Sunday 21 July 2013

Natural hair dyes


My natural hair colour is a brownish of sorts like a dark brown. I have only ever used boxed chemical dyes on my hair once; on the leave out hair for my number 1 (black) weave install I couldn’t find the specific weave in my regular number at the time and my natural hair colour just wouldn’t blend so the leave out had to be dyed black. On take down the difference in colours on my head was so obvious but since the leave out was a very small section the rest of my hair covered it well and henna and braids also helped over time until the black totally grew out.

Here is a list of natural hair dyes I compiled from different sources that I thought would be of interest to ladies who do not want to put more chemicals than necessary in their hair or are allergic to manufactured hair dyes. In my opinion any plant (fruit, seed, bark, leaf, and root) that can stain is a potential hair dye you just have to find the right proportions and/or dye releasing agents to mix it with. I just came up with a list, for more information on these and more natural hair dyes Google is your friend I am feeling lazy today lol I always think it is quite important for people to do their own research before trying out anything. It is also a good idea to do a strand test beforehand you don’t want to end up with greenish purple hair now.  Some of these dyes work instantly and others work overtime with frequent and consistent use.

So here goes;
Henna (I think everyone on a hair journey knows this one by now and it is one natural dye that  I can answers questions on personally, been around it since I was a child so feel free to ask any henna related questions in the comment section thanks.)
Indigo (used mostly in conjunction with henna to dye hair black)
Black tea (most of the other teas can dye as well)
Coffee
Lemons (lightens hair)
Honey (lightens hair)
Black Walnuts
Beetroot
Rhubarb root
Amla - Indian Gooseberry (darkens hair; get the powdered version)
Curry leaves (darkens hair)
Sage (this is one herb I came across a lot while researching for this post)
Another alternative hair dye is food colour! Yes the one that we use in food.

Quick hair update: today was what I hope is my final wash day before I commence my kinky twist take down in about two weeks time or less. I finally managed to do a hot oil treatment aka hot oil pre poo they are currently air drying it’s been about four hours since I washed them and I am about 60% dry I may go out in the sun later and get them sun dried.

In other hair related news I came across this lady who uses pure Argan oil on her human hair weave *insert blank stare*! Call me cheap but I will use vegetable oil from my kitchen on my extensions before I use such expensive oil on hair that is not growing out of my scalp. Different strokes for different folks.

Do you know of any other natural hair dyes? If so please add them in the comment section below…

8 comments:

  1. I kept trying to search for info about how henna works with dark hair. My hair is black and I wondered if henna could lighten or give it a kind of tint (red or dark brown). I see that you listed lemon juice and honey for lightening hair. I will have to do some research on this. Thanks for this helpful info! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your are welcome Andrea! Henna will give dark hair a reddish brown tint and turns any greys into a copper like colour. The depth of the tint depends on how long henna was left for the dye to release on mixing and how long it was left on the hair after application. Long story short the longer the henna stays on the deeper the colour you get. The mixing agents also play a role some people have had deeper tones by adding essential oils like eucalyptus or tea tree to the henna paste but since you want to lighten your hair, honey added to your deep conditioners should do the trick over a period of time used consistently.

      Delete
    2. Thanks, Lydz! I have only died my hair once ever. This was years ago before my HHJ and I swore never to color it again. But having just black hair gets a little boring sometimes. I would love to try henna just to get a hint of color. This will be a good alternative for me. Thanks again girl!

      Delete
    3. No worries girl! If you have any more questions on henna just ask:)

      Delete
  2. I've used honey and cinnamon and it lightened my hair slightly but not very much! My hair loved the honey though. I'm always tempted to get some highlights but I know they're damaging for my fine hair. I may try the honey lightening again, thanks for reminding me!

    x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are welcome:)Let us know if you do try the honey lightening again would love to see the results.

      Delete
  3. I have always wanted to try out the Henna and Indigo. It seems to give a very nice black colour according to all the You tube videos i have watched on the topic. Thanks for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah I have seen some lovely henna-indigo results on YT. Thanks for stopping by:)

      Delete

Thank you for reading...feel free to add a comment, suggestion or question. I am always happy to hear from you! Lydz.