Here’s How to Incorporate Used Coffee Grounds Into Your Beauty Routine

If you've been part of the zero-waste world for a while now, you probably know to reuse those old coffee grounds in your garden or backyard compost. But did you coffee grounds can also be incorporated into your beauty routine? Not only do those magical beans give you that shining personality every early morning, but they can also help you deliver some seriously gorgeous looks — keep reading for more on our favorite DIY beauty ingredient.

There are so many rumors regarding what is and isn't good for your skin, but coffee is an all-natural ingredient you can easily try, risk-free. According to One Green Planet, coffee is an exfoliant. Brands like UpCircle Beauty have released coffee face scrubs, because it effectively scrubs off dead skin cells, revealing the healthy ones underneath. Likewise, it also supposedly brightens your skin — brands like Edible Beauty Australia have capitalized on this by including coffee in their formula.

Coffee even supposedly combats cellulite — although cellulite is generally genetic, permanent, (and also nothing to be ashamed of!), caffeine supposedly helps increase fat circulation, ultimately reducing the appearance of cellulite.

For any of these things, you can try already-existing products on the market, or instead, you can repurpose old grounds, if you're a coffee drinker. Even if it doesn't have a noticeable effect, it will probably leave your skin looking and smelling fresh.

While there isn't a ton of research regarding the effects of coffee grounds on hair, there are many rumors that claim coffee helps stimulate hair growth and prohibits hair loss, according to Healthline. Although this sounds like a fictitious tip from a 1970s beauty magazine, coffee supposedly blocks the male sex hormone, DHT, from damaging hair follicles, which generally causes baldness. Studies have also showed it helps prevent baldness and stimulate hair growth among women, too.

Coffee can also help your hair look shiny, soft, and more vibrant than ever. Even though coffee tends to be dehydrating, it supposedly helps your hair retain moisture by helping move certain nutrients to your hair follicles from your scalp. With that, you can also use coffee grounds as a natural scalp scrub, if you tend to experience dandruff, or simply a flaky, dry scalp. Just apply it to your scalp directly in the shower, and you could feel the results immediately.

And just as easily as coffee stains your teeth, it can also "stain" your hair — which can be a good thing, if you're looking to dye it. Coffee can be used to help get rid of gray hairs or darken your roots, because of the permanent brown stain it leaves behind. So if you're looking to enhance your roots sans the expensive dye job, make a coffee rinse by combining grounds and water, and tousle it into your hair during a shower — it could ultimately help your lovely locks look even lovelier.