Earlier this year, the Global Cosmetic Industry conducted a survey seeking input on what consumers want from beauty in 2023. Sixty-four percent of respondents were looking for facial skin care products, while 58% wanted new hair care solutions.
Have you stopped to consider that the health benefits of coffee could be the missing ticket? It's true: When you fill up your mug in the morning, you could be doing a world of good for your body, both inside and out.
Ready to love your brew even more?
Check out all the ways your coffee supports your skin and hair!
Smooth, Glowing Skin
Let's start with your skin. It feels like everywhere you look at the moment, there's a new cream, spray or routine to improve your complexion. Understanding this, drugstores and big-box stores alike have started stocking their shelves with every kind of serum, lotion, and moisturizer you can imagine.
If you've ever gotten lost wandering the aisles, we're here to tell you there's another, less daunting way you can help support your skin, and that's by drinking healthy coffee infused with all-natural, skin-loving ingredients.
That's right: Your favorite pick-me-up is filled with nutrients and antioxidants that can help you look your best, from head to toe.
Caffeic Acid
Caffeic acid is an organic compound that can be found naturally in a wide variety of plants, including vegetables, fruits, and herbs.
It's also in coffee!
Caffeic acid is a powerful polyphenol. This is a class of micronutrients noted for their antioxidant properties. Antioxidants are compounds that prevent other molecules from oxidizing in your body.
Why is this so important?
The oxidation process produces free radicals throughout your system, which can damage your cells. Left untreated, that cellular damage can lead to a host of health issues, including heart disease, inflammation, and even cancer.
While its name might suggest otherwise, this acid is separate from caffeine. Though it isn't considered essential for survival, caffeic acid does contain health benefits.
As well as being an antioxidant, caffeic acids contains antibacterial and fungicide properties.
How can this compound support your skin?
Results from one study found that this acid works hard to increase collagen levels throughout your body. It also prevents your cells from aging prematurely, and its antibacterial properties help safeguard your skin from icky germs that can cause breakouts.
Why do these features matter?
A Vehicle for Collagen Support
If aging skin is any concern to you, then you've likely seen plenty of products that tout the benefits of collagen. This is a fibrous, supportive protein found throughout your body, including your bones, tendons, cartilage, ligaments, and skin.
In all, it comprises three-quarters of your skin cells as well as one-third of the protein in your body.
Skin-wise, collagen helps your skin cells adhere more closely to one another. It also amplifies their strength and elasticity. As you get older, your body's natural collagen stores begin to deplete, and it becomes harder to produce it on your own. As this happens, you may notice changes to your complexion, such as sagging, dull, or wrinkled skin.
To support your body, why not incorporate collagen into your daily coffee routine as added support?
The Good Stuff is our performance coffee supplement designed to supercharge the effects of your beverage and improve the benefits it provides.
Featuring collagen as a main ingredient, just one scoop of this powder helps to fight inflammation, support skin and joint health, and deepen the flavors you taste -- all without the need for any sugar, dairy, or artificial creamers.
Prevents Cellular Aging
Another reason to love the caffeic acid in your coffee?
It may help prevent your cells from aging before they're ready while encouraging more consistent cellular turnover. Your body makes new skin cells all the time, naturally shedding the old ones in the process.
Experts estimate that, on average, your skin cells turn entirely over every 28 to 40 days; once you reach your late 30s and beyond, the frequency of this process starts to change. So when your body doesn't turn over its skin cells quite as frequently as it used to, you may notice a difference in your complexion.
New skin cells will form on top of new ones, which can lead to a host of concerns, from clogged pores to breakouts and blemishes. When your cells function as they should, these issues are less likely to occur.
How can you keep your skin cells in great shape?
Caffeic acid could be the answer!
This study found that the antioxidant abilities of the compound can prevent premature cellular aging, helping your skin retain its natural balance and giving you a youthful glow in the process.
Contains Antibacterial Properties
It's no secret that bacteria and great skin simply don't mix. There's a reason your mother warned you not to hand-pick those pesky pimples back in the day!
Our fingernails contain more disease-spreading germs than it bears thinking about. While you might know better than to go on a popping spree now, have you given much thought to the materials that you do allow to come into contact with your sensitive facial skin?
From rough towels and sweatbands to unwashed pillowcases, sunglasses, and hats, it's easy to rest items on and around your face without giving too much thought to where they've been. That's why it's so important to cleanse your skin both morning and night.
When you drink coffee, you can help combat any remaining bacteria.
Caffeic acid also has antibacterial properties and is especially potent against Staphylococcus aureus, the strain of germs that can lead to a staph infection.
Caffeine
Before we move on to hair care, let's talk about two more major skin concerns: inflammation and cellulite.
From puffiness around your eyes to more concentrated areas of inflammation (i.e. acne), we're all looking for ways to achieve smooth, seamless skin. Again, there are certain coffee ingredients that can help with these issues.
First, the caffeine in coffee naturally stimulates blood flow throughout your body, including your face. As it gets that pump going, it also widens or dilates your blood vessels. When blood flows more easily to your skin, it helps it naturally stretch into place, reducing targeted bouts of inflammation.
You'll also notice less fluid buildup under your eyes. Perhaps this is why most people prefer to start their day with a heaping mug!
The potential benefits of coffee on skin may even extend to cellulite. Although it's harmless and nothing to be worried about, if you wish to reduce its appearance, read on...
In one study, researchers found that certain topical slimming products containing caffeine (as well as other active ingredients) were the most effective at reducing cellulite in women than placebo products. Before you hop into a bath of coffee, it's worth noting you can also get the same effects by sipping on a cup of coffee.
As caffeine dilates your blood vessels, it can temporarily tone and tighten your skin tissue, which can reduce the appearance of cellulite.
Chlorogenic Acid
If puffy eyes are one of your major skin concerns, there's another coffee compound, chlorogenic acid, that can help.
Another antioxidant that belongs to the polyphenols family, this compound can be a strong and effective anti-inflammatory agent.
Strong, Healthy Hair
Now that we've covered how the best types of coffee can improve your skin's texture, tone, and appearance, let's take a look at how they can transform your hair!
Antioxidants Strengthen Hair Follicles
Does your hair seem to break easily? If you're not sure whether or not this is happening, think about your hair growth. Is your hair seemingly growing longer, but it feels limp and thin at the ends? This is a possible sign your hair is prone to breakage.
Another sign is hair length. Have you been growing your hair for what seems like forever, only to find that it's not much longer than it was a year ago? All of these issues point to weakness.
While there are special shampoos, conditioners, and treatments designed to combat this problem, your favorite blend of coffee could also improve the texture and appearance of your thinning, breaking hair. This is because coffee contains many vitamins, nutrients, and antioxidants that your hair follicles crave. These compounds work together to fortify your scalp and help prevent premature hair loss.
Let's take a more technical look at why this is the case. In both men and women, thinning hair is attributed to elevated levels of a sex hormone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which causes hair follicles to shrink. When these levels get too high, it can lead to male pattern baldness in men, as well as hair loss in women. The caffeine in coffee may, in fact, block the effect of DHT on your hair follicles, which reduces that symptom.
At the same time, it may activate your hair follicles on a cellular level by releasing a molecule known as Adenosine Triphosphate, or ATP. This molecule supplies all of the cells in your body with the energy they need. While it carries that energy between cells, it could also combat DHT.
Combined, these actions are thought to help reduce hair loss and make your strands stronger.
Antioxidants May Add Shine and Body
Sometimes, hair growth or hair length isn't the issue. You might have plenty of hair, but you just don't love the way it looks. It seems dull and lifeless and absolutely nothing like those shampoo commercials you see on TV.
While there's not yet an extensive amount of research specifically about the benefits of coffee on your hair, there is some indication that the flavonoids in coffee may help with shine when you rinse a little into your hair in the shower.
Caffeine Stimulates Hair Growth
Another reason to head to the kitchen for a coffee refill? Caffeine may also help promote fuller, more frequent hair growth!
The matrix cells in one healthy hair follicle divide every 39 hours, but this process can become stunted over time. This division is what it takes for your hair to grow. If your hair seems to struggle in this area, it may be necessary to stimulate that step, which you can do with caffeine.
When you drink coffee, caffeine encourages your hair cells to divide, leading to the growth you want to see. You may also see similar benefits by applying coffee to your hair!
A few of the other ways in which caffeine promotes new hair growth include stimulating the development of keratinocytes (the major proteins that comprise your hair), increasing blood circulation to hair follicles, elongating hair shafts, and stimulating the production of new hair cells.
In addition, the antioxidants in caffeine can help reduce trans-epidermal water loss. Also occurring on your skin, water loss happens when water passively evaporates through your hair follicles and into the external environment.
Healthy hair cells retain as much water and moisture as possible, so reducing this activity is key to maintaining a healthy, growing mane!
Applying Coffee Directly to Your Scalp
While we're more in the coffee drinking business, some beauty experts recommend applying any leftover coffee directly to your scalp if you want to maximize those perks!
While we can't imagine you'll have any of our Organic Arabica Coffee left over, you can set a little aside to try this experiment for yourself.
There are many micronutrients in coffee that are great for your hair, both inside and out, including potassium riboflavin (vitamin B2) and magnesium niacin (vitamin B3).
Applied to your scalp, these nutrients can help restore the natural pH balance of your hair. They can also remove dead skin from your scalp and help your hair appear shinier and more voluminous.
For an extra-deep exfoliating scrub, you can even work leftover coffee grounds into your scalp, just don't forget to rinse them thoroughly before leaving the shower.
You may also find that adding coffee to your haircare routine can naturally darken your strands, perfect for those pesky grays!
Reap All the Health Benefits of Coffee
There are many reasons to add healthy coffee to your daily routine, the potential benefits for your skin and hair are just a small portion of why we love our daily brew.
Check out all of our core products to find your new favorites, or follow us on our social media for more tips!
