Dear Lola: What’s the deal with coffee hair rinses?
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Dear Lola, I searched on your site for a coffee hair rinse recipe but didn’t find one. Do you do coffee rinses? And if so, what does it do for your hair? What brand do you use? Do you do it before or after washing? I just don’t want my hair to smell like coffee. I’m curious and might give this a try but want to know more first. Thank you, Curious Curly Girl
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Dearest Curious Curly Girl,
I recently began a hot and heavy affair with rice water, but before that coffee had the last word in my wash day routine. The caffeine in coffee has been found to stimulate the follicles. Studies have also shown that caffeine makes hair follicles more resistant to DHT, the hormone known to cause genetic hair loss. Note that in the study, caffeine was applied in vitro (in a test tube), and not applied directly to the scalp. Some sources even claim that coffee darkens the color of hair, though I’ve never had that experience. It does, however, generally have a pH of 5 – 5.1, so it is the bizness for smoothing the cuticles.
According to PubMed.gov, human skin absorbs caffeine at a rate of 2.24+/-1.43 micrograms per square centimeter an hour. Or as The Beauty Brains explained, if you used every inch of skin on your body, it would take it about 2 hours to absorb the equivalent of 2 cups of coffee. All of that said, coffee is prob best used as a final rinse (not washed out). As far as a recipe goes, how about this: Brew coffee. Let it cool. Pour on hair and scalp.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist the chance to be a tad snarky. But seriously, it’s that simple. Though sometimes I wild out and throw in a handful of fennel seeds (astringent, treats an itchy scalp) and steep until the coffee is room temperature. After straining out the fennel seeds, I pour the coffee over my hair and scalp. My hair initially smells like coffee, but it doesn’t last more than 15 minutes or so.
Give that a whirl and let me know how it goes!
Cheers,
Lola
In need of unconventional advice? Hit me up!
Sources: PubMed, LiveStrong, Dr. Weil, International Journal of Dermatology, Coffee FAQ, The Beauty Brains, Dr. Oz Fans, Essential Herbal Wisdom
Hi Lola, great post! The Beauty Brains were wondering if you can provide a link to a reference that backs up your statement “Studies have also shown that caffeine makes hair follicles more resistant to DHT.” (We assume you’re talking about topically applied coffee.) We’ve never seen that data and we’d love to share it with our readers. Thanks and keep up the great work!
Hi Sarah, it is from the Dr. Weil and International Journal of Dermatology links listed in my sources above. From Dr. Weil: “The caffeine connection to hair growth comes from a small study published in the January, 2007, issue of the International Journal of Dermatology, which showed that the drug can block the effects of a biochemical that damages hair follicles.” And “German researchers discovered the caffeine connection. They took scalp biopsies from 14 men in the early stages of hair loss, extracted hair follicles from the samples and put them in test tubes containing various concentrations of caffeine. After five to eight days, they found that the hairs had grown by 33 and 40 percent. In other test tubes, hair from follicles mixed with testosterone grew much more slowly. The investigators suggested that caffeine might prove to be a way to stimulate hair growth …”
From International Journal of Dermatology (abstract): “Significant growth suppression was found in hair follicles treated with 5 µg/ml testosterone. This was counteracted by caffeine in concentrations of 0.001% and 0.005%. Moreover, caffeine alone led to a significant stimulation of hair follicle growth. These results were confirmed immunohistochemically by Ki-67 staining.”
Also interesting from the LiveStrong link: “At least one company, Alpecin, has already developed and marketed a topical hair loss product based on the German study. Used like a shampoo, Alpecin is supposed to regenerate hair growth in three to four months. Further developments in the production of topical caffeine-based dermatological products, perhaps based on coffee extracts, remains one of the most promising directions of hair loss prevention.”
Hope that helps
Thanks!
I can’t believe a cfofee aficionado like yourself would consider giving up the sacred elixir. I only drink one or two very high quality cups in the AM, typically very early, which gives me my initial rush of concentration and focus. Plus I enjoy the flavor of a well-made cup from choice beans. I never drink a cup after 9am and certainly never during the day. I sleep like a log because if I had excessive amounts of caffeine in my bod, I would probably have trouble sleeping. I hope you can find the happy medium as I’m sure you miss the ritual of making your cup on a daily basis.
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