Natural Colour Treatments for Your Hair

Chemical dyes, bleaches, and other treatments available from hair salons can often be more damaging to you hair than you think. Pretty soon you have to go back regularly to freshen it up, not realizing that you’re involved in a cycle where the salon is causing many of the problems itself.  But you can do a lot for your hair at home, by yourself, with just some simple herbal mixtures.  These infusions will not change you from a blonde to a red-head, but they will enhance the existing colour of your hair, making it brighter, shinier, and healthier.  Here are some recipes and instructions:

Natural Brightening Rinse For Blond hair:

Pour three quarts of water over 10 chamomile tea bags. Let steep for 20 minutes. Remove the tea bags and let the infusion cool. Take a normal shower, shampoo and condition your hair, make sure it is well rinsed out, and then, in the sink, pour the chamomile infusion through your hair. Catch the mixture in the basin, and pour it through again, 10 or 15 times. Do not rinse, but let the mixture dry in your hair.  You will find your blond locks brighter than before, and they will improve even more with repeated use. 

For some sharper highlights, make the mixture and include in it dried mullein flowers, orange blossom water and lemon, added while the infusion is steeping.  After rinsing, let your hair dry outside in full sunlight. Again, the effects of this will become stronger after repeated use.

Brown Tint for Similar Coloured Hair (enhances colour, hides grey strands):

Take about a cup full of dried sage leaves, and a tablespoon of dried rosemary, and add to one cup of water. Simmer for an hour on low heat. The strength of the colour will depend on how long it has been simmering, and how strong the herbs are. Using cotton balls, apply the mixture to your hair, and let it stay on there for 30 to 60 minutes.  Afterwards, rinse out using water and vinegar.  You will be left with a glowing chestnut brown.

For a darker variation on this, throw in several orange pekoe tea bags; for a lighter mixture, add 1 teaspoon henna and 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves to the final infusion.

Brightening Rinse for Red Hair:

Plain and simple, Cranberry Juice! Apply to your hair in a rinse, let it stay on for 5 minutes, and then shampoo and condition as usual. The acidity of the juice tightens the hair follicles which makes them look shinier and healthier. 

Colour Enhancer for Red Hair:

To enhanse the colour of your red hair, make a mixture of 1/4 cup lemon juice and 1/4 cup lime juice. Mix in a spritzer bottle and apply to your hair. Sit in the sun for half an hour. The citrus and the sun act as a natural bleach and lightens your hair the longer you stay in the sun.