How to Color or Touch Up Your Hair with Coffee

Darken your hair, cover your grays, and nourish your scalp with the coffee grounds in your pantry

Co-authored by Mindy Nguyen and Dan Hickey

Last Updated: March 27, 2023 References Approved

Dyeing with Coffee & Conditioner

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Dyeing with a Coffee Rinse

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Video

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Expert Q&A

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Tips

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Warnings

Dyeing your hair is exciting, but spending lots of money on products full of harmful chemicals? Not so much! Coffee makes a great natural, inexpensive alternative if you’re looking to add darkness and luster to your natural brown color or blend in your grays. In this article, we’ll show you how to make a dye out of coffee and conditioner, plus how to do a coffee rinse to darken or touch up your new espresso locks. Let’s get started!

Things You Should Know

Mix 1 cup (237 mL) of coffee with ½ cup (118 mL) of conditioner and 1 tbsp (5 g) of coffee grounds. Let the mix sit in your hair for an hour, then rinse.
Alternatively, brew 1-1.5 cups (237-355 mL) of strong coffee, then thoroughly soak and rinse your hair in it. Leave it in for up to an hour and rinse.
Brew your coffee extra strong if you have medium brown hair or are trying to cover up gray hairs.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Dyeing with Coffee & Conditioner

1
Brew 1 cup (237 mL) of organic, dark roast coffee and let it cool. Any coffee will work, but light or medium roasts won’t dye your hair as darkly and non-organic coffees usually have added chemicals and preservatives.^{[1]
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Expert Source

Mindy Nguyen
Holistic Cosmetologist
Expert Interview. 8 October 2021.}Make the coffee extra strong by adding more coffee grounds than you normally would (especially if you’re trying to cover gray hairs).
- The stronger the coffee, the darker it will make your hair. It will probably only darken it by half a shade or 1 full shade at most (coffee dye is most effective for those with light or medium brown hair).
- Brewing with a single-serve instant coffee maker might not make the coffee strong enough. Try a regular coffee machine or using the stove instead.
2
Mix the coffee, ½ cup (118 mL) of conditioner, and 1 tbsp (5 g) of grounds. Use any kind of conditioner to mix with the coffee. However, thicker conditioners might make application easier. Use a spoon to mix all of these ingredients together in a large bowl or container until all of the ingredients are evenly distributed.^{[2]
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- For long hair, increase the amount of coffee and conditioner you use by about the same proportion. The measurements are more of a guide than a hard rule.
- Conditioner moisturizes your hair and prevents the coffee from potentially drying it out.
- Don’t mix the coffee with 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner or with plain shampoo. The shampoo will clean the coffee from your hair and make the dye less effective.
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3
Apply the mixture to your hair and let it sit for about an hour. Section your hair, then coat each strand using your hands or a dye brush. Once your hair is coated, use a wide-toothed comb to spread the mixture evenly through your hair.^{[3]
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Expert Source

Mindy Nguyen
Holistic Cosmetologist
Expert Interview. 8 October 2021.} Consider pinning your hair up in a bun to keep it out of your face as you let the mixture soak in.^{[4]
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- Leave the coffee mixture on your hair for one hour. After an hour, the conditioner may start to dry and harden.
- Wear an old T-shirt or a towel you don’t mind staining around your shoulders. This prevents the coffee mixture from staining your nice clothes.
- Apply the coffee mixture to your hair in a bathroom with a mirror so you can see what you’re doing and prevent accidental messes.
4
Rinse your hair with plain water (no shampoo!). Jump in the shower or use a large sink to rinse the coffee conditioner out of your hair. Don’t use any shampoo or other products that might strip the fresh coffee dye away from your hair. Keep rinsing until the water from your head runs clear.^{[5]
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- If your hair doesn’t look as dark as you want it, repeat the dyeing process daily until you reach your desired results.^{[6]
  X
  Expert Source
  
  Mindy Nguyen
  Holistic Cosmetologist
  Expert Interview. 8 October 2021.} It may take 2-3 days to get full coverage on gray hairs.
- Your new coffee look is temporary and may fade after 1-2 weeks. To make it last longer, wash your hair less frequently or touch it up with a coffee rinse.^{[7]
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Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Dyeing or Touching Up with a Coffee Rinse

1
Shampoo your hair and wait for it to dry. You want to dye hair that’s clean and free of oils, dirt, and hair products. If your goal is to cover up gray hairs, use a clarifying shampoo and focus on cleaning the areas where the grays are most concentrated.^{[8]
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Expert Source

Mindy Nguyen
Holistic Cosmetologist
Expert Interview. 8 October 2021.}
2
Brew 1-1.5 cups (237-355 mL) of strong, organic coffee and let it cool. If you have light hair, use the same amount of water you’d normally use to make coffee. If your hair is medium brown or you’re covering grays, use half the amount of water to make the coffee stronger. For short and mid-length hair, 1 cup (237 mL) of coffee is enough. If you have longer hair, make 1.5 cups (355 mL).^{[9]
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Expert Source

Mindy Nguyen
Holistic Cosmetologist
Expert Interview. 8 October 2021.}
- Allow your coffee to cool down to room temperature or cooler.
- Since you’ll be pouring the coffee over your head, it doesn’t hurt to brew extra in case you spill some. The more coffee, the easier it will be to pour on your hair.
3
Transfer the coffee to a large bowl or container. Once your coffee cools, pour it into a big container with a wide opening, like a bowl or pot. Look for something that’s big enough to easily scoop the coffee out to pour over your head, but will also catch the excess coffee that drips out of your hair.^{[10]
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4
Hold your head over the bowl and rinse your hair with the coffee. Place the large bowl or pot into the shower to easily clean up any spills. Dunk the ends of your hair into the bowl and use a small cup to scoop up coffee and pour it over the rest of your hair. This is especially helpful for reaching the back of your head, which is hard to dip all the way into the coffee.^{[11]
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- Repeat about 15 times to completely saturate all of your hair. Use your fingers or a dye brush to work the coffee into every strand of hair from root to tip.
- If you’re worried about the coffee staining your tub, lay a plastic trash bag down and snip a hole in it to go over the drain.^{[12]
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  Expert Source
  
  Mindy Nguyen
  Holistic Cosmetologist
  Expert Interview. 8 October 2021.}
- Alternatively, pour the brewed coffee into a spray bottle and spray your hair all over.^{[13]
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5
Wring out your hair and let the coffee sit for at least 20 minutes.^{[14]
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Research source} Pin your hair up in a bun to prevent the coffee from dripping, or wear a shower cap or head wrap to keep it all contained. If you have an old beanie, put it on over your shower cap to hold your hair in place.^{[15]
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Expert Source

Mindy Nguyen
Holistic Cosmetologist
Expert Interview. 8 October 2021.}
- The longer the coffee sits, the darker it will dye your hair. Leave it in for up to 45-60 minutes.
- Since there’s no conditioner in a coffee rinse, you don’t have to worry about any products hardening in your hair while it sits.
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Rinse your hair clean with plain water. After you let the coffee sit in your hair, hop in the shower and rinse it out with cool water. Skip shampoo, conditioner, or other products since they might remove some of the coffee from your newly dyed locks.^{[16]
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- You may need to soak your hair a few more times to achieve your desired hair color. Try soaking it once a day until you see results you like.
- If you have extra thick hair that struggles to absorb color, rinse the coffee out with 0.5 US tbsp (7.4 mL) of apple cider vinegar diluted in 8 fl oz (240 mL) of water to help the color stick and last longer.^{[17]
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Expert Q&A

Question

Does putting coffee in your hair make it darker?

Mindy Nguyen
Holistic Cosmetologist
Mindy Nguyen is a Holistic Cosmetologist and the Owner and Founder of Mai Blossom Organic Salon, an organic hair salon in San Diego, California. With more than 35 years of experience in the beauty industry, she specializes in combining Eastern philosophies with Western science to provide organic hair coloring and holistic hair styling.

Mindy Nguyen

Holistic Cosmetologist

Expert Answer

Definitely! If you have light brown to medium-brown hair, a coffee dye job can make your hair a half or full shade darker. It just depends on how dark the coffee is and how long you leave it in for.
Question

Can I put coffee on dry hair?

Mindy Nguyen
Holistic Cosmetologist
Mindy Nguyen is a Holistic Cosmetologist and the Owner and Founder of Mai Blossom Organic Salon, an organic hair salon in San Diego, California. With more than 35 years of experience in the beauty industry, she specializes in combining Eastern philosophies with Western science to provide organic hair coloring and holistic hair styling.

Mindy Nguyen

Holistic Cosmetologist

Expert Answer

Absolutely! Slowly pour the cool coffee into your dry hair, using your free hand to massage it into your dry locks. Then, use a wide-tooth comb to distribute the coffee from roots to end. Squeeze out any extra liquid and cover your hair with a shower cap. Leave the cap on for 45-60 minutes before rinsing it out.
Question

How can the coffee dye be made thicker? Mine is too runny.

wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

Use less water to brew your coffee so there's less overall liquid (it will make the coffee stronger, too). Also try adding more conditioner and grounds to the mixture to thicken it.

Warnings

This method of dyeing your hair doesn’t produce exact results. If you don’t like the way your color turns out, the coffee will fade out after 1-2 weeks or after a few washes in the shower.

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