Washing my hair with coffee

Experiment

To determine whether coffee grounds, applied liberally to the scalp, will “Soften and add shine to hair.”


Introduction

Green Daily has a list of 21 things you with coffee grounds. Some of them sound like they’d work just fine (12. Rub coffee grounds on hands to get rid of smells from chopping or cutting up pungent foods), some seem like they’d work equally well without coffee (4. Make homemade tattoos with henna and coffee grounds), and one sounds like something that guy from your freshman dorm would tell you to prove his wares are organic (20. Grow mushrooms on old coffee grounds). Tip number 1 tells me that coffee grounds will make add highlights to my brown hair and make my battered tresses smooth and shiny. I happened to have made myself some coffee this morning, and I needed a shower anyway.


Materials

Coffee grounds (previously used for making coffee)
Shower
My hair

Normal, shiny hair

Method

1) I made extra-strong coffee and drank two cups.

2) I sat in the bathtub and got my hair good and soaked.

3) I rubbed the coffee grounds into my hair. When you’re making your coffee in the morning, you probably don’t notice the exact texture of the grounds. Let me enlighten you: they’re gritty. Really, really gritty. No amount of soaking in hot water will soften them up. Rubbing grounds into your hair feels extremely gross. You know how shampoo commercials show a beautiful model lathering up her hair and experiencing near-orgasmic delight in the shower? Imagine the exact opposite of that.

4) I sat for ten minutes and let the grounds do their thing. Fun fact: when ground-up coffee sits for an extended period of time on your shoulders, it itches like crazy.

Hair with coffee grounds

5) I rinsed the grounds out of my hair. When the water first hit my head, it turned a muddy shade of brown; I realized I was making coffee with my own hair. This is pretty much the closest I’ll ever come to having a super power. The grounds are extremely hard to wash out, and then you have to clean them off the floor of the shower so they don’t clog the drain, but those are the responsibilities that come with the great power of being able to make coffee with your head.

6) I waited for my hair to air-dry and examined the results.

My camera doesn't pick up color well in low light. My hair is not actually pink and green.

Results

My hair, previously artificially lightened, is definitely a bit darker post-coffee. I’m not sure if the stain will wash out with the next shower. The texture is all right, but if you’re after softness and shine you’re better off sticking with regular old conditioner (I think my hair was actually shinier before I stuck a handful of grounds in it).


Conclusion

I don’t think used coffee grounds are going to be the hottest trend in hair care any time soon. They’re uncomfortable to use, they leave a big mess in the tub, and the end result isn’t spectacular enough to justify the gritty means. The color change isn’t all that dramatic; I’m pretty sure the grounds hid my highlights instead of bringing them out. If you’re really intent on convincing someone to put ground-up beans in their hair, try playing up the making-coffee-with-your-head angle. That part was awesome.

If you absolutely must put some sort of caffeinated bean on your scalp, there are shampoos out there with coffee in them. I doubt they can do anything a regular shampoo can’t, but you’ll spend a lot less time picking grounds out of your ears.