Homemade Hair Dye - What are the Three Most Effective Natural Hair Colorings?

Commercial coloring products can be harder on the hair than homemade hair dye. The chemicals in hair dye can cause allergic reactions or even hair dye allergies which for some people can even land them in the emergency room!

So, for those of us who want to avoid these kinds of problems, there are completely natural vegetable based or herbal hair dyes. These are generally safe, but may not color your hair sufficiently!

One way to balance these two options is with some innovative homemade hair coloring ideas that you may not know about. These are a little bit of the "best of both worlds", as they are not intensely chemical laden, but they definitely get the job done.

Changing the color of your locks is not hard to do naturally; it just takes a bit of preparation and knowledge about the types of coloring alternatives.

Check out these three popular homemade hair coloring solutions to see if any of these will work for you

You'll Never Believe This Homemade Hair Dye

Changing hair color at home is a fun way to spend a weekend. If bright colors are the idea, many people use Kool Aid or other powdered drink packets.

Yes, Kool Aid!! I was very surprised to learn that this is one of the most common homamade hair coloring products. I personally would not use Kool Aid as it contains artificial colorings and preservatives that can irritate sensitive skin, however these kinds of powders will usually create bright, vibrant color changes.

Kool Aid contains artificial colorings and BHA as a preservative, so if you're sensitive to these chemicals, you are best to find a more natural option from your local health food store.

Be sure to choose drink mixes which do not include sugar or other artificial sweetener. The dyeing process needs to take place outdoors in order to keep the color from staining the showers or sinks in your home!

For a more gradual homemade hair coloring, add your normal shampoo to a travel bottle and color the shampoo with your hair coloring of choice.

Wash your hair once or twice a day until the desired color is achieved. The color will wash out over time, so you may need to wash your hair with the colored shampoo a few times a week to keep the new color bright.

Natural Brunette Hair Coloring for a Darker Shade of Brown

Simmering walnut husks in water creates a natural dark hair rinse that can work well as a homemade hair dye. Walnut husks are a completely natural food product and very few people have any kind of allergic reaction to it.

To prepare the rinse, add walnut husks to a pan of water on the stove. Allow this to simmer for 30 to 45 minutes and turn off the heat, and then allow the husks to steep and cool in the water for at least an hour before applying the rinse to hair. Let your hair to dry naturally and then rinse of the walnut husk water.

The result will be a smoother, darker shade of brown. When the mixture is used on blonde or red hair, the results will not be as noticeable, so repeated use may be needed for true darkening.

The Ultimate Homemade Hair Lightening and Highlights

Not everyone wants to go bright or brown. If lighter is what you are looking for, hydrogen peroxide can provide the ultimate effect. You do need to be careful though as peroxide is very strong and can damage the hair if you use too much. If you have sensitive skin, please do a skin test first to be sure you don't have an allergic reaction to the peroxide.

For all over color change, simply wet the hair with a diluted solution of hydrogen peroxide and allow to sit on the hair for a short time, between 5 and 15 minutes at the most.

Then wash the hair immediately, several times, and use a deep conditioner. Some people will repeat this process until their hair lightens more, but I don't recommend this as you could damage the hair in the process.

For hair highlights, apply the hydrogen peroxide to the hair with a cotton ball, and leave on for a short time before rinsing. Some people recommend leaving it on the hair for up to 60 minutes, but I think a few minutes is plenty, because peroxide is rather strong. The longer you leave it on your hair, the lighter the highlights. For a more gradual approach, do a short highlighting treatment every day for a week.

Other Natural Hair Dye Alternatives

Dyeing your hair at home is a great alternative to commercial hair dyes that are created with intense chemicals that can damage your hair follicle and root. These are just a few of the strongest and most effective homemade hair coloring ideas.

There are also a number of vegetable and herbal home made hair dyes that you can try to see which works best for your hair. These usually provide a bit less intense color, but are more natural and better tolerated for people with sensitive skin. I encourage you to have fun with this, and experiment to see which may work best for your unique hair type!