Caffeine's Powerful Role in Skincare

Are you a coffee lover? Or maybe you fall in love with any category of a coffee addict? We are right here with you! Many of us start the day with at least a cup of coffee once we wake up to brighten our morning and boost our energy. But do you know that caffeine has a powerful role in skincare? Well, it is not only your morning go-go beverage, it is also counted as an amazing skincare ingredient. These days it is not uncommon anymore to find caffeine as a role in skincare in your skincare products, from lotions to eye creams. Caffeine used in the skincare regimen for many years, and it makes sense.

Think of a few sips of your morning coffee that you reply to in the morning. Those sips energize you, boost your energy and even aid your concentration. So how about a few drops of caffeinated serum, moisturizer, or eye cream with caffeine, would they do the same thing?

Yes! They will wake up your skin, too. But that’s not how it actually works. In fact, it has antioxidant properties that give a positive effect on the aging process. Also, this substance is free radical and has the ability to reduce the production of any reactive oxygen species. More than that, it can cut down the damages of ultraviolet radiation. And it has a role in promoting hair growth due to enzyme 5-alpha reductase.

Therefore, in today cosmetic’s world, you would notice that caffeine has been listed as an ingredient in several products like cosmetics, creams, lotion, makeup, and many more since it helps you against the hard skin barrier with the high biological activity.

Contents

What is Caffeine?

In 2020, according to the survey conducted by the National Coffee Association, around 62% of Americans drink at least one cup of coffee per day while the number is still increasing. That’s it, that’s just in America alone which is not one of the top countries in coffee consumption the most. Hence, it is safe to mention that it is a big deal regardless of whether you like it or hate it. In addition to that, it is one of the reasons why people know its active ingredient is caffeine. When ingested, caffeine works as a stimulant. Lucky for our skin, it has a brightening effect with some methods here.

As many people love coffee, however, others dislike it. Even though it acts as a fabulous brightener, it still does not have the same effects on your skin as getting enough sleep. Either way, it is still becoming one of the buzziest ingreatus in our skincare today since there is no pun intended. Recently, it is known as a ”hero” ingredient.

So why are so many people suddenly interested in caffeine products? Well, it is actually because of the things that come in the coffee bean oil, because of caffeine itself, and mostly because of renewed interest from many cosmetics companies in centuries in using the old home remedies.

Caffeine Role in Skincare

Believe it or not, the average amount of caffeine generally present in skincare products is around roughly 3%. Caffeine’s powerful role in skincare is not limited as stated, there are other additional benefits of this substance. The below is what the research says about how caffeine-containing products work.

1. Reduces Puffiness By Constricting Blood Vessels

According to Dr. Rachel Nazarian, a board-certified dermatologist and Assistant Clinical Professor at Mount Sinai Hospital Department of Dermatology. Has mentioned that caffeine is a great topical ingredient that you can consider using it under-eye puffiness in order to improve puffiness and circulation in the skin to get your skin glowing. Not only that, but she also mentioned the result. Since it cannot give you a long-lasting result, it is better to use the topical products that have this ingredient daily to achieve the best result.

Even Dr. Jennifer L. MacGregor, MD, at Union Square Laser Dermatology in NYC, also supported that this substance is very helpful to brighten the congested vessels that occur under the eyes, so it constricts blood vessels as well as to de-puff puffy eyes. Based on Jong G. Zampella, M.A, assistant professor in Ronald O. Perelman’s Department of dermatory at NYU Langone Health, caffeine-containing products have proven to be effective in some circumstances and ineffective or sometimes even detrimental in other cases.

For example, if you are having a problem dealing with puffiness resulting in dark circles, caffeine would be an excellent choice. But it might not be so effective when they are caused by family heirloom. Here, if your eye-bags were handed down from your family generation, it cannot help you in this situation. In contrast, if they are caused by last night’s margaritas, it would make a difference.

Here are the eye creams that have caffeine as the main ingredient:

2. Dissolves Fat

The Chief Chemist for Colonial Dames Co., Dr. Raymond Schep, said that once the caffeine is added as a cosmetic use, especially for cellulite, it would dissolve the fat under the skin since it converts it to the fatty acids that can withdraw through blood circulation as well as metabolize the carbon dioxide and energy. Nevertheless, don’t think that it is a tip to get skinny quickly. Dr. Schep reminded us, “Topical application only removes subdermal fat, and does not remove fat around inner organs.”

3. Cut Down Cellulite

In addition to Dr. Schep, he also added that “It is the prime ingredient of slimming and cellulite creams and is formulated with ingredients that increase blood flow to stimulate the removal of the fatty acid from the fatty layer.” For further study, researchers tested 15 participants to apply a cellulite cream that contains caffeine substance to their inner upper arms and thighs twice a day within 6 weeks. As a result, 12 of these 15 participants reported that their cellulite had been better. On average, their thighs decreased around 0.7 cm while the upper arms reduced by 0.8 cm over the time span.

4. Contains Antioxidants

Coffee is magic! It has certain properties like soothing properties, so it allows us to enjoy its antioxidants. You can use a product that contains antioxidant benefits, and you usually can grab it from the caffeine ingredient. Users would be surprised to see the limitation of your body in producing free radicals, which cause wrinkles and fine lines.

If you are interested in caffeine facial scrub/exfoliator, these products are recommended:

You can consider Caffeine oil to moisturize your skin.

The cleanser is an essential step in our skincare routine, below is the cleaner that contains the benefits of caffeine.

5. Be Part to Produce Collagen

Caffeine role in skincare is another powerful role of this substance in skincare is collagen production. Based on Beigic’s site, green coffee bean oil has the ability to aid in collagen and elastin production via amino acids that it contains.

Self-care is not selfish! You can give yourself a Caffeine Body Scrub to enjoy the amazing skin or you can even share it with your friends or families on special days to enjoy the beautiful result together.

6. To Protect You from the Sun

As in black tea and green tea, caffeine has an oral administration that has a possible inhibitory role in terms of developing malignancies. Regarding the oral administration of caffeine, it has a strong effect in stopping or slowing down the process of UVB-induced carcinogenesis. Therefore, sun protection is another rule for caffeine.

Some researchers have also shown that applying the caffeine topically, would promote apoptosis in the sunburn issue, reduce the amount of malignant, enhance apoptosis in squamous cell carcinomas with benign skin tumors.

On top of that, other researches also illustrate the coffee’s role in inhibiting the formation of sun-induced skin cancer due to the topical use of caffeine that gives the effect of enhancing UVB radiation-induced cell death, so users would have no worries about skin cancer anymore. Hence, there is no more surprise when many manufacturers have chosen the small amount of caffeine to be added into their topical formulations, skincare, cosmetics, and other cosmeceutical products that are on the market today.

Is There Any Side Effect of Putting Caffeine on Skin?

Caffeine role in skincare or cosmetics can cause redness due to the enhancement of circulation it brings. With the caffeine’s mechanisms, the blood vessels are constricted regularly that can go into hyperdrive without the normal dose of caffeine.

What Should I Know Before Applying Caffeine Skincare to Fight the Skin Barrier?

Now we all know that caffeine can generally absorb into the bloodstream and penetrate the skin barrier pretty well. But with too much topical caffeine, it could use caffeine toxicity. Which is associated with powder and can be deadly too.

In this case, it is not a huge deal with moisturizers and eye cream because there is so little caffeine in them, at the same time, you use them a little amount at a time as well. In contrast, the cellulite cream normally contains higher concentrations of caffeine. Plus, they apply to the larger area of the skin. So based on Dr. Obagi, M.D., UPMC dermatologist and associate professor of dermatology and plastic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, said that “We don’t know if there’s a limit as to how much you can put on your skin without actually having a more systemic effect, so you just want to be careful.” Therefore, users should apply with the thinnest layer on just the affected area.

What Should I Know Before Applying Caffeine Skincare to Fight the Skin Barrier?

When we take pregnant women into consideration, they generally need to be aware of the amount of caffeine that they should put in their bodies. So do they need to be concerned about caffeine products too? It is usually recommended that pregnant people consume less than 200 mg of caffeine each day. Anyway, pregnant women should consult with doctors first before applying the caffeine product while Dr. Obagi said that we do not have any safety data on that yet.

How To Use Caffeine In Our Skincare Routine?

Lizz Starr, executive director of global product development for Origins, explained that once we combine the caffeine with other ingredients, we can combine it with ginseng, so it would help you to energize the skin, optimize cellular energy, so it would leave your skin hydrated and conditioned. Hence, you would be happy to see a fresh healthy appearance on your skin.

Final Thoughts

Your morning cup of coffee could offer you more than just wake you up. Caffeine in skincare is a good treatment to serve a powerful role in the beauty routine as it does in your favorite mug. But still, different people have different skin conditions. In case, if you are dealing with a problem that cannot give you a good outcome with over-the-counter skin-care products, it is very important to consult with dermatologists. But if it can help you to achieve better results, that’s what matters most!

References

Caffeine creams for cellulite and dark circles By Dr Dray

Caffeine’s Powerful Role in Skincare