Story Smithing: 5 Innovative Beauty Uses For Coffee Grounds

How can coffee grounds be used with skin scraping? Can coffee grounds help dark circles under the eyes? Will coffee grounds be able to help your character change their appearance? Find out on this episode. 

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Transcript

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How can coffee grounds be used with skin scraping? Can coffee grounds help dark circles under the eyes? Will coffee grounds be able to help your character change their appearance? Find out on this episode. Welcome to Writing Rural With Alley, the Fiction Writers Weekly Inspirations Station for Rural, Life, and Lifestyles. From historical to post-apocalyptic, helping you bring your rural stories to life. I'm Alley. This is episode number 80, 5 Innovative Beauty Uses for Coffee Grounds. Stick around to the end to find out all the ways things could It could possibly go wrong. Now, let's get into this. Number one, hair care. Coffee grounds have been used for many generations. The earliest records I have found are from the 15th century, but they also refer to earlier trades. But I see nothing specific about where or when. However, what is known is that before coffee was used as a drink, it was used for many other things. One of those was hair care. Coffee does many things for the hair, including enhancing and promoting growth. In fact, this is backed up by research, and some studies suggest that using coffee grounds could stimulate hair growth. Which if you've listened to this podcast long enough, you might find as amusing as I do. As some people believe that coffee grounds will cause hair loss. As I stated then, I have never seen proof of this. There are many types of hair conditioning that have been used in history. Before I explain them, let me explain that the hair will need an incubation period. Now, I know, I also wanted to know why I was sticking my hair in the oven and hatching it like an egg. But Google assures me that's not what it means, thankfully. What it means is that it will need time to set in the hair and the hair must stay damp during that time. Now, historically, the way that people did this was to use a damp towel wrapped around the head, likely soaked in coffee. In modern times, a plastic cap can be placed over the hair to incubate it. There are several ways that coffee grounds can be for conditioning hair. Of course, they are mixed with some other things to accomplish this. Here are a few things that

they have been mixed with: 2:05

coconut oil, olive oil, honey, aloe vera, egg whites, egg yokes, and much more. The eggs seem to be either the whites or the yokes. And I have never seen them both used at the same time. These are all used by mixing roughly one cup of anything from this list and roughly two tablespoons of coffee grounds. Then the mixture will be placed in the hair and the scalp will be scrubbed at the same time. It is then incubated for half an hour to one full hour, then rinsed out of the hair. Your character can also dye their hair with coffee grounds. Keep in mind this is used to darken brown hair and will not make black hair brown. I also do not know what would happen if someone with red or even blonde hair were to use it. My assumption is that it would add brown to the color. This one also helps to keep the lighter natural highlights in a person's hair. This can get a bit complicated, so strap in and I'll try not to drink any coffee on the way. Your character will take one cup of coffee grounds and two cups of water. Then, they will brew up the coffee. They let the coffee cool. Next two tablespoons of hair conditioning is added. If your character lives before modern hair conditioners, they can use olive oil, coconut oil, lard, tallow, honey, egg whites, or something along these lines that they have access to. They will then add this to the coffee. It will need to be adjusted to a workable cream. Then two tablespoons of coffee grounds, the ones that they just use to make the are added to the mixture and mixed thoroughly. After this, the mixture will be distributed evenly through the hair. The good news about this is that it doesn't dry out all that easy. However, most people still incubate it. It is then left in for the minimum of one hour and can even be left in overnight. The downside is that it can stand clothing and anything else that it comes in contact with, like bedding. After the time your character wants to leave it in, they will then rinse it off, and voila, their hair is dye. I even recently learned that this is something that is done in prisons since they're not allowed to dye their hair. Number two, creating a facial mask. Yes, the thing that women smear on their face to rejuvenate their skin and scare all small children and husbands within a five radius, the face mask. Face masks have gone back almost to the beginning of time. Every culture has had their own kind. While there's no research that I can find that says where coffee masks came from, we can safely assume that it It comes from the same place that coffee originally came from. Do you know where? Yeah, I didn't either. Coffee originated in Ethiopia. Face masks are masks made to be placed on the skin and left to sit for a certain length of time and then removed. Modern ones tend to dry and are peeled off. Many in history were made to be rinsed off, but most coffee masks are made to be washed off. That said, there are newer ones that you can buy online. A quick Amazon search showed results for Espresso masks and Death Wish Coffee, which sounds lovely to smear all over your character's face. Here are a few combines that I have found used throughout history. Coffee grounds and milk for acne. Another reference says for smooth, clear skin. Coffee grounds milk, cinnamon, and lemon juice for glowing skin. Coffee grounds, yogurt, and honey for firm, tight skin. Coffee grounds and yogurt for acne scars. Coffee Grounds, Turrimic and Yogurt for bright skin. One quick note, I do see in my research that the experts, although it does not say who the experts are, say that it will not help with acne and that no one with acne pimples or cyst should try it. It doesn't say what might happen. Something to keep in mind if your characters are using this for that reason. Number three, reducing dark circles. People, aka your characters, can also use coffee grounds to remove dark circles from under the eyes. I know we just talked dying hair, and I have no idea why it doesn't stay in the skin. But having tried this myself, it does not stay in the skin. The first reference I see historically comes from the Middle East. A quick Google search says that there is research suggesting that caffeine in the coffee grounds also helps to reduce crow's feet around the eyes. That's a nice bonus if any of your characters are worried about wrinkles. I have found a few recipes for this, the first being two tablespoons of coffee grounds, one table of honey and two splashs of water. The second is a pinch of black pepper, one table of coffee grounds, one-fourth table of coconut oil, and a splash of water. That sounds painful if your character accidentally gets it in their eyes. Three is one table of coffee grounds and three tables of aloe vera gel. Mix together whichever of these they're going to make and apply like a paste under the eyes, covering all of the dark spots. Leave on for 10 to 20 minutes, then wash off with warm water. This will look a lot like they have been ugly crying with mascara, but the coffee grounds will give it a literal look of dirt on the face. In other words, it isn't pretty and could easily be mistaken for a black eye at a glance or even at a distance. Does it work? Well, it didn't for me, but I know people who swear by it. That said, I only did this one time, and it's supposed to be done over several days. Number four, making a natural exfoliant. In my episode about how coffee grounds coffee grounds can be used in the kitchen, we learned that they make excellent abrasives. This means they are amazing at exfoliating the skin. For anyone who doesn't know what exfoliating is, that just means they remove the dead skin cells on the body. While the body does this naturally, helping it, aka exfoliating, will make the skin feel softer to the touch since there is not any dead skin that's waiting to fall off or flake off. Coffee grounds can be used to exfoliate the face, the body, or even the feet. They are most commonly used for the face and the body. In ancient Rome, they were scraped off with what is called a skin scraper. These were blunt and curved blades, not sharp, to scrape the coffee scrub and dead skin off. However, in Rome, it was more common to use a mix of oil and coffee grounds. In modern times, this is just rinsed off with water. The most common scrub recipe that I can find is one-half cup of coffee grounds, one-half cup of sugar, and one-fourth cup of coconut or sunflow oil, and one teaspoon of vanilla extract. Some recipes exchange the vanilla for cinnamon, which sounds like it would smell yummy. Don't let your characters eat it, and I hope they keep it away from their children, too. Number 5, soapmaking. Coffee soap has been made for at least hundreds of years. I can find references to the Rocky Mountain Coffee Soap from the 1700s. It is likely that it was made before then, but I can't find any references to it. This was used for cleaning and exfoliating simultaneously. The most common recipe for coffee soap is a cold press coffee.

It calls for: 9:07

coconut oil, olive oil, palm oil, coffee, coffee grounds, shea butter, and lye. This type of soap is made for exfoliating the whole body. The laws in my area are very strict about teaching soap making when it comes to lye. So I'm going to leave off the details, but a quick Google or Pinterest search will tell you everything that you need to know. This is fairly simple to make, and the hardest part is waiting the full six weeks for the soap to properly cure so that it won't dissolve too quickly when they use it. Yes, soap must be planned and made weeks ahead of time. This will require your character to be observant in how much soap they have, how fast they use soap, and to calculate how far ahead of time they will need to make a new batch. Batch just means the amount a person makes at a time. This could be a lot or a little. Fun fact. Historically, soap was used for both men and women. However, today's marketing most often targets men to sell coffee soap to. Speaking of coffee, I have a quick announcement. Writing Rural With Alley, now has its very own Buy Me A Coffee page. By making a one-time donation, you can access exclusive, supporter-only content and message me directly. This is your chance to let me know about what topics you would like to hear more about. I also offer a membership. As a member, you'll get behind-the-scenes access to my projects, including early previews and the opportunity to influence the content that you want to see. Plus, you receive bite-sized pieces of rural wisdom, which might or might not be featured in future podcast episodes, along with unique and entertaining personal stories that you won't find anywhere else. If you're interested and want to learn more, check out the link in my description. For those watching on YouTube, you can find the link in my about section. Now for everyone's favorite part, what could possibly go wrong? Likely to go wrong. Your character has dark hair and tries to use coffee to make it darker. However, their hair is so dark that it makes no difference. Also likely to go wrong. Your character uses coffee grounds as a face scrub. They accidentally get the coffee grounds in their eye. Possible to go wrong. Your character dyes their hair with coffee grounds and no type of oil or conditioning. When they rinse the coffee grounds out, they find their hair is dry. It could even be brittled depending on how long it was left in the hair. Also possible to go wrong. Your character makes coffee grounds into a paste they place under their eyes and attempt to get rid of dark circles under their eyes. When their child sees them, they panic thinking their parent has two black eyes. Unlikely to go wrong. Your character is dying their hair with coffee and decides to let it sit on their hair overnight. They wrap their hair in a towel before going to bed to protect the pillows and sheets. When they wake up, they find the towel came in the night and everything on the bed is stained brown. Unlikely to go wrong. Your character uses coffee soap on a sunburned area of the body. The abrasive quality of the soap causes extreme pain for them. Improbable, but still technically in the realm of possibilities. Your character uses coffee grounds to try to get rid of dark circles under the eyes. However, they end up staining the area a brown color, making it look far worse. Also improbable, but still technically in the realm of possibilities. Your character uses coffee grounds as a natural exfoliant. After they finish exfoliating, they use a skin scraper to remove the dead skin. However, they press the skin scraper harder into the skin than they should. When the soap causes them to slip, they scrape off a shallow section of their skin. I actually have a scar from doing something very similar to this. Also improbable, but still technically in the realm of possibilities. Your character uses coffee grounds to dye their hair darker. They leave it in their hair overnight, and when they wake up the next morning, they find they have brown stains on their face because they have rolled onto their coffee-soaked hair in the night. Thanks for listening. Until next time. Happy wordsmithing.