the relationship between coffee and skincare—simplified

1. Never felt each other’s warm embrace.
2. Gave it a go, but it wasn’t a favorable arrangement.
3. They get together when they feel it is necessary.
4. When it is socially accepted, you’ll find them comingling, such as after dinner amongst friends.
5. Enjoying each other routinely every morning.
6. Addictive dependence.

For as many generic types of coffee drinkers there are, there are people with varying degrees of skin health. In addition, skincare is a life-long journey that has its ups and downs, whereas coffee consumption is more likely to just be seen as a constant for a person.

What people often forget is that coffee, like alcohol or drugs, is a body and mind altering substance. Its effects are not as radical or potentially deadly as the others, but they can create as varied responses. Just as there are many types of drunks and people who are more prone to certain addictions, there are various ways that people engage with coffee. The different relationships (see the list above) that people have with Java are not just a matter of personal preference, but of personal discovery and understanding. People do not arbitrarily fall into one of those categories. They developtheir tie to coffee in the way that best suits their lifestyle in the way that coffee affects them personally. As has been stressed, coffee will affect every person differently, and this is what you must understand about its relation to your skin.

If you read testimonials about how coffee has affected someone’s skin, you will see both praise and condemnation. While the substance is largely the same, the way that people’s bodies react to the caffeine is cosmically different. While much of science seems to delineate coffee as detrimental to clear skin, much of this goes beyond the coffee itself, and looks to the additives of milk and sugar that accompany a steaming cup of the daily grind. Coffee also has many detractors because it is easy to over-indulge in, or abuse the substance, by having too much. Whereas it is possible to overindulge, there isn’t really such a thing as a coffee-deficiency (unless you’re suffering withdrawals from a prior addiction). It is for the people that have never had coffee that a small introduction may prove beneficial. There is no way of knowing how coffee will affect you and your skin, or is already affecting it, without cutting it out or giving it a try.

There is also the very likely possibility that coffee is not playing a marked role in your skin’s health. Skin is as alive and dynamic as any other part of your body, and as such it is always in flux. It is affected by more than any one substance—you have the difficult job of understanding how coffee fits into that complex equation. You can evaluate coffee ceteris paribus, but once other factors start changing in either your diet or lifestyle, so too may coffee’s effects on you.

If you are a coffee junkie and suspect that it may be the cause of your skin problems, then try slowly cutting it out and see what happens. Chances are that a casual cup is not going to be the difference between perfect skin and a minefield, but abusing any substance, coffee included, could cause your face to implode.