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Trash Panda Cleans Up Nice: DIY Coffee Scrub



My sister got me coffee scrub for Xmas a couple of years ago and I was super into it. It was it's own little crimmas miracle: I got real clean and perfectly moisturized at the same time, and after I used it I smelled AMAZING.

And then I ran out.

After I saw how much places were charging for it, I decided maybe I should try making it myself*.  As long as coffee, sugar and salt is in ready supply, this stuff is Trash Panda as fuck.

Trash Panda's Super Easy DIY Coffee Scrub

  • 4 parts fresh or dried used coffee grounds
  • 1 part sugar and/or salt
  • 1 part oil
The ratios above are approximate. I start with a couple of cups of coffee grounds, throw in a couple spoonfuls of sugar and salt for extra scrubbies and as a preservative, and then add just enough oil to bind it all together but not be too oily.

I keep a cup or so in a lidded jar in the shower for ease of use. If I make a bigger batch I keep the rest of it in a jar in the fridge. In the fridge or not, it lasts for months. The fact that I use dry coffee grounds, coconut oil, sugar, salt and cinnamon might help with that. 

Recommendations for Use:

DO NOT USE THIS IN THE BATH. Just don't.

For the least amount of mess, I recommend:
  • Rinsing off in the shower
  • Turning off the shower
  • Sitting down in the shower
  • Applying a handful or two of scrub to yourself, and you know, scrubbing
  • Turning shower back on to rinse off
  • When you get out, rinse tub and shower walls thoroughly so you don't piss of yourself or your roommates because everyone keeps finding coffee grounds in the shower for a week
Yeah, there is serious potential for mess with this stuff. I don't know why no one ever mentions this. But if you turn off shower, sit down to apply scrub, and then rinse everything off real good after (including yourself), it's doable. It helps that I use the scrub three times a week tops.

Over the last few years I haven't had issues with the scrub clogging my drain. I only use a 1/3 of a cup at a time, and I have fairly new pipes, so keep that in mind. I have had some coffee staining, but only if I leave the jar of scrub sitting on the damp side of the tub for a long time - somehow there's always some scrub that gets stuck on the bottom of it. I solved that by keeping the coffee scrub jar on top of a soap dish. 

Variations: 

Blue Jay works at a cafe, so we usually have enough old coffee beans around that I can use stale unused coffee grounds for my scrub. I feel like I get extra coffee oil moisturizing power from them, but I don't know if that's actually a thing. If caffeine is what you're looking for, there's plenty left in used grounds. Just make sure to dry them (like spread thin on a tray overnight) so you don't have mold problems if you keep your scrub out for awhile. 

I use half coconut oil and half olive oil, but any skin friendly oil would do. 

I'm a Trash Panda so I just use white sugar and salt (non-iodized) for my scrub. You can use brown sugar and/or fancy salt if you want to. If you find salt too drying, just sugar is fine. I do recommend using at least a little sugar or salt as a preservative. I like to put in a little cinnamon too because holy shit it smells so good.


_______
* What the fuck Le Labo, 46 bucks a pound? 
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