Organic Dark Coffee Hair Dye

As I try to embark on a more natural lifestyle and reduce the number of toxins for my family, hair dye has come up recently. My 9 year-old son has long hair and likes the idea of doing something fun and creative by temporarily changing his color. We watched a few YouTube videos and searched some recipes for natural hair dye that you could make with ingredients you have at home. Coffee came up, and I thought sure, why not?! I also thought about my Aunt who recently has had some really negative reactions to salon hair color. Then the thought went to myself! I usually color my hair at home once or twice a year, and always hate the chemicals. I chose what seemed to be more natural brands that don’t include ammonia, but they still have ingredients I would otherwise never put on or in my body. I realized I’m at a point where I am totally done with that. I read that some people use henna mixed with coffee to achieve some beautiful shades, but I have never experimented with henna before. I will still need to do more research before that happens! Anyway, my son and I tried the coffee and we were pleasantly surprised by the results. We will definitely do it again and I’m sure we will  tweak and improve upon the process.

I found the recipe here with some other interesting natural sources to color your hair whether you want to go lighter or darker.

Dark Organic Coffee Hair Dye

Use Dark-roast Organic Coffee so that you there aren’t any pesticides or additives. Coffee may help dye your hair a shade or two darker, and may cover up some gray hair. Coffee may not provide a drastic change, but it is certainly a natural and affordable way to color your hair. If nothing else, it gives your hair a great conditioning treatment and coffee contains flavonoids which are antioxidants that may improve your hairs health. The caffeine may contribute to growth and regrowth of hair as well. You can read some additional benefits here.

To dye your hair with coffee:

1. Brew a strong cup of organic dark-roast coffee.
2. Mix about 1/2 cup of coffee with 2 tbsp. of coffee grounds and 1 cup of conditioner.
3. Apply the mixture to clean, damp hair.
4. Secure with a shower cap or plastic wrap with clips to avoid dripping.
5. Let the mixture set for at least an hour, and rinse it out when you’re done, but don’t shampoo ( I did not shampoo until 1 day after, and it still smelled like I sat in Starbucks all morning 😉

Please come back and let me know if you try it on your hair!

Sara ~Fresh Foodie Mama~