We don’t always have time for an exhaustive hair coloring session. Those are times when we need quick-fix solutions for coloring hair, or for hiding premature grey strands.

So, as you all probably know, I go the natural route whenever I can. But there are times when we don’t really have 1 – 2 hours for sitting idle with henna applied to hair. Right? There are such times and those the times some are tempted to reach for chemical dyes or colors that can get you ready in 15 – 30 minutes.

Let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients

Coconut Milk
Instant Coffee Powder / Granules

Instructions

Scrape a coconut and add some warm water to it.

After a minute or two, grind it in your mixer and strain it using a cheesecloth to get the coconut milk – just add enough water to soak the shredded coconut not more.

The first milk would be thick. Add some more warm water to the sieved coconut and grind once more to get a thin coconut milk – this way we don’t waste any milk. Add lesser water this time, so you don’t have to spend a lot of time heating up the coconut milk to get cream.

In a deep pan add the Coconut Milk and heat on simmer – it is ideal to use fresh Coconut Milk, though the natural coconut milk cans you get would do when you don’t have access to fresh coconuts.

Many say that freezing / refrigerating the coconut milk will separate water and cream and you can take out the cream and heat it up to fasten the process. Remember, you can use the raw cream or the coconut milk directly on your skin and hair. They offer loads of benefits. This recipe calls for heating up the cream to get the creamy consistency that makes it easier for application. However, my friends said raw cream works too – if you go with refrigerating method.

When the coconut milk is reduced in volume the consistency begins to change to that of a cream – you need to heat it just until the cream is a little runny – like that of a leave-in conditioner. Don’t heat the cream more than that – after the cream reaches a certain stage it will start oozing out coconut oil – not what we’re going for here.

Now, remove the cream from the vessel and transfer to a mixing bowl. Or just take enough quantity for preparing the hair color from the pan.

In a mixing bowl, add the coffee powder or granules (use instant coffee). You will need 2 Tablespoons or more depending on your hair length and volume.

If you’re using coffee granules gently crush it to a powder using a spoon to make mixing easier and faster when you add cream.

Add coconut cream you prepared to the coffee powder and mix to get a paste. The paste will look medium – dark brown. Add enough cream to get the consistency of store-bought cream hair colors.

Once the coffee powder and cream mixes well, you’re all set!

How to Use the Coffee Hair Color?

Apply the prepare hair color to your strands – you can do this two ways.

One – apply it to your hair strands using a brush after dusting your hair with powder. This will make color sticking to your hair easier with oil and dirt removed from your strands. After dusting with powder comb through and also detangle your hair. Let it sit for 30 minutes to an hour and wash off with a mild shampoo.

Two – After washing your hair, apply this color to your hair and wait for 15 – 30 minutes before rinsing off (yes, without using shampoo again as you’ve already washed your hair). This generally doesn’t leave your hair oily or greasy, but depends on your hair too – so if you think this might leave your hair oily or greasy, or you tired and that happened, you can use your leave-in conditioner instead of coconut cream.

The first method tends to last 2 – 3 days and then begins to fade. The second method tends to last until your next wash and is darker for most part till then.

Tips to Tweak the Recipe

You can use your leave-in conditioner or one of the leave-in conditioners from the site to make the process faster. After all, we’re doing this when we’re short of time.

You can also add a dash of Cocoa Powder for the same results, with coffee or without coffee. Like coffee, this will also darken your hair, albeit temporarily.

Don’t have time for DIY Recipes? Try HY Vitamins for your hair and scalp care requirements. As always, feel free to write back to us for any questions, queries, requests or feedback.