiding in your kitchen cabinet.
“Caffeine has long been used as a cellulite remedy,” explained Alexis Wolfer, editor-in-chief of TheBeautyBean.com and author of The Recipe For Radiance: Discover Beauty’s Best Kept Secrets In Your Kitchen. “It’s in most of the highest end cellulite creams that are currently on the market.”
Red Flower, a luxury organic skincare label, fortified its Lemon Coffee Blossom Olive Stone Scrub with Arabica beans.
Frank, which operates out of Australia, based an entire brand on the concept of caffeinated scrubs. The all-natural exfoliant, which bills itself as 200 grams of “tough love,” vows to reduce the appearance of cellulite, stretch marks, psoriasis, varicose veins, eczema and even acne.
But those looking to test-drive the trend, “don’t really need to spend a lot of money or buy a fancy ingredient,” said Wolfer. In fact, they don’t need to spend any money at all.
In her book, Wolfer whips up a DIY scrub from spent coffee grounds and wheat-germ oil. The paste is not only “literally free,” but also made of pronounceable, chemical-free ingredients that Wolfer swears by.
Wheat-germ oil, says Wolfer, is high in Vitamin E, which means the simple scrub will target, “not only cellulite, but stretch marks.”
Wolfer is quick to stress that even her miracle scrub will only temporarily minimize cellulite and mask stretch marks. And skeptics point out that even potent scrubs are not designed to penetrate skin for visible improvements in tone and texture.
Heidi A. Waldorf, a professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, confirmed that many topical treatments contain caffeine to combat cellulite, but said that scrub alone is unlikely to improve skin condition.
“We tell people, there’s no cure for cellulite yet. The best cure for cellulite is Spanx,” she said.
Still, Waldorf added that massage can stimulate blood flow, which will, “make the skin feel smoother” and promote increased blood flow.
If you do decide to concoct your own brew, be sure to apply a body oil or moisturizing lotion after the treatment.
“Exfoliating will get rid of an excess layer of skin,” said Waldorf. “But you want to maintain that [moisture] barrier.”
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