Coffee scrub for cellulite: facts vs myth

“TL;DR: Obviously coffee scrubs don’t do anything for cellulite - how could they? Coffee ground scrubbing does exfoliate skin, which is not bad.

But there is no chance in hell that caffeine from ground coffee will ever be expressed from the coffee fibres just by rubbing it on skin, penetrate skin and then reach the deepest skin layer (hypodermis) where cellulite is found.”

Coffee ground scrubbing and cellulite

• Coffee scrubs for cellulite do not work, stop wasting time and messing up your bathroom

• Coffee scrubbing: good for exfoliation, pointless for cellulite

• Caffeine: extremely difficult to penetrate the skin

• Comparing espresso coffee, coffee scrubs and caffeine creams for cellulite

• Does coffee scrub have caffeine?

• Coffee grounds for cellulite: marketing, hype, ignorance

• Cellulite coffee scrub before and after?

• Reduce cellulite at home

• Have a cellulite treatment in London with the cellulite experts

• Discover our professional training in cellulite, skin tightening, radiofrequency and ultrasound

Coffee scrubs for cellulite do not work, stop wasting time and messing up your bathroom

One of the biggest beauty fads in the last few years is the scrubbing of ground coffee beans on your skin in the hope that it will smoothen up your cellulite and firm up your legs.

Although it intuitively doesn’t make sense, this hasn’t stopped 3 million web pages, according to Google, to be created on the subject.

Coffee scrubbing: good for exfoliation, pointless for cellulite

Caffeine in coffee beans is tightly bound within the cellulose fibres of the coffee beans and only released into your espresso under high temperature (90º Celsius) and high pressure (9000 millibars - this is nine times the atmospheric pressure and equivalent to the pressure found 240 ft deep into the ocean).

Caffeine just does not just travel out of its own volition through the fibres of the ground coffee beans onto the skin's surface, just because you rub the beans against your skin.

In fact, you can scrub those coffee grounds into your skin until it literally bleeds and still no caffeine will be expressed out of the beans and onto your skin.

And even if some of it did, almost none of it would travel through your skin into your deep skin layers to “fight cellulite”, as coffee scrub vendors would have you believe.

Coffee scrubs may be great for exfoliation, but that’s it. They do nothing for cellulite.

Sure, performing an exfoliation with coffee scrub is a nice self-care, self-loving routine and leaves the surface of your skin soft. Add a nice oil or cream afterwards and your skin will feel nice and silky. But the cellulite bumps will still be there, under the softness.

Caffeine: extremely difficult to penetrate the skin

As caffeine, the purported active ingredient, does not ever leave the coffee grounds, and knowing caffeine’s very difficult skin absorption, it would never reach your fat cells, which are hidden deep in your skin - not on the surface of your skin.

Caffeine is such a lipophobic substance that it is impossible to penetrate the skin unless it is enclosed in liposomes or other enhanced absorption vehicle.

Comparing espresso coffee, coffee scrubs and caffeine creams for cellulite

And if caffeine is not highly concentrated, as well as being bioavailable, it won’t have any effect either.

A daily typical application quantity of 10g of a high-purity (99% purity), high-concentration (3%), caffeine-containing cellulite cream would provide a daily dose of 300mg or more of pure caffeine, i.e. 3 cups of actual strong coffee - not ground coffee beans with the caffeine stuck inside the bean fibres.

And this is caffeine should be encapsulated in a liposome cream formulation, not stuck forever within the hard cellulose fibres of coffee grounds.

In contrast, if you get 10mg of caffeine out of those coffee scrubs on the surface of your skin (NOT inside the skin), I would call it a miracle.

Does coffee scrub have caffeine?

So the answer to the common question, “Does coffee scrub have caffeine?”, is:

“Sure it does, but caffeine stays in the coffee grounds and does NOT transfer onto your skin. And it definitely does not go INTO your skin, especially the deeper layer of your skin where cellulite is found - ever.”

So there is no benefit from scrubbing coffee grounds onto your thighs other than exfoliation.

Coffee grounds for cellulite: marketing, hype, ignorance

Why then every single article about ‘how to get rid of cellulite’ in the last few years mentions coffee scrubs as a solution to cellulite? The answer is summed up in three words: marketing, hype and ignorance.

We have seen it in the past with those impossible ‘anti-cellulite MBT trainers’, ‘detox foot patches’, ‘caffeine infused jeans”, ‘dry brushing’ and other gimmicks.

The list is endless.

Coffee scrub for cellulite before and after?

A lot of people look for ‘before and after’ cellulite pictures of something that does not have a chance in hell in working: coffee ground scrubbing.

So the end result would be the same as 95% of so-called “before and after” cellulite pictures on the web are: fake.

Don’t fall for fake.

Reduce cellulite at home

If you want to fight cellulite at home without spending money on treatments and creams, the answer remains simple: follow a strict healthy diet comprising loads of veg, fruit and lean protein, walk everywhere, exercise a lot and have daily contrast showers specifically on your legs.

And if you want to give your legs some cellulite-busting TLC at home, give them ten minutes of strong massage a day, comprising of alternating kneading and stroking moves, with the aid of a little oil (any oil, not too much). That will boost circulation much more than any type of body brushing or coffee bean scrubbing ever will.

And if you want 100+ real tips on what to do and what not to do to prevent and reduce cellulite, read our extensive guide by clicking the link above.

Have a cellulite treatment in London with the cellulite experts

At LipoTherapeia we have specialised 100% in skin tightening and cellulite reduction for more than two decades and 20,000+ sessions.

This is all we study and practise every day and have researched and tried hands-on all the important skin tightening equipment and their manufacturers.

As strong, deep acting radiofrequency and deep-acting, high-power ultrasound cavitation are the technologies of choice for skin tightening and cellulite reduction, we have invested in the best RF/ultrasound technologies in the world.

Furthermore, over the last two decades we have developed advanced RF and cavitation treatment protocols in order to make the most of our technologies, for maximum results, naturally and safely.

Our radiofrequency/ultrasound treatments are comfortable, pain-free, downtime-free, injection-free, microneedling-free, 99.5%+ safe and always non-invasive.

And our focus is on honest, realistic, science-based treatment, combined with caring, professional service, with a smile.

We will be pleased to see you, assess your cellulite, skin laxity or fibrosis, listen to your story, discuss your case and offer you the best possible treatment.

Learn more or check prices and book an expert treatment at our London clinic (49 Marylebone High Street, W1)

Discover our professional training in cellulite, skin tightening, radiofrequency and ultrasound

Do you want to deeply understand radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, cellulite and skin tightening?

Attend a half-day, 1-day or 2-day or 3-day professional consultancy / one-to-one masterclass and confidently offer your clients the safest, strongest and most effective treatment possible.

Service available via Zoom or at our central London practice.