Fashion

Coffee And Your Face Refuse To Be Friends

by Lindsey Rose Black

Fellow coffee addicts, I'm afraid I have some less than awesome news. Popsugar recently broke the details on how your beloved cup of coffee can irritate your skin and keep it from glowing. P.S., I'm writing this while sipping (my second) iced coffee. How's that for beauty writer?

Jillian Wright, Manhattan-based master aesthetician, spilled the beans (ha) on why that cup of jo could be doing far more harm than good. She explained, "caffeine dehydrates your skin ... [and] dehydrated skin causes inflammation (redness) and premature aging (collagen loss)." Great.

Additionally all the extra creamer and sugar in most coffee drinks is kind of the equivalent of pouring acne on your face. According to ClearSkinForever , milk is "the worst thing to consume if you want to maintain clear skin, because it's loaded with hormones, negatively effects the production of sebum, and glues dead skin cells together." And that sugar? Yeah, it causes glycation which triggers inflammation.

This is all really unpleasant to learn, but fortunately Wright offered up some suggestion for enjoying coffee without wrecking your face. She suggests making sure your coffee is fair trade/organic, using almond or coconut milk instead of dairy, and training yourself to reach for green tea after 11 a.m. If you still need some kind of coffee fix later in the day, mixing up a ground coffee face mask is actually great for your skin. Confusing, I know, but what can ya do?

Image Credit: Giphy