The Ultimate Guide: How to Naturally Dye your Hair at Home without Chemicals

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The National Cancer Institute (NCI) states that over 5,000 different chemicals are used in hair dye products, some of which are reported to be carcinogenic in animals. Though manufacturers have improved dye products to eliminate some of the more dangerous chemicals that were used in the 1970s, most still contain less-than-savory ingredients.

Some of the most common and dangerous ingredients used in hair dyes are:

• ammonia,
• peroxide,
• p-phenylenediamine,
• diaminobenzene,
• toluene-2,5-diamine,
• resorcinol etc.

To avoid all the nasty chemicals, it is safer to use a more holistic alternative. Using a natural hair colorant is your best option.

A natural herb and oil colorant not only color your hair but conditions it too!!  Your hair should appear thicker and glossier than before.  The results can vary so sometimes it may be quite dramatic and other times you may have to repeat the process to get a deeper color.  This depends on how well your hair absorbs the hair color.  

When it comes to selecting a color, it important to remember that if you are unsure if a certain color will suit you (if you are making a dramatic change), just use the color on a small piece of your hair.  This will provide a sample of how the color will turn out.

HERB COLOURANTS

To add RED highlights to brown or blonde hair:

Henna powder (purchase powder or dry the leaves of the henna plant, and crumble them), or fresh red hibiscus petals, calendula, marigold or rosehip.

To lighten Blonde hair or add blonde highlights to brown hair:

Fresh dyer’s chamomile flowers (ordinary chamomile flowers, used in chamomile tea bags, give some lightening effects, but dyer’s chamomile is needed for a stronger result), or chopped fresh turmeric root.

To bleach Brown hair to a soft rusty blonde red:

Grated fresh rhubarb root or beetroot juice – do not try this unless you are sure you want to be a strawberry blonde, as this color will not wash out and might be more dramatic than you anticipated.

To darken Brown hair, or cover up grey in brown hair:

Fresh culinary sage leaves, Rosemary tea, nettle tea, green walnut husks (not the shells, but the husks that are removed from the shell) or dry ground coffee (not instant).

Herbal Hair Dye

• 6 Cups Chosen Herb Colourant (see selection below)
• 1 cup Olive Oil
• 1 Tsp glycerine

Instructions:

1. Combine the Herb Colourant and oil in a small pan and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring often.
2. Leave to cool, then strain into a pan, discarding the herbs.
3. The oil should now be a dark rich color. If it isn’t, add more herbs to the oil and simmer again.
4. Cool again, strain into a screw-top jar, then stir in the glycerine.
5. Store in the fridge until ready to use (make sure to label the jar with ‘do not eat’)

When you are ready to dye your hair

1. Wear plastic gloves and old clothes. Smear paraffin wax or moisturizer around the hairline and over ears so that the color doesn’t stain the skin.
2. Reheat the oil, and comb through the hair while it is still warm but not hot enough to burn. BE CAREFUL, not to heat this too much.
3. Wrap your hair in cling wrap, making sure it is totally covered so that no oil can ooze out. Heat a towel in the microwave or oven (warm, not hot) and wrap it around your head over the cling wrap. Leave the mixture on for at least one hour (or longer for a deeper color).
4. Wash and rinse normally. Several applications may be needed to deepen the color.
5. Try to avoid really hot water as it can take the color away. Wash in lukewarm to make the color last longer.

*TIP:  Try adding flour to the oil, and mix till it’s a bit like sludgy peanut butter, then comb this through.  The sludge retains the heat better and can give a better result, but sometimes it can dilute the color.

Gentle Bleach

If you want to lighten all of your hair or just some of the strands, this is a great mix to use.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of flour
• ½ cup of lemon juice

1. Mix together and create a paste.
2. Work through hair or, for blonde highlights, apply to strands of hair, wrapping each bleached strand in cling wrap before going on to the next section.
3. Leave for an hour then wash normally.
4. This may need to be repeated several times to achieve the desired color.

Tips to make the color last longer

To make the color last longer, always rinse out your color with apple cider vinegar to help the color last longer.  Mix one-tablespoon apple cider vinegar with about a cup of water in a spray bottle and apply after coloring hair—don’t rinse.

If the color isn’t vibrant enough for you, wait one day and dye your hair again using the same method.  This will intensify the color.

Once you have tried these natural hair dyes, you won’t ever want to return back to commercial ‘chemical’ hair dyes ever again!