What Does Coffee Have To Do With Skin Care?

While coffee and skin care might seem like a strange combination, you may be surprised to learn that in 2006, there were more than one hundred forty products on the US market. That's up from only twenty-one products three years previously. Coffee got a bad reputation in the twentieth century, with the FDA unsure whether it was beneficial or harmful. Now that we're moving into the twenty-first century, we're finding out more and more about the beneficial effects of coffee. That's showing up extremely well in the skin care industry.

Caffeine and coffee are primarily showing up in creams and skin lotions, due to their ability to firm and tighten the skin, as well as their antioxidant properties. When applied to the skin, caffeine does three different things. It acts as a diuretic, an antioxidant, and as a vasoconstrictor. Among other makers of skin care products, manufacturers like L'Oreal, Avon and Neutrogena have all included caffeine in their wares.

For years, caffeine has been used in products sold to reduce cellulite. It's clear that caffeine dehydrates fat cells by somehow energizing them which in turn causes the sodium/potassium component of the cells to vacate. Consequently, water disappears as well. Bottom line - skin on buttocks and thighs becomes smoother.

Caffeine's ability to constrict small veins also means that it's a favored ingredient when it comes to gels meant to reduce puffiness and dark circles near the eyes. It's also used for tightening skin in this area. It's a good idea to remember that no cream, gel or lotion can give permanent results. However, caffeine containing products can create a noticeable improvement for a few hours.

Now, the explosion of coffee use in skin products means that you'll find it in fragrances, face creams and body scrubs. Lots of products not only smell like coffee, but also have ground coffee in them as an exfoliant. Some manufacturers even suggest that absorbing caffeine through your skin could produce some of the same alertness effects that drinking a cup of coffee does.

Dermatologists would disagree That's because no product currently on the market has enough caffeine to produce that kind of result. On top of that, skin absorption is quite slow, making it questionable whether or not enough caffeine will penetrate to create any reaction at all. Smell is a different story, though. Coffee scented products can perk us up just because we associate their odor with wakefulness.

There have been a few promising studies using mice which suggest that coffee's caffeine can also be used to kill off cancer cells in the skin. At the moment, these results look promising, but can't yet be translated to human. Since caffeine has been shown to have some sun blocking effects, you'll also find it as an ingredient in sunscreens.

There are even a few people suggesting that it's unnecessary to invest in expensive commercial skin care products. They say that you can get the same kinds of benefit by making your own body scrubs and homemade soaps using brewed coffee, coffee grounds and more. There are eve recipes out there, letting you shower with your espresso, too.