Peptides have been identified that bind with high affinity to body surfaces, such as, hair, skin, nails, teeth, gums, and oral cavity surfaces. Diblock and triblock peptide-based body surface coloring reagents formed by coupling a body surface binding peptide to a pigment binding peptide, either directly or through a spacer, are described. The peptide-based body surface coloring reagents may be used in conjunction with pigments to color body surfaces.