The Wild Thing Bob Dylan Allegedly Did With Coca-Cola

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Most people know that when it comes to celebrity news, it's often difficult to tell what's real and what's false. Stories spread easily on the internet, and no icons are safe from the rumor mill. Case in point: There's a wild story floating around that Bob Dylan used to wash his hair with Coca-Cola.

According to some social media posts, like this Reddit post and this post on X, the legendary singer-songwriter would wash his hair with Coca-Cola to transform it into the tousled, just-got-out-of-bed look that he's known for. The thing is, this rumor is completely anecdotal; there is no actual, first-hand evidence that this is how he achieved his ruffled, rock-and-roll hairstyle. Seeing how his hair has maintained a signature unkempt appearance over the years — which has strengthened his counterculture persona — it makes sense that people might want to know Dylan's grooming routine. However, it's more likely that his unruly curls truly are the result of rolling out of bed, rather than a deliberate beauty routine.

As for his intention behind his disheveled hair, in a famous 1966 Playboy interview, when asked how he felt about the "far-out hairstyles" of male singers during the time, Dylan responded with a practical reason: "The thing that most people don't realize is that it's warmer to have long hair. Everybody wants to be warm. People with short hair freeze easily." Then, in true Dylan fashion, he spiraled into a more metaphorical, tongue-in-cheek discussion of long hair: "People who want free minds sometimes overlook the fact that you have to have an uncluttered brain. Obviously, if you get your hair on the outside of your head, your brain will be a little more freer." 

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Rinsing your hair with Coca-Cola is a popular beauty hack that some people claim can help remove dandruff, enhance natural curls, and add shine, volume, and texture. The process typically involves pouring the soda on your hair in the shower, then rinsing it with water. 

Indeed, it's believed that the stickiness of soda due to the high fructose corn syrup, coupled with the phosphoric acids (and the other secret ingredients in Coca-Cola), will make your hair temporarily more tousled-looking, leading to the illusion of more volume. However, it doesn't actually thicken hair. In fact, according to the Belgravia Centre, a renowned hair loss center in London, washing hair with Coca-Cola too often may actually do more damage than good by stripping hair of natural oils and causing hair breakage. 

Like many beauty tricks and tips, a celebrity is credited with the popularity behind this soda hair hack (and it's not Bob Dylan). In 2015, British supermodel and actress Suki Waterhouse told US Weekly that she used Coca-Cola on her hair sometimes. "I don't like my hair when it's washed — it's fine and limp — but Coca-Cola makes it tousled, like I've gone through the Amazon or something," she stated. Besides using it on your hair, there are plenty of other Coca-Cola hacks you can try, like cleaning the toilet bowl (prompting the question, would you want to use something on your hair that can be used to clean the toilet?).