Homemade Hair Dyes

Introduction

Changing your hair color is a quick esteem lifter and can give you a boost of confidence. Thanks to all the products on the market, you can have black hair–or multiple shades–by dinnertime. However, commercial products can be expensive, time-consuming and tend to be long lasting. If you dye your hair a shade you don’t like with a semi-permanent or permanent hair dye, you’re likely stuck with the results for several weeks, unless you pay for a costly professional fix. Though they can take longer to work and require more applications, making your own homemade hair color shades can be cheaper and also allows you to try on a shade that will be less permanent in case you discover you’re not really a brunette trapped in a blond’s body.

Red

You can take two approaches for homemade hair colors–either using a rinse, which tints your hair, or creating a homemade hair dye that will more drastically alter your locks, at least for a while. Make a red rinse for your hair by combining 1/2 cup carrot juice and 1/2 cup beet juice. Pour the mixture over your hair and spend 15 minutes in the sunlight before washing away the juicy rinse. You’ll find your locks have acquired a red hue.

Another option is to reach for the henna dye. Henna is a plant that gives a red shade. Mix 200 grams henna powder with 1/2 teaspoon coffee, one egg yolk and 1/2 teaspoon rum. Let it sit overnight before applying the paste to your dry strands for two hours. After washing out the henna, use a hot oil or deep conditioning treatment, since henna can be drying.

Brown

Create a brown rinse using black tea. Steep 1/2 cup black tea leaves in 1 quart boiling water for 30 minutes. Pour the mixture through a sieve and allow the liquid to cool before pouring over freshly washed, damp hair. Lean over a basin when pouring the tea over your hair to collect the run-off. Have another basin to alternate catching and pouring, so you can continue rinsing your hair up to 20 times. Then wring out your hair and wrap it in a towel for 30 minutes before rinsing until the water runs clear.

You can also whip up a batch of natural brown hair dye by steeping 500 ml, or approximately 17 ounces, of walnut husks with 500 ml boiling water for 15 minutes. Sieve and apply the liquid to your hair, letting it sit for 15 minutes before washing it out with plain water.

Black

Black hair dye is tricky to make at home. Most of the natural recipes will only make a dark brown, so you’re going to have to turn to another natural solution: indigo and henna plants. Henna dyes red, and indigo makes a blue shade, but when combined, you get black. Prepare the henna dye as instructed in the first section and dye with henna before applying indigo. Omit the conditioning step after the henna.

There is no need to wait between dyeing applications. Combine 100 to 200 grams indigo, depending on hair length, with enough warm water to create a thick yogurt-like paste. Add 1 teaspoon of salt to darken the shade. Put the paste on your hair, cover with a plastic shower cap and let it sit for up to two hours before shampooing and deep conditioning.

Blond

Just so you know, it’s almost impossible to truly dye your hair blond with a homemade hair color, especially if you are going from a dark shade, like brown. You can tint your hair with natural rinses, but you’re probably going to have to shell out the bucks for a professional dye job to get good results. At least there are several natural-based commercial dyes these days that can give you an environmentally friendly new shade.

For a blond boost, combine 3 cups chamomile tea with 1 cup lemon juice and pour over your hair. Sit in the sunlight for an hour before washing out the mixture to enhance your blond highlights and lighten your shade.

References

• Natural Homeremedies.com: Homemade Hair Dyes [http://www.natural-homeremedies.com/homemade-beauty-recipes/homemade-hair-dyes.htm]
• My Sensitive Skin Care: Best Home Hair Color [http://www.mysensitiveskincare.com/best-home-hair-color.html]
• Become Natural: Natural and Homemade Hair Care [http://www.becomenatural.com/blog/2007/03/natural-and-homemade-hair-care/]
• My Sensitive Skin Care: Homemade Hair Dye [http://www.mysensitiveskincare.com/homemade-hair-dye.html]
• Henna Caravan: How to Indigo Your Hair [http://www.hennacaravan.com/how/indigo.html]
• Henna for Hair: Indigo as Hair Dye [http://www.hennaforhair.com/indigo/gwynindigo.html]