Homemade Herbal Hair Dye

Pros of Making Homemade Herbal Hair Dye

• There are no preservatives and harsh chemicals in homemade herbal hair dye, unless you put them there.
• You can play with the color range more. It’s not advised to mix boxed hair dyes. By creating your own colors of hair dye at home you can experiment with a larger color and hue choice.
• With the addition of essential oils, juices, and other natural ingredients, you can customize your dye for dry hair, curly hair, blond hair, and more.
• Fragrant herbs smell so much nicer than store bought.
• You can grow your own herbs or easily locate affordable herbs so homemade dyes can be cost effective.
• Homemade is better for the earth. There won’t be hair dye chemicals washing down the drain and into our water supply, and homemade takes less energy to make.

Cons of Making Herbal Hair Dye

• Making your own hair dye can be time intensive.
• If you don’t grow your own herbs, and have oils on hand, it may cost you more to start making your own dyes.
• You rarely get vibrant color. You can get noticeable colors, but anything outside the realm of natural usually won’t occur. What homemade herbal hair dyes are best at is bringing out your own natural color, not necessarily changing the color immensely. If you want shocking red, an off shade like blue or hot pink, or a burgundy shade, you’ll most likely need a chemistry degree and a laboratory, or you’ll have to go with store bought hair dye.

Safety and Herbal Hair Dyes

Just because a product is natural or herbal does not make it absolutely safe. Be sure to do a test before leaving any sort of dye on your head for a long period. To do a basic allergy test, simply cotton swab a bit of hair dye mix on your inner lower arm. Wait a day. If you have burning, itching, or any other icky reaction, don’t put the mix on your head.

Homemade Herbal Hair Coloring for Blonds

Chamomile rinse: A weekly rinse with chamomile tea can brighten dull blond locks and stop any extra dark streaks caused by UV exposure. Simply steep half a cup of fresh chamomile flowers in a quart of boiling water for about 30 minutes. Strain and allow the mix to cool. Wash your hair like normal then towel dry. Pour the mixture over your head 15 to 20 times; be sure to catch the excess in a bin, so you can re-pour. Wring out your hair and wrap a towel around your head for a half hour. Rinse with cool water.

You can try other yellow flowered herbs as well such as saffron, turmeric, or calendula. If you have very long hair use a full cup of flowers in your mixture.

Homemade Herbal Hair Coloring for Brunets

There are three basic brunet herbal rinses you can use to bring out the color of brown hair.

Sage rinse: Sage rinse is made and used almost exactly like the chamomile rinse, above in the blond coloring section. The difference is that you steep a half cup of dried sage in your water instead of yellow flowers. Another difference is that you won’t start to notice a color change, or brightening for a couple of weeks to a month. Each week repeat the rinse process. If you don’t love the smell of sage, try adding a few drops of essential oil.

Walnut herb coloring: Walnut hulls with herbs are an extremely effective way to darken hair (and everything else). Always wear gloves when working with walnut hulls. Crush walnut hulls, cover with boiling water, and let them soak for three to five days.

Add three more cups of fresh water to the walnut water and simmer for four hours. If the water steams off add some more. Strain the liquid to get the hulls out. Reduce the volume of liquid to about a quarter of what you started with by boiling. Add one teaspoon cloves and one teaspoon cinnamon. Mix well. Now let it sit for a week or two in your fridge, It will get darker the longer it sits. Apply 15 to 20 times as a rinse to newly washed hair. Don’t wash your hair right way after applying the rinse.

Black tea rinse: You can buy black tea in bulk from your local co-op, make a basic rinse, and rinse your hair with the mixture over a few weeks. Use it just like the sage rinse above.

Homemade Herbal Hair Coloring for Red Hair

Henna powder can be used for brunets and for people with red hair. Henna is a very in depth topic, so you’ll want to research it more before attempting to make your own mix.

To make a basic mix that can add reddish gold highlights to both red and brown hair, mix two parts plain powdered henna with one part chamomile henna powder. Add just enough boiling water to create a thick paste. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of vinegar to the mix. Let the mix get warm and apply to your hair (wear gloves).

Let the henna mix sit on your hair for about 30 minutes up to two hours. You’ll need to experiment to get the exact color you want. Rinse your hair until clean of henna mixture.

Further resources about homemade herbal hair dye:

• Covering Gray Hair Recipe
• Home-made henna (mehendi) hair dye