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Natural ways to dye your hair

Are you looking for a natural way to dye your hair? Reason could be, for example, that you cannot use normal hair dye, due to allergies. Or you notice over time that your hair gets dry if you dye more often with chemical hair dye.

Well, in such cases, natural hair colouring that you make yourself can be an option. Or maybe you just like to try it out! Usually, plant-based kitchen ingredients are used to lighten, colour or boost the colour intensity of your hair.

Colouring your hair with henna 

Henna is, of course, the best-known plant-based hair dye. Henna comes from the dried leaves of the henna bush (Lawsonia Inermis). This plant is native to North Africa, the Middle East and India and has been used to dye hair for centuries. With real henna, you can basically only colour your hair red.

Indigo

By adding indigo (this is also called black henna), you can dye your hair darker brown, dark brown or even black. Indigo gives a bluish glow.

Cassia

If you want to achieve a lighter colour, this is not possible with henna. However, there is another plant pigment, cassia auriculata, which you can use to give a golden glow to hair that is already blonde.

Henna is not always 100% pure and sometimes chemicals or pesticides have been used. In addition, the colour palette is limited and the effect very much depends on your own colour, the quality of the henna and how long you let it soak in. So as a beginner, you don't know exactly what to expect. Henna camouflages grey hair, but does not cover it.

Dyeing hair naturally

You can also try colouring your hair using natural ingredients. We deliberately say 'colour' because you can't expect a complete metamorphosis like with hair dye. You can achieve a subtle colour effect with these home remedies. The result is usually not permanent either. However, it is true that you will "'stack' the colour" if you repeat these methods weekly, for instance. So give it a shot and try it at least several times. Especially if you might not be able to dye your hair at all otherwise.

Just keep in mind that 'natural' doesn't always mean that your hair won't be damaged from these remedies. Nor is 'natural' a synonym for allergy-free. In addition, it is difficult to estimate what the result will be. So you do not know whether you will achieve the desired result. As far as that is concerned, natural hair colouring cannot be compared to chemical hair colouring. The exact effect depends very much on the base, in other words on your own hair. In addition, unfortunately you do not achieve real grey coverage of your hair, at most the natural pigment has a camouflaging effect.

Lightening your hair naturally

Natural remedies cannot 'dye' your hair lighter. Besides, the lightening effect is usually subtle, but maybe worth a try!

1. Lemon juice with water
You can lighten your hair by up to two colour levels with lemon. Add two tablespoons of lemon juice to a cup of water. Spread this over your wet hair. Let your hair dry naturally, it works best if you can do this in the sun. Wash your hair afterwards and use a conditioner. Repeat this treatment once a week and your hair will light up more and more. You can damage your hair with this treatment so definitely don't do it more often and take good care of your hair.

2. Cinnamon and conditioner
Add a teaspoon of cinnamon powder to your conditioner. Apply this to your dry hair. Then put your hair up and cover your hair with a bath cap or plastic wrap. Leave it on overnight, rinse, wash your hair with shampoo and use a conditioner.

3. White vinegar with honey
You can use honey and vinegar to naturally lighten your hair. For this, use raw, unpasteurised honey. Mix a cup of raw honey with two cups of white vinegar, a tablespoon of olive oil, and a tablespoon of ground cinnamon. Mix the ingredients together to form a paste. Carefully apply this mixture to your towel-dried hair. Secure your hair on top of your head and wrap household foil around it. Then wrap a towel or a turban or something similar around it, secure and leave it on overnight. Rinse it out and wash with shampoo. Afterwards, use a conditioner.

4. baking soda and shampoo
You probably have baking soda or bicarbonate at home. If you add a little of this to your usual shampoo, you will wash out the chemical build-up very well. This build-up is caused, for instance, by leftover styling products that remain in your hair. It also washes out impurities such as metals and chalk that are simply left on your hair from the air or from shower water. So this has a clarifying effect on your hair.

 

Give dark hair a more intense colour

 

With familiar remedies like coffee or tea, some people can give their hair a more intense colour, easy to try out! The sage rinse and walnut husks are already a bit more advanced but some people are perfectly happy with this.

1. Sage rinse

You can use a sage rinse if your hair is black or very dark brown. It will bring out your natural colours. If your hair is greying, sage can help camouflage your greys. Use dried sage, which you can buy at most grocery shops.

Soak about a handful of sage in 250ml of just boiled water for at least 30 minutes. Let it cool and then strain. Then pour the mixture over your hair fifteen times. Make sure you collect the mixture as you rinse it through your hair, using a bowl or container. Then leave it in your hair for half an hour before rinsing your hair, not with hot water but with lukewarm or cold water. Do not use shampoo but you may use a conditioner.

Repeat this process weekly until you have the desired colour, the effect will build up over a few weeks. From then on, treat your hair once a month again to maintain the colour.

2. Walnut shells

Many people use walnut husks to make their hair darker. By walnut husks, we mean the green outer shell of the nuts (which always comes off at the shop) and the brown, hard shell. It does take some time to make the paste and walnut shells stain easily, so be careful with this method. It is helpful to wear gloves and make sure you don't get messy.

Put the brown hard husks of the walnut and the green, softer shells in a non-metallic pan (i.e. ceramic pan, for example) and add water until just covered. If you want a darker colour, you can also add fresh sage. Bring the water to the boil and boil for 15 minutes. Next, allow it to cool and let it sit for three days. Stir it occasionally. After that, bring to boil again. Add some water if necessary and leave to boil until everything has softened. After that, you can mash it.

Apply the cooled mixture to (unwashed) dry hair, cover and leave on for two hours for maximum results. Some people say it gives even better results if you keep the cooled mixture in the fridge for a week before colouring your hair.

3. Tea

Tea is also known to be able to darken your hair slightly. Use a loose black tea or black tea powder and soak half a cup (about 70 grams) of tea in two cups of boiling water. Let the water cool with the leaves still in it. When it is at room temperature, filter out the leaves and pour the tea into a spray bottle. Spray this on your scalp and gently massage it in towards the ends. Secure your hair on top of your head and cover with cling film and let the tea sit for an hour. Rinse with lukewarm water. Repeat weekly for the best results.

4. Coffee

Like tea, coffee also contains tannins that you can use to change your hair colour. Use one part coffee powder and mix the powder in a cup with five parts conditioner. For example, ten grams of powdered coffee with fifty grams of conditioner. Use this conditioner instead of regular conditioner and leave it on for 10 to 15 minutes.

Keep in mind that this method will not permanently colour your hair, and you need to treat your hair at least once a week to maintain the effect.

Too much of a  hassle or do these methods not work for you?

However natural, these ways do not always give the desired effect. In that case, know that WECOLOUR hair colour is as pure as possible. Not natural, but we have replaced as many of the more aggressive ingredients in our hair dyes as possible with a milder ingredient. For example, our hair dye does not contain ammonia, PPD, resorcinol or parabens.

Are you (possibly) allergic to hair dye? We often hear that people were unable to dye their hair for years until they discovered our product. Request a tester in the colour you would like to dye your hair with to make sure it is safe for you. It's best to first answer the questions in our hair colour advice tool to see what colours are possible for you. WECOLOUR hair colour is not a natural way to dye your hair, but it is a good mid-way solution for beautiful, healthy dyed hair with lasting results.

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