November
2008
Coffee Consumption = Greasy Face?
I’ve long held that drinking coffee, personally, for my skin type which is the oilier side of combination type, makes me break out if I drink it a couple days in a row, especially if it’s strong coffee. Well, today I had a large cup in the morning because I could barely lift my head off the pillow, and found that all day long I was blotting the excess oil (sebum) off of my face with blotting tissues. They were literally soaked with oil every time I used them too.
This may sound gross to some, but I usually will use the toilet seat covers that are provided in my work bathroom because they are a great oil soaker, since they are single ply and are made of a material that is ultra soaking when it comes to grease and oil on the surface of the skin. Today I’ve gone through three already, soaking it with the sides of my face, which are often the greasiest part for me, my forehead, and my chin, which seems to emit more sebum on the right side of my face instead for some reason.
I looked up the connection between sebum and coffee and did find there is a connection. Caffeine actually overstimulats the glands that secrete sebum out onto your skin. So, when you drink that big mochaccino or latte, esepecially if it’s got the “extra shot” of cappucino in it, then you may be experiencing a day where you have to frequently blot to keep the shine down on your face.
A shiny face never looks particularly appealing. There’s many times when I’ve been in pictures and wished I had blotted before it was snapped, especially in the photos where the photographer uses a falsh, since it bounces right off and makes your face look super slick - yuck!
