In 2016, Teen Vogue published a startling DIY guide to dyeing your hair naturally using coffee grounds. It sounds like a clickbait-y story, but there is actually some truth to it.
The story originally published on another website called Spoon University suggests you simply mix two tablespoons or more of ground dark coffee with your moisturizer and apply it to your hair from scalp to tips. While the effectivity of it in terms of dyeing your hair is arguable, your hair will actually turn out better after your rinse it. Here’s how.
Coffee makes your hair shinier and less dull
Don’t throw your coffee grounds after your morning cup. Keep it, and just like how Teen Vogue did it, mix it with your conditioner. You can even exfoliate your scalp and gently massage your hair follicles with it following this guide.
Your hair will turn out shinier with your scalp moisturized because coffee’s acidic pH balances out your hair’s natural acidity. Using alkaline hair products dries out your hair making it fuzzy.
Caffeine strengthens your hair follicles
This one is a relatively newly discovered property of coffee. A study in 2012 conducted among male subjects found out that administering caffeine to the scalp reduces the occurrence of male-pattern baldness.
This one needs deeper incorporation of more potent amounts of caffeine to be effective, thus the previous step might not do it. But fret not, there are already commercially available hair products infused with caffeine that can help you with that just like Dove Men + Care’s Thickening Shampoo.
It is formulated with hair fall-reducing trichazole actives and caffeine that promotes stronger, more resilient hair. These are the perfect complementary ingredients to add to your hair’s needs.
Caffeine stimulates hair growth
Here’s why men are more prone to hair loss. Testosterone shortens the hair follicle’s growth cycle making hair strands shorter and finer.
In 2014, a study published in the British Journal of Dermatology found that when applied to men’s hair, caffeine counteracts the effects of testosterone prolonging the growth cycle and resulting in higher hair shaft elongation.
Coffee really is a miracle worker. Apart from its various health benefits—and not to mention, its by-products’ potential—many studies are still being conducted to find more possibilities from a cup of coffee.
Header image courtesy of Andrew Neel and Sun Wang on Unsplash
Get more stories like this by subscribing to our weekly newsletter here.
Read more:
This often overlooked hair issue in men is more alarming than dandruff
