Coffee Break

Yes, really. No, not drinking with it. Washing with it. Washing with coffee has a lot of benefits for your skin - including the possibility that it may protect your skin from skin cancer. Scientists first discovered the link between caffeine and skin cancer prevention back in 2002, but a research team made up of dermatologists around the country recently announced that they think they know HOW caffeine prevents skin cancer.  According to an article in the most recent issue of Journal of Investigative Dermatology , caffeine can helps prevent or delay the progression of skin cancer by triggering apoptosis, a fancy name for pre-programmed cell death. In other words, caffeine tells the cancerous cells to commit suicide.

The researchers took skin cells that had been damaged by UV light in the same way that pre-cancerous skin cells are damaged, and treated them with caffeine. They found that the caffeine interrupts cancerous cells by stopping the formation of a protein that’s vital to their growth. In fact, caffeinating the skin cells doubled the number of damaged skin cells that died. The researchers believe that it explains the coffelation they’ve seen between coffee consumption and a lower risk of skin cancer. They’ve also been experimenting with applying caffeine directly to the skin with “promising results”.
My suggestion? Enjoy all the benefits of coffee by soaping up with some delicious-smelling Coffee All-Natural Handcrafted Soap. Our great-grandmothers knew that coffee soap was good for lots of things - that’s why a bar of coffee soap often sat on the ledge above the kitchen sink. All natural soap made with fresh coffee grounds is a natural deodorizer - perfect to keep your hands from smelling like garlic or fish for the rest of the evening. The coffee grounds also gently exfoliate your skin and stimulate circulation to encourage healthy skin growth.
Of course, you can always try making your own coffee soap the way my grandmother used to do it.

1. Save up scraps and bits of soap until you’ve got about two cups full.
2. Grate up the scraps using a cheese grater.
3. Put them in a saucepan with about 1 cup of water and 3/4 cup of fresh ground coffee.
4. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
5. Pour into flexible silicone molds  - Jello molds work just fine - and allow to set for at least four hours. Overnight is better.
6. Pop the bars out of the molds and allow them to air dry for 2-3 days before using your new homemade coffee soap.

And you thought coffee was just for drinking!

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