Show the biggest organ of your body the love and kindness it deserves with this quick and easy 2-ingredient honey and coffee grounds face mask & body scrub. It’s packed with anti-inflammatory antioxidants and is super exfoliating, tightening, and moisturizing too. Being entirely exposed to the outside world and all the challenges that come with that reality, your skin needs all the help it can get.
HERE YOU’LL FIND:
Sometimes Food Goes on Your Face
The Coffee Benefits for Skin
How Honey Can Benefit Your Skin
Stepping It Up with Herbal Honey
How to Make a Coffee Ground Face Mask
Tips, Tricks, & FAQs
Recipe for Herbal Honey & Coffee Ground Face Mask
This post may contain affiliate links. Botany Culture is 100% reader-supported. If you make purchases from any of these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. You can read the full disclaimer here.
Sometimes Food Goes on Your Face
Every single environmental toxin and all the everyday stressors that you may face, from UV radiation to the chemicals in the food you eat, are coming at you hellbent on causing trouble. Thank goodness for our skin, our very first line of defense.
Say thank you with this exfoliating and ultra-moisturizing honey and coffee grounds face (and body) mask with more health benefits than meets the eye. Plus, any herbal medicine that we can both eat and rub all over our bodies is my kind of medicine! Don’t you agree!?
In fact, I’ll just step out on a limb here and say that sometimes food should definitely go on your face.
The Coffee Benefits for Skin
It’s no secret that coffee is a huge source of antioxidants in our lives. If you’re a coffee drinker, with each sip you take, you’re taking in a good dose of anti-inflammatory antioxidants, as well as digestive benefits and more.
But before you sign yourself up for an extra cup of coffee (or two), know that too much coffee is no good and can actually make you sleepy if you drink too much of it. However, no one has said anything about rubbing it all over your face (or your entire body)!
Aside from being an incredible source of antioxidants, the health benefits of drinking coffee include:
- improved digestive, liver, and kidney health
- decreased fatigue and improved mental alertness
- pain relief
- weight management
- improved mental health
- reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes
- reduced risk of non-melanoma skin cancer in both Caucasian and Asian women
- preventative of skin hyperpigmentation (ie. darkened “sunspots”)
Coffee is a veritable magician of a plant (science-based magic, of course!) It’s a potent plant medicine that we might take for granted due to its entirely ubiquitous presence in our everyday lives.
Oh, but wait! There’s more! In regards to skin health, topical applications of coffee (in various forms) have been shown to be:
- Anti-aging (due to incredibly high antioxidant activity)
- Anti-inflammatory
- Antimicrobial (against skin infection diseases)
- UV light protectant (due to caffeine content)
- Anti-cellulite (due to caffeine’s ability to break up fats)
In fact, coffee and its by-products (spent coffee grounds, husks, hulls, defective beans, etc.) are being used for all kinds of cosmetic applications.
How Honey Can Benefit Your Skin
Using honey for skin health dates back to the earliest civilizations!
Aside from being packed full of nutrition, beneficial enzymes, and other compounds, the skin benefits of honey include:
- Moisturizing – Honey is a natural “humectant” that can help to trap and retain moisture.
- Antioxidant – Swapping out cane sugar for honey can increase your intake of disease-fighting antioxidants.
- Anti-inflammatory & Wound Healing – Due to its high antioxidant activity, high acidity, and hydrogen peroxide content, honey is a potent anti-inflammatory that may help to promote wound healing.
- Antimicrobial – Topically, honey may help to heal or prevent infections due to its activity against harmful microbes such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses.
Step It Up with Herbal Honey!
If honey is good, then herbal honey has just got to be better! Adding additional anti-inflammatory and antioxidant herbs to your honey only amps up the skin benefits of this coffee grounds face mask.
There are many ways to make herbal honey, but by far the easiest and quickest way is to just stir some dried, powdered herbs into honey and call it done! I call this “instant” herbal honey.
Other methods require infusing and then straining the herbs from the honey.
If you don’t already have herbal honey that would be appropriate for topical use (most are!) on hand, you can always just use regular honey. Just be sure that it’s organic and locally produced if possible. You don’t want chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and fungicides on your face… or anywhere near you, for that matter! At least not when you can help it!
There are so many herbal options for honey. Here’s a small list of herbs that would be great in honey for skin application:
- Rose petals
- Turmeric
- Lavender
- Calendula
- Gardenia
- Chickweed
- Elderflower
Try These Herbal Honeys!
Ginger Turmeric Honey
Gardenia Flower Infused Honey
Lavender Tulsi Honey
How to Make a Coffee Ground Face Mask
This is perhaps the simplest recipe! This honey and coffee grounds face mask requires almost no equipment and hardly requires any instruction. Here’s a general overview; you’ll find a detailed recipe at the end of this post.
Equipment You’ll Need
- Small Ramekin or Bowl
- Chopstick or Spoon (or another utensil for stirring)
Ingredients
- Organic Fresh Coffee Grounds (I find a finer grind such as an espresso grind to be more pleasant.)
- Organic Honey (Use herbal honey if you’ve one appropriate for applying to your face. Floral-infused honey is usually a safe bet. Otherwise, just use regular organic honey.)
Method
- Mix all ingredients together into a paste.
- Apply to your face using gentle circular motions.
- Allow the mask to sit on your face for 15-20 minutes before rinsing thoroughly with warm water.
- Pat skin dry and continue with your daily moisturizing and skincare routine.
Tips & Tricks & FAQs
Can I use my used coffee grounds for this face mask?
Yes, you can use used coffee grounds for this face mask. You’ll still get the exfoliating benefits, but many of the topical health benefits of coffee are due to its caffeine content. And used coffee grounds are going to have a lesser caffeine content than fresh grounds.
A face or body mask is a great use for used coffee grounds, however, for the most health benefits, use fresh grounds. Regardless, you’ll still have a nice exfoliating and moisturizing mask.
Are coffee grounds good for wrinkles?
That’s what they say! Because coffee is a natural stimulant, which may help to increase circulation, skin tightening is a potential skin benefit of coffee. And due to its high antioxidant content and anti-inflammatory properties, coffee can also be useful for helping to prevent premature signs of aging such as wrinkles.
Can I use this coffee face mask as a body scrub too?
Heck yes! Rub this coffee grounds face mask wherever you please! I recommend avoiding super sensitive skin due to the exfoliating nature of this mask. The caffeine content may also cause extra redness on sensitive skin. Just be mindful of where you’re rubbing it, and since it can be a little messy, considered applying it in the shower. Spend a few minutes massaging your skin with this mask and then rinse when you’re ready.
Does it matter what kind of honey I use on my face?
Make sure the honey you are using is pure (ie. doesn’t contain other ingredients) unless you’re using herbal honey. There’s so much honey on the market that is diluted with other ingredients (like sugar!) and so highly processed (ie. pasteurized) that the therapeutic benefits are significantly decreased.
And also choose raw, organic, and locally-grown when possible! Because our skin is a direct line of access into the rest of our body, always choose quality ingredients for your homemade skin care products.
For more plant magic & herbal wellness in your life, be sure to follow along on ➡️ Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter, & snag my herbal 📚 eBooks Nourishing Herbal Gifts & Holiday Pies from the (Un)Bakery. 🌿 And please don’t forget to tag me in your snaps 📸 @_botanyculture_. I love to see all the plant magic you make happen!
Herbal Honey & Coffee Ground Face Mask
Course: Bath & BodyDifficulty: Easy1
mask5
minutesSmoothen, soften, and get your glow on with this herbal honey and coffee ground mask! This gently exfoliating and ultra-moisturizing mask is perfect for when your skin is needing a little extra love. This recipe makes more than enough to use on your face. Use the rest as a body scrub in the shower. (You can store the leftovers in an airtight container for later use.)
Ingredients
2 teaspoons organic raw herbal honey (or plain organic raw honey)
1 teaspoon organic coffee (or espresso) grounds
Directions
- Mix all ingredients together into a paste.
- Apply to your face using gentle circular motions.
- Allow the mask to sit on your face for 15-20 minutes before rinsing thoroughly with warm water.
- Pat skin dry and continue with your daily moisturizing and skincare routine.
**If you have mask leftover, you can store it at room temperature in an airtight container for later use.
Did you make this?
Tag @_botanyculture_ in your snaps on Instagram
& hashtag it #botanyculture.
DISCLAIMER: The information given in this article is intended for educational purposes only. Always consult with your healthcare practitioner before consuming certain herbs & medicinal foods, especially if pregnant, nursing, or taking any prescription medications.
