Learn how to make your own homemade moisturizing coffee scrub recipe that won't clog pores! Plus alternative ingredients you can use that have a low comedogenic rating. And free printable labels for gifting your finished coffee scrubs.

Moisturizing Coffee Scrub Recipe with Non-Comedogenic Ingredients

September 3, 2016

Learn how to make your own homemade moisturizing coffee scrub recipe that won’t clog pores as well as about alternative non-comedogenic ingredients you can substitute. In addition to this moisturizing coffee scrub recipe, I’ve also provided two versions of printable labels you can use for your finished coffee scrubs so can give them as homemade gifts!

You may recall my previous recipe for making an orange and coconut scented coffee scrub recipe without coconut oil. Within the content of that blog post, I explained why you don’t want to use coconut oil in your body scrubs. Coconut oil has a fairly high comedogenic rating of 4. This means that it can clog pores and cause acne when used. So I crafted a moisturizing coffee scrub recipe that used sweet almond oil in lieu of coconut oil. Sweet almond oil has a comedogenic rating of 2, which is moderately low, and contains essential fatty acids as well as vitamins A and E. It’s also an effective emollient for moisturizing and is easily absorbed by the skin as well.

However, there are many many other oils and butters you can use in place of both coconut oil and sweet almond oil as well that have a comedogenic rating of 0 or 1. Ideally you want your coffee scrub ingredients to have a comedogenic rating of 0, meaning it won’t clog pores at all. This is especially true if you have acne prone skin. Both mango butter and shea butter have a comedogenic rating of 0. Therefore I chose to use mango butter in my moisturizing coffee scrub recipe. (Alternately, you can substitute the mango butter with shea butter.)

In addition to the mango butter in my moisturizing coffee scrub recipe, I also used unscented liquid Castile soap to help aid in washing everything off at the end of your shower, while still leaving your skin moisturized and soft.

(Did you know that the PH of both cold process and melt and pour soap prohibits the growth of mold and bacteria growth in your soaps? Liquid soap doesn’t need a preservative either, however, if you’re introducing water into the soap during storage – such as in a scrub situation – a preservative won’t hurt. You can learn more about preservatives within this article at Soap Queen blog here.)

If you find the mango (or shea butter) makes this scrub difficult to wash off you or your tub – FYI you can get rid of stains in a snap with a smidge of Dawn dish detergent – then you can substitute the mango butter with liquid Castile soap. Or, to keep the extra moisturizing properties of this coffee scrub recipe, you can simply substitute the mango butter with another carrier oil.

Carrier oils with a comedogenic rating of 0 – meaning they are non-comedogenic and won’t clog pores at all – are argan oil, hemp seed oil, sunflower oil and safflower oil. Aloe vera gel also has a 0 comedogenic rating, though if you’re using it in your coffee scrub, then you’ll definitely need to add a preservative.

Carrier oils with a comedogenic rating of 1, which is considered low, include emu oil, neem oil, pomegranate seed oil, rosehip seed oil, and sea buckthorn oil.

Neem oil, while a fabulous carrier oil, has a strong nutty, garlic like odor. So if you choose to use neem oil in your coffee scrub, then use it as only a small portion of the recipe with another carrier oil making up the bulk. Your fragrance would then be able cover up the smell of the neem oil.

The same would go for sea buckthorn oil. While sea buckthorn oil doesn’t have an offensive odor, it’s likely to dye your skin orange when used in high concentrations. It’s also a lot more expensive, so you’ll want to use this one sparingly in conjunction with another carrier oil making up the bulk of the recipe.

And finally, carrier oils with a comedogenic rating of 2, or a moderately low chance of clogging pores, include sweet almond oil (previously mentioned), apricot kernel oil, avocado oil, borage oil, baobab oil, evening primrose oil, grapeseed oil, hazelnut oil, jojoba oil, peach kernel oil, pumpkin seed oil, sesame oil and tamanu oil.

Following you’ll find my moisturizing coffee scrub recipe with mango butter. But feel free to make substitutions as desired with your carrier oil(s) of choice for the mango butter and liquid Castile soap. (If you’d like to make my original orange coconut coffee scrub recipe without coconut oil inspired by Frank Body’s Original Coffee Scrub, you can find it on Soap Deli News blog here.)

Moisturizing Coffee Scrub Recipe with Mango Butter

Ingredients:

4.5 oz. coffee beans, ground
1.25 oz. Epsom salt
1 oz. pink Himalayan salt, fine ground
2 oz. white sugar
.75 oz. mango butter
2.25 oz. unscented liquid Castile soap
.35 oz. cardamon mocha fragrance oil, or similar
.25 oz. blood orange essential oil

Instructions:

Using a digital scale, weigh out the ground coffee, salt and sugar. Combine in a glass bowl or large glass Pyrex measuring cup.

Mix the dry ingredients together with a fork to ensure even distribution.

Now weigh out the mango butter and place in a glass Pyrex measuring cup. Heat at 50% power in the microwave until melted. Alternately, you can also melt the mango butter in a double boiler.

Next, weigh out the Castile soap, fragrance oil and essential oil. Stir into the melted mango butter and mix well to combine all the ingredients.

Spoon the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well, using a fork to whisk all of the ingredients – wet and dry – together until they are combined thoroughly.

Now spoon your moisturizing coffee scrub into two clear plastic 8 oz. low profile jars. Alternately, you can also use two 8 oz. High Barrier Kraft Paper Stand up Zipper Pouch Bags. You can also use traditional pantry jars, which are classic wide-mouth, clear glass jars with a rubber gasket seal and easy-to-use clamp down lid.

If you’d like to add my moisturizing mango butter coffee scrub labels (pictured) you can download the PDF for these printable labels here. Print the PDF file onto a full size white label sheet. (I got my labels from WorldLabel.) Cut out the labels, remove the backing and adhere to the front of your containers.

Prefer to make an oil free coffee scrub? You easily create your own “foaming” and exfoliating oil free coffee scrub recipe by simply using 3 oz. of unscented liquid Castile Soap in the moisturizing coffee scrub recipe above (in place of the 2.25 oz. of liquid Castile soap) and omit the mango butter entirely. The resulting coffee scrub will have a cleansing effect and a low lather in addition to exfoliating skin.

If you’d like printable labels for this alternate version of my coffee scrub recipe, you can download the PDF for these printable labels here. Print the PDF file onto a full size white label sheet. Cut out the labels, remove the backing and adhere to the front of your containers.

As in some of my more recent blog posts, my friend, Bambi, graciously “modeled” this coffee scrub for me. In addition to helping me out with my own projects, Bambi also makes and sells her own beaded jewelry in her Etsy shop, Happy Tree Frog Studios. She also makes and sells the beaded rings you can see on her middle finger in the top most photograph within this post.