Is Coffee REALLY The Amazing Beauty Product It’s Cracked Up To Be? One STELLAR Staffer Puts It To The Test

After years and years of working in coffee shops you’d think the last thing I’d do is bring work home with me, right? Wrong.

One day I found myself lugging home a bag of freshly ground coffee, and no, I wasn’t bringing it home to add to my already ridiculously high caffeine intake.

For as long as I can remember the barista I work with has been raving about the benefits of washing your hair with coffee grinds, and while I’m not usually one to branch out of my comfort zone, his hair was so fabulous, glossy and shiny that I couldn’t resist giving it a go.

The grinds were going everywhere – and I mean EVERYWHERE.

Apprehensively, I brought a plastic cup of coffee grinds into the shower with me, rinsed my hair and began to massage the grinds into my scalp. It was an uncomfortable experience to say the least.

The grinds were going everywhere – and I mean EVERYWHERE. They were underneath my fingernails, all over my body, and, um, in a few places they probably really shouldn’t be. The few grinds that were left in my scalp felt like dirt. It was a disaster.

Not to be deterred, I decided to give it another shot. This time, although I managed to keep more coffee in my hair, some of the grinds decided to make their way down into my mouth, so as I was desperately trying to keep half the grinds in my hair, the rest were slowly making their way down my throat… not my usual Americano. I proceeded to vigorously rinse my hair and stepped out of the shower, defeated.

Ever the optimist I held out a glimmer of hope that my locks would look better than ever once blow-dried.

Of course, a trail of coffee grinds followed me as I made my way to the hair dryer. Still ever the optimist I held out a glimmer of hope that my locks would look better than ever once blow-dried. Amazingly, my hair actually looked worse and far greasier than it did before I stepped into the shower (how was that even possible?!).

The verdict? I can safely say that I’ll never stray from my trusty Herbal Essences again. My one-night stand with coffee was disappointing, short-lived and an experience I don’t want to repeat.

• Beauty
• coffee
• hair