The other day I walked by a mirror and the lighting was just right, WHOA- where did all that grey hair come from! It hit me- I’m finally getting getting grey- I guess I’m lucky that the first grey hairs are showing up at 54 years. Normally I wouldn’t much care- but I went on a job interview the other day and I was old enough to be the mother of everyone who worked there. Unfortunately our society favors youth- and when you are in the job market- you don’t want them thinking you are about to retire!
For me personally, coloring your hair is expensive and a hassle to take care of. I don’t want to look in the mirror and freak out because the roots are showing- don’t want to have to make that quick run to hairdresser or store to buy products. Plus, everything in my house has to have a dual purpose, which is why natural and homemade hair dyes can work for me. The ingredients are readily available and can be used for other things like cooking!
Check out the below recipes for homemade hair dyes:
Before you start- It may take some time for anything to take effect. Always use gloves. You might have to experiment with colors to get the desired look. It would be best if you experimented with a small test sample first
Blonde
Wash your hair with one of the following rinses. Pour the selected rinse through your hair 15 times, re-rinsing with the same liquid. On the final rinse, wring hair, and leave for 15 minutes before rinsing with clear water.
Lemon and Water- Mix 1 tablespoon lemon juice in 1 gallon warm water.
Tea, Yogurt and Oil-6 chamomile tea bags, 1/2 cup plain yogurt, lavender oil
- Bring one cup of water to boil and steep tea bags for 15 minutes. Discard teabags. Combine yogurt and 7 drops of lavender oil with chamomile tea, mix thoroughly. Apply the mixture to dry hair, working through to ends. Cover head in plastic wrap and condition for thirty minutes. Shampoo hair.
Blonde Highlights- 1 cup lemon juice, 3 cups chamomile tea (brewed and cooled)
- Mix ingredients, pour over damp hair then let sit for an hour while you sit in the sun, wash out. Follow with a good conditioner.
Lemons, and Flowers
- 2 whole uncut fresh lemons (squeezed & strained for juice)
- 2/3 ounces or 20 grams of marigold flowers (you can buy at health food store)
- 2/3 ounces or 20 grams of chamomile flowers (buy at health food store)
- 1 – 1 1/4 ounces or 30 grams of finely chopped or powdered rhubarb root ((grocery store or heath food store)
- 2 ounces or 50 grams of acacia honey (health food store)
- 1 pint or 1/2 liter cider vinegar
- 2 ounces or 50 grams of 95% proof liqueur alcohol (liquor store).
Put the vinegar and rhubarb into a stainless steel saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer very gently for 10 minutes. Be sure to make it exactly 10 minutes. Less or more may cause problems.
Add the chamomile and marigold flowers and juice of the two lemons. Cover the pan and simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove completely from the heat.
Let the mixture stand covered with the lid until the liquid is tepid. Filter the concoction through a fine sieve into a bottle.
Make sure you squeeze out any liquid in the herbs left in the sieve. Remember to be careful since the liquid may still be warm or even a tiny bit hot.
Add the honey, alcohol and squeezed and strained lemon juice from the 2 lemons. Put a tight cap on the bottle and store for your next shampoo.
How To Use Dye:
There are a couple of ways that you can make use of the natural dyes. You can use a dilution of the mixture by adding 1 tablespoon of the dye mixture for each quart or liter of final rinse water. If you really want to punch up the highlights, apply the mixture directly to your hair and leave on for at least 30 minutes. Be sure to cover your head with a shower cap or the drippage can stain. To get less drips, you can also mix some undiluted dye with a thick rinse out or deep conditioner and glop that on your head to get a thicker mixture.
Rinse & Shine:
After allowing the mixture as a quick rinse or as a longer leave on dye, rinse your hair with cold water to seal the color. Let your hair air dry if possible. While there is no guarantee of the level of color you will have achieved, changes are good that you will definitely see some blonde highlights. The lighter the color your natural hair, the more intense the blonde color from the mixture. Remember that this is a type of all natural vegetable dye. The dye will only last from shampoo to shampoo. If you want to maintain the highlights or added blonde colors you will need to apply the mixture after each shampoo. One batch will last from 2-3 weeks if kept refrigerated. It will last a shorter period of time if kept at room temperature. Depending on the length and thickness of your hair, the mixture will provide several after shampoo applications. Remember to take special care because in undiluted form, the final liquid will dye any materials it comes into contact with. This means it can stain your hands, your skin and any clothes or other materials. Apply this mixture in the shower and wash off immediately.
Substitutions:
Flowers and herbs with yellow blossoms are almost all viable options for blond dyes, though chamomile is probably the most widely used. Other examples include yellow broom flowers, calendula, turmeric and saffron. Lemon juice is another popular natural lightening agent, while rhubarb root creates a rich, honey tint.
Brunette
Walnut Husk and Water imply boil the husks in water for about 15 minutes. After boiling, strain the mixture and use the liquid to color your hair. This homemade hair dye is good for making brown hair darker. (Use Gloves, will stain)
Walnut Husk, Water and Spices: To prepare the dark juice, first crush the hulls in a mortar, cover them with boiling water and a pinch of salt, and let them “soak” for three days. Then add three cups of boiling water and simmer the hulls, in a nonmetal container, for five hours (replacing the water as it steams away). Strain off the liquid, place the walnut hulls in a cloth sack, and twist it tightly to wring out all remaining juice. Finally, return the expressed liquid to the pot and reduce it, by boiling, to about a quarter of its original volume. The resulting brew can then be used to whip up a rich walnut dye, as follows.
Add a teaspoon of ground cloves or allspice to the prepared extract. Allow the dye mixture to steep in the refrigerator for about a week (shaking it frequently during that time). When it’s ready for use, strain the liquid (using a piece of cheesecloth) and pour it at least 15 times through freshly shampooed hair before rinsing it out thoroughly.
Red
Rosehips and Cloves Make a strong tea of rosehips or cloves, or use strong black coffee.
Beet and Carrot Juice –1/2 cup beet juice, 1/2 cup carrot juice. Mix ingredients together, pour over damp hair. Let it sit for 1 hour while you sit in the sun. Wash out.
Kool Aid -Mix the powder with a little water and apply to the hair. Allow the mixture to sit on the hair. The timing will depend on how bright you want the color. You can reapply this mixture if you want the red to be darker.
Grey
Sage-Simmer 1/2 cup dried sage in 2 cups water for 30 minutes, then steep for several hours. Apply to hair and leave on until dried. Then rinse and dry. Repeat weekly, until desired shade, then monthly to maintain color.
Sage and Rosemary –make a strong ‘tea’ of Sage and a bit of Rosemary, strain it and refrigerate it, and before washing hair, spray it on the base of the grey patches of hair, even massaged it in. leave it for 5 – ten minutes and then wash as usual, and care for hair normally . After a few weeks of this, the grey is disappearing. (use daily) After using the sage the normal coloring returns to the hair. It is not a ‘color-change’ shocker, and it will soften, and the amount of grey.
“My sister was totally grey headed and after a month of daily using this solution, she had her normal light brown hair. which she had not seen for over ten years, and she dabbs it on once or twice a week now to keep her normal color, and she is 40. I am 48 and do not want to be grey just yet.”
Sage- here is a great and natural way to dye hair: Simmer 1/2 cup dried sage in 2 cups water for 30 minutes, then steep for several hours. Apply to hair and leave on until dried. Then rinse and dry. Repeat weekly, until desired shade, then monthly to maintain color.
Tag Alder Bark- hair darkening botanical, but it generally produces a lighter tone than sage, so it’s best when used to darken blond hair or to cover gray in locks that are light to medium brown. To make a tag alder rinse, simmer an ounce of bark chips (your health food store can likely order them from an herb supply firm) in a quart of water for about half an hour, then cool and use it exactly as you would the sage rinse
Henna Powder: Take henna powder, around 4-5 tbsp if you want to apply it only around the area which has gray hair and more if you want to apply to your entire scalp. Make a thin paste of henna powder by adding juice of lemon, a tbsp of curd, a tsp of coffee powder (optional), the water of tea leaves and amla mixture which you prepared earlier. Add ½ tsp of mustard oil in this mixture to avoid dryness. Leave this mixture in an iron vessel for about 2 hours. During winter season you add a finely grounded paste of 2 cloves to elude cold. Apply the mixture on the hair carefully, cover gray hair completely. Leave this on for about 3-4 hours. (Some prefer to keep it overnight.) Then rinse off with water.
Saffron Hair Dye-Saffron 1 pinch Boiling water 500 ml- Soak saffron in water for 10 minutes. Strain and use it on the hair. Grey hair will acquire a rich golden tint.
Henna and Indigo
Coffee, Henna, Egg- Mix coffee powder (1 tsp) in the water and make a paste of henna (200 gm) with the water. Beat the 1 egg yolk and mix this into henna. Also add brandy (1 tsp) to it. Apply the paste and leave it on for 3-4 hours before washing it with lukewarm water.
Mix coffee powder in the water and make a paste of henna with the water. Beat the egg yolk and mix this into henna. Also add brandy to it. Apply the paste and leave it on for 3-4 hours before washing it with lukewarm water.
I have black hair but i need jet bblack straight hair
i have blondish brownish hair i wanna temporarly dye it blue but koolaid and food coloring didn’t work to well i live in a small town that doesn’t carry “unnatural” hair colors in the stores and i don’t go to the big city ,which is 2 hours away , very often so i was wondering if there was another natural easy to make blue dye for my hair don’t care if its permant or not just wana do it for my bands cd cover
Good question- and I really don’t have the answer- but here is a thought- crush up a bunch of blueberries and leave on your hair for a couple of hours. Test to see if the color is right for you- either redye or wash out.
Tweak,
Brain fart: Try using blue raspberry jello powder. It makes blue jello, so it would probably make blue hair. Some friends of mine used to use jello to dye their hair in high school.
The easiest way I can think of to do it would be to put the powder in a bowl and add a little bit of water to make a paste and paint it on your hair one section at a time using a paintbrush. You can usually get hair colouring brushes at most drugstores.
Hello, I have thick black hair but i want a bronish reddish color for my hair what do you think i should do??
Start with Henna and or Red colorings. Experiment with small amounts or test a section of your hair first until you get the desired color.
how many walnuts should we boil? and I also heard of using olive oil instead of water?
I don’t know how many walnuts- It will depend on how much hair you have- how often you will be dying your hair, and of course the color. You have to experiment, and test small area first.
Tweak- If it’s only for a photo, why not just use a good wig?
Esme- If you want a lighter hair color then might I suggest using hydrogen peroxide. Use the kind that you use to sanitize cuts and stuff. I (like you) had black hair and I stummbled upon this trick. Just pour the peroxide over your hair while washing and style hair normally. Do this every other month to keep the color glowing.
hi i have brown hair and i want red highlights what should i do?
the red just has to be noticible but not outrageous thanks
Experiment first with Henna or beets in a small area to achieve the right color you want- see the above recipes for red hair.
how do i dye my hair with tea without ruining my highlights? light brown hair? i dont want it to be super dark?
hey guys thanks for the advice i ended up using a bingo ink blotter and as for the use a wig its so far to go to the city that we only go once ever 2 months (we buy bulk of everything we can’t get in our small town) so not just easy to buy a wig any ways thanks for the help and advice everyone and note to anyone who trys the bingo blotter ink be aware its pretty much permant so if you just want tempoary don’t use it it lasted in my hair til i bleached it out and that was only about 2 months ago and it took 2 bleahings to get it fully out just a warning
This is great advice! I have dark brown hair and I’d love to go jet black or reddish. Something different and funky.
I want to try the Jello idea for the red.
I would like to try something for the black, too, but I’m not sure what Henna is and where to buy it and how expensive it is…fill me in?
You can find henna at almost any health food or natural food store.
Had an idea, thought it might help. For blue hair dye, use cornstarch, and blue food coloring and make a paste. Apply to hair and let it sit for awhile. It should color your hair, it colors everything else it touches. Hope it works for you! 😀
I have black colored hair but I was wondering if the black coffee really does work to make it red? Can someone post results? Thanks (:
i have brown hair and want like a really light brown hair so whatt do i do
Always bethanyy
hey guys. i was just wondering about dyeing my hair brown. ive got naturally meduim brown hair, but about 2 months ago i dyed it blonde, and now i have to put a purple toner through it every week to stop it going orange. well after 2 months i have about 4cm of regrowth, and its darkish brown. i want my hair to be dark brown to get rid of the regrowth, but im worried that if i dye my hair brown, the blonde from before will make it go orange again. i live in australia and we are just going into summer so my hair will lighten up alot then, but the regrowth will still be there. will my hair go orange if i dye it brown, or will it just fade quickly?
Good question- and I don’t have an answer- because alot of the fading and color changes will depend on what you are using and how often you are in the sun. My suggestion is to try on a small area at the top of your head one of the brown dye suggestions and see what happens in the sun
hi-stumbled onto site and it’s great. Question- can I use the sage on color treated hair that I want to grow out ?
hey guys i rele want to dye mii hair black. so bad its not funny,but using chemicals rele scares me. im also allergic to that henna stuff. i hav medium brown hair n i rele want it jet black…WUTT DO I DO!!! ps i need to no kinda quick cuz i want it done b 4 fam pics this weekend
To the girl with blonde hair wanting to dye her hair brown- I would recommend not even trying to do it yourself. I had to do the same thing a few months ago and it is a long messy process even with just a hairdresser. It is really hard to get blonde hair to brown. it will take a few tries and may go a bit greenish when you try it. Make sure you pick a color with warm undertones if you try to do it yourself because that will allow the orangy color showing with your blonde to blend in more. if you pick a color with cool undertones it will go greenish brown. like i said it’s going to be hard- trust me just go to the hairdresser.
also, have another question. has anyone actually tried this walnut recipe? i have red hair right now, naturally brown hair. I want to use a natural remedy to fade out to my roots as i grow my hair out to my natural hair color again. If someone has used this or had other successes would appreciate any advice!
to fade out dyed hair, dunk in diet coke (NOT PEPSI!!) for a few minutes. wash as usual. DO NOT CONDITION YOUR HAIR RIGHT AFTER!!!
Okay i want to redo my hair its right now a dark brown with a little red. If i do the black coffee does it turn red or darker brown, or black, because black coffee makes me think blackish.
It all depends on your current color of hair, how it takes to the dye, how long you keep the coffee on.. Experiment first with the underside of your hair and see what happens. Test a small area and time the length of time it takes.
Good luck
Coffee does not work. I tried it to cover grey even to darken my highlighted hair a little bit. I rinsed and soaked my hair for hours and it did nothing at all. Wish it would work as I am allergic to all hair dyes. I have watched hours of videos on youtube and found that unsweetened Kool Aid seems to work best for funky color hair such as blues, pinks and reds. Unfortunaley, I do not want to dye my hair any of those colors I just want to darken naturally and really just cover the gray. I have been trying the sage thing for a couple of days now and do not notice a thing yet. Oh well, I will keep trying it though. I was wondering if anyone knew anything about putting blueberries in my hair to darken the grey? What color would it turn out. At this point I could live with a redder color or black or brown. No blues, pinks orange but really Anything but grey!!!! Any info about blueberries would be so appreciated!!!!
I REALLY want BLACK hair and was wondering if the coffee trick would work for me. I already have medium coffee-like (ironic) brown hair. Would this darken my hair enough?
@Tiffany:
well,…this might not work but you could try mixing all the possible kool-aid colors together to make a brown color or even trying food gel coloring. The best thing would probably be walnut husks though, if you haven’t tried that already 🙂
Hey, at the moment I have reddish hair and I want to get it a light brown/blonde colour for the summer. what would you suggest I use?? wb x
Do these recipes work on African-American hair?
By the way, I would like to have a redish-brown tint. Would I achieve that by mixing the beet juice and the cold coffee? 😉 I have tried Henna in the past which was awesome on my hair. Dryness can be a problem for African-American hair. It’s important that the natural ingredients condition the hair, and not strip it leaving it dry. Also anything that leaves a shine on our hair is a plus, without being greasy. Does anyone know how any of these natural ingredients will work on African-American hair?
I mixed Raspberry Pomegrante herbal tea (3 bags), conditioner, honey, sugar, salt, and two teaspoons of vanilla extract together.I let it sit for awhile, then I shampooed my hair in the shower, washed my hair with warm water, then I turned the water cold, and dumped it on my head. Next I sat under a very strong, bright light, and waited an hour with a shower cap over the hair mess. Then I got back in the shower, took off the shower cap, dumped some more on my head, rinsed it out with cold water, and blow dried it. Then I sat under a bright light while blow drying for a half-hour, and now I’m waiting for the color results. (I have light brown hair, and suggest using the red-colored tea only on it.)
i have dark brown hair n im black by the way. so i want ma hair jet black and red and blue a da bac… ny help? plz
okay, so, i have dark dark dark brown hair – natural. i’m trying to get blond. :/ i’m trying the one where its like 1 gal of water and 1 tablespoon lemon juice – – – is it suppose to work right away? like, while you’re doing it?
Kelli,
No sorry it will not work you will have to buy hair stripper from a beauty supply that is the only way you will be able to dye your hair blond. I recently just dyed my hair blond from being brown haired and I was told the only way you can do it was hair stripper.
~Skylher.
There is a brand of Henna that offers the henna/indigo mix for gray-haired ladies. I actually used it once and my hair was absolutely GORGEOUS. The color was stunning. Now, I read women stating that the “sage tea” process does not work… Anyone who tried and worked?
You forgot to mention a very important detail: lime or lemon on your hair–even if it is extremely oily–will DRY it. AND it will stain your skin if you expose it to sun.
I have had a reaction to store bought dyes and have been using natural homemade dyes for a couple of months.They do work if you use them often..my hair is a light brown with grey in the front and it makes me look drabby so i brighten it up with a reddish brown natural rinse and it does cover the grey temporarily..i just have to repeat it.
In a pot with a few cups of water.i boil a cut up beet,cinnamon sticks,4 tea bags,4 tbls sage,rosemary,red flower tops from my garden or rose petals.some instant coffee.boil for 15 min then simmer for a few min then sit for an hour.cool and strain.
Once i thickened it with cornstarch and it made a nice gel!You can apply it to your hair and leave on for 1 hour or longer.it really makes your hair soft and covers the grey slightly..i just reccomend doing it more often.
i will try keeping it in the fridge in a spray bottle and applying it more often.
Coffe and tea make a reddish brown color.not jet black..i am also allergic to nuts so i cant use the walnut husks..but would try that for dark brown hair…i am sure it would work.
I have dark brown hair with blonde and red undertones (which is natural because Im German and Israeli). I used the coffee hair dye by brewing 10 cups, soaking my hair in it (after shampooing it), rinsing with cold water. Then pour the leftover coffee over your hair, and condition. Leave the conditioner in for 5 minutes to soak in the coffee-goodness. Then rinse again with ICE COLD WATER. Blowdry your hair for best results. It works great to bring out a rich brown color and add lots of red.
Um, yeah, um, will this stuff stay in or wash out?
Any tips to darken eyebrows? I dye my hair a deep mahogany red and my hairdresser must have flaked on my brows this time because they are orange! She’s out of town for two weeks and eyebrow pencils/mascara just isn’t cutting it!
You can use any of the recipes above, test it first on your hair.
Any tips on what to use on grey hair that will make it look blondish?
Where will I buy Walnut Husks.
I am 55 and have brown hair, slightly going grey what do you recommend with regards to homemade colours.
I have heard of using Walnut Husks, but wondered if they would be too dark for me. Also where do you buy walnut husks.
I am Afro Caribbean and my hair is relaxed. I am looking for a permanent color to cover grey at the front and back. They are very short. What is the best homemade treatment to color my short grey hair.
Sorry I forgot to say my hair is short and black