Freshly ground, part three

Staying with personal care, here are some more ways to reap benefits from your used coffee grounds. (And people throw these things away!) Last time I told you how to use them in (or as) a body scrub, or a facial scrub (massage very gently on the face), for radiant skin. You can also:

Use them for a facial mask. The most popular recipe for this is to combine

• a quarter cup of grounds, with
• one egg white.

Whisk together well. Then apply the mixture to your face (and / or neck, shoulders, wherever), massaging gently in upward circles. Relax and allow the mask to sit on your skin for about twenty minutes. Rinse off with warm water, again massaging gently. The mask shrinks pores and exfoliates, as well as stimulating the circulation. You can add a dash of cinnamon for oily or acne prone skin, or just to enhance the aroma.

If you don’t have an egg, you can also mix the quarter cup of grounds with a little milk, stirring in the milk till you reach a thick pasty consistency. Then follow the steps above.

An alternative recipe is to mix a teaspoon of grounds with a teaspoon of honey and a whole egg. Whisk the lot together till it is creamy. Then use as above. This version is more moisturising and is also good for irritated skin.

Follow any face mask with a few drops of olive or coconut oil applied while your skin is still a little damp.

To combat cellulite, I have also read that you can use coffee grounds for a wrap a couple of times a week. Mix a quarter cup of grounds with a tablespoon of oil and apply the mixture to the areas you want to treat. The part I’m not keen on here, is to then wrap the areas in plastic cling wrap. You would then leave it on for a few minutes before rinsing off. Plastic pollution is a scourge. Perhaps you could rinse off the plastic and keep it to re-use every time you do this. Otherwise I’m not a fan of this idea. I’d suggest rather using the coffee ground body scrub regularly to fight cellulite. The scrub action will help the coffee redistribute fat deposits, and you can forget the plastic.

Next time I’ll be telling you about using coffee grounds for your hair and scalp, where they have another set of gifts for you!