I got this recipe from a spa in San Francisco that I went to a few years ago. It's normally used as a buffer to prepare skin for sunless tanning lotions. Right after the surgery, I started doing searches on the Internet for creams to help with stretch marks and loose skin. I found that 99% of the products out there (ranging from $12 - $300) contained caffeine. So, I whipped up a batch of this coffee scrub and have used it 3x a week for 3 weeks... And it works!
My skin is firmer, the area that was the baggiest looks much better, and the stretch marks are not as shiny. Give it a try and let me know what you think!
1/2 cup ground coffee beans
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp vanilla
Stir the ingredients in a small, covered jar or container. Be sure to use fresh coffee grounds - used grounds spoil and grow mold.
In the shower, rub small portions of the scrub onto your cleansed skin. Use circular motions, and concentrate on the areas where your skin is loosest, has the most stretch marks, or you think will develop into a problem area. I'm sure that if you massage the coffee longer into your skin it will work faster, but I wouldn't suggest anything longer than 5 minutes for your entire body. DON'T use it on your face. Rinse, making sure you get all of the grounds off of your skin and out of any folds. You'll need to rinse the shower after every use, as the grounds get everywhere. I usually switch the water entirely to cold, rinse the shower, then give myself a cold rinse to finish. Cold water tightens your skin too.
Your shower could get slippery, so you'll want to clean it fairly regularly. There's an excellent spray shower cleaner at Target, I think the brand is Method. You just spray lightly after your shower and you don't have to wipe, scrub, or rinse it off.
If you try the scrub, let me know in a few weeks how it's working!