Changing your hair color can be a fun way to give yourself a new look and lift your mood. However, for a variety of reasons, some people prefer not to use chemical hair dye kits or visit a salon for a color change. Some people worry about the effects of harsh chemicals on their hair, others prefer to use only natural products, and for some people, it is simply a matter of cost.
However, you can find plenty of recipes online on sites like diyexperience.com that suggest ways of making your own hair dyes out of inexpensive food products, or natural ingredients.
What Kind of Ingredients Are Involved in Making Your Own Hair Dye?
There are all kinds of natural products that can change the color of your hair when used in a certain way, and then of course there are artificial dyes in food coloring and heavily colored food products like Jello and Kool-Aid that can also dye your hair.
If you want a natural and fairly subtle change, for instance enhancing red tones in your hair, making dark hair blacker and shinier, or adding some slight highlights, then you will be able to find natural recipes using things like cinnamon, chamomile tea and lemon juice for lightening, and curry leaves, coffee and black tea for making hair darker.
Unnatural Colors
Some unnatural shades can also be achieved using natural ingredients, such as beet juice for a vivid red or pink, and carrot juice for orange – in fact, most commercial unnatural dyes by brands like Manic Panic and Directions are actually vegetable based. If you aren’t too bothered about whether the ingredients are natural or artificial, however, it can be easier the get the exact fantasy color you want using food coloring or things like Jello.
Things to Consider
Remember that unnatural dyes, whether homemade or commercial, will only show up on light hair, so you will need to have blonde hair or have had your hair bleached before these will work.
Additionally, natural lightening solutions like lemon juice can be as damaging to your hair as using peroxide, so there is no reason to choose these options to avoid chemical damage. There isn’t a way to lighten hair without some damage, unfortunately, however homemade solutions are generally cheaper and also a good choice for people who prefer to use natural things where possible.
Another point to consider is that henna, which is often used as a natural dye to get more dramatic color change results, while being gentle on your hair and very effective, is not compatible with normal hair dyes. This means that if your hair has been dyed with henna, you are not advised to use conventional hair dyes again for quite some time. This isn’t a problem if you don’t intend to dye your hair with these kinds of products, however if you are simply thinking of trying out a natural dye as an experiment, avoid henna if you are likely to want to dye your hair again with conventional dyes.
You can find all kinds of great recipes for hair dye online, and some work very well. It is generally best to start out with a strand test, as with normal dyes, however, to ensure your preparation produces the color you want.