DIY Coffee Body Polish

Hello my co-formulators!

My experiments on Coffee Scrub started a while back when I saw a commercial Coffee Scrub. (I have posted a video and story in my instagram about this, you can follow me there for sneak-peek and other useful info that I share). I initially thought to make a liquid scrub rather than a powder one, and I made two batches of it. I am checking for its stability for more than 2 months now. If I find it stable and preserving for long time and when used near shower, I will write a blog post or make a video. 

I later thought why not make a dry powder body polish with Coffee powder since it can have a better shelf life. I made two batches and I like it. I was a bit hesitant to post this before since I don't know if dry scrubs like this would be preferred. But anyhow, I finally decided to give it a go.

What are the ingredients used and why?

Since this is a Coffee body polish, the key exfoliating ingredient is Coffee. It is grounded coffee bean powder and not one with chicory or other additives mixed. You could use any type of Coffee bean powder.

The second exfoliating ingredient is Sugar. This is normal sugar which is grinded to fine powder. It adds some color and also dissolves when scrubbing.

To add some humectant and moisturizing properties, I have included hydrovance. You can swap it with glycerin or sorbitol.

Coffee extract is added for its anti-oxidant properties.

Disodium cocoyl glutamate makes the body polish easy for rinse off. It is an anionic surfactant which also helps in lifting dirt and oil from the skin. It has a pH around 6.3, so it is easy to adjust to 5.5. If you swap it with Decyl glucoside or Coco glucoside or other surfactant, the pH can be higher and you need to add more citric acid or lactic acid to get down the pH to 5.5. Coco betain may be used. There can be many alternatives but only trials and experiments would help us know if it suits our requirements.

Euxyl K 712 is the preservative added. It is a natural broad spectrum preservative which works better under pH 5.5. You could swap with other broad spectrum preservative. Since this contain natural powders, there is a high chance of contamination even with preservative and good amount of sugar. If you are not doing stability or preservation test, the shelf life and preservation time is just an assumption and may not tell exactly when it can go bad. 

Interesting fact:

Do you know that every batch of the product made in commercial industry is tested either in-house (in-house means with the equipment and experts in the factory itself) or by external parties for stability and preservation as per the local guidelines and regulations?

The last one is coconut oil, it just adds some emollient properties. Since this product has a surfactant, this oil gets rinsed off. This is optional. You could swap with other light carrier oil or you can add fragrance oil too. But mind that it can conflict with your coffee aroma or can go really strong on fragrance side.

Who can use this and when?  

This is suitable for any skin type unless sensitive to any of the ingredients. This could be used weekly once or twice. 

How to use?

Apply on wet body and scrub. Do not dip watery hands into it else you are inviting bacterial contamination.

Ingredients required:

Phase A: 

Disodium Cocoyl Glutamate 5%  

Euxyl K 712 1.5%

Coconut Oil 1%

Lactic acid 0.1%

Hydrovance 5%

Phase B:

Fine Sugar powder 16.4%

Green Coffee bean extract 1%

Phase C:

Fine Coffee bean powder (without any additives) 70%

If you want to make a bigger batch or alter, check my calculator for quick and easy conversion of percentages to weights, click here

How to make it?

1) First add Phase A ingredients in a beaker.

2) Stir everything well and add Phase B ingredients.

3) Once coffee extract is mixed properly, add Phase C- coffee bean powder to the beaker and gently fold and stir.

4) Check the pH and adjust to 5.5 if it is high. Add few drops (depending on batch size) of citric acid solution or lactic acid to bring down the pH. (I have videos on my YouTube channel on how to check pH, how to make citric acid solution etc)

5) Cover it and leave for a day or half, it would turn dry.

6) Pack in nice jars :)

Things to note:

1) Adjust pH to 5.5 is must else preservative may not work.

2) Do not put wet hands in the jar to have good shelf life. 

3) Do not scrub on face if your skin is sensitive.

Where to Buy Ingredients - supplier links: (Click on the links to open)

You can check my page (Where to Buy Cosmetic Ingredients and Containers in India?) for local supplier details.

Do you want to watch this on Youtube? 👉 Click Here