Homemade Hair Coloring

If you take to heart only one piece of advice from this book, make it this one: do not color your hair with the toxic brew of chemicals sold in every drugstore and used in every salon. What makes the following information extremely important is not only the good condition of your hair. Synthetic hair dyes directly affect our health. We are talking serious health risks here.
Two out of three women today color their hair. They color their hair every five weeks on average.
The process of dyeing hair at home is so familiar that we don’t even look at the instructions. We assume we know everything about hair colors, because our grandmother, and mother, and sister, and celebrity stylist—everybody—is doing it, so we guess it’s just fine. It’s not.
How does chemical hair color work? First of all, we have to blend a tube of coloring solution with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and ammonia. Most permanent hair colors first remove the original color of the hair and then deposit a new color. Ammonia opens the hair cuticle to allow for the penetration of hydrogen peroxide, and it also increases the penetration of this potent bleach. No matter which shade you choose, a dark mahogany or light ash blond, every time you color your hair, hydrogen peroxide removes the original color and then the new color is deposited. Peroxide breaks chemical bonds in hair, releasing sulfur. When the color is gone, a new permanent color is injected into the hair shaft. After we have washed off the excess color, we use a silicone-based conditioner to close and seal the cuticle.
Here’s what is happening to our body as we apply the hair color. Hydrogen peroxide, sulfur, and ammonia, well-known respiratory tract irritants, fill our lungs. Pigment-forming chemicals, known as aromatic amines, particularly phenylene diamines and aminophenols, are known to penetrate the skin and enter the bloodstream We usually apply the coloring solution directly to the scalp, nearest the root, and most of us also stain our forehead, neck, and ears. The scalp is where the blood supply is the richest in the entire human body. This rich blood supply carries carcinogenic components right into the bloodstream, spreading them across the body, accumulating toxins in lymph tissue, and dumping them into the bladder.Many experts still prefer to insist that hair dyes may not be harmful at all.

Dyes That Kill
So how do you know if your hair color is slowly killing you? There is only one way to tell. You have to take a thorough look at the ingredients list printed on the box. The list is usually printed in all-capitalized letters,making it incredibly hard to read, and there’s a good reason for this. You will see
that cancer-causing ingredients are found in all conventional hair dyes currently on sale in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
The next time you feel like changing your hair color, check the ingredients label on the box for one of the following chemicals:
Phenylenediamine.
Aminophenol.
Ethanolamine.
Hydroquinone.
If even one of these ingredients is present, you should not purchase the hair dye.
The following ingredients in hair colors have been shown to cause nausea when inhaled, dermatitis, and/or breathing difficulties: p-phenylenediamine, resorcinol, 2-methylresorcinol, toluene (4-amino-2-hydroxytoluene), ammonium hydroxide, sodium metabisulfite, tetrasodium pyrophosphate, nonoxynol-4, nonoxynol-9, phosphoric acid, 1-naphthol, etidronic acid. The list can go on and on, but these are the most popular ingredients found in the majority of hair dyes currently on the market.
There is no such thing as a safe chemical hair color. Basic home hair coloring kits sold at drugstores and expensive highlighting jobs at upscale hair salons are equally damaging to your health. Your hair may look glossy and pretty, but the damage to your bladder, breasts, lungs, and immune and endocrine systems is irreversible.
For added hair health, use the following all-natural home treatments weekly to maintain the shade of your hair.

Chamomile Rinse for Blond Hair
6 tea bags chamomile tea.
1/2 cup plain yogurt.
5 drops lemon essential oil.

Yield

4 ounces

This rinse will bring beautiful highlights to naturally fair hair or revive your existing highlights for a sunny, summery look.
1. Boil 1 cup of water and steep the tea bags for fifteen minutes.
2. Add yogurt and lemon oil to the chamomile tea and mix thoroughly.
3. Apply the mixture to dry hair, working through to the ends. Cover with a non-PVC plastic shower cap and relax for twenty minutes. Shampoo your hair as usual.
Alternatively, you can add 1 cup of dry chamomile flowers to 3 cups of boiling water and simmer on low heat for fifteen minutes to prepare a concentrated chamomile infusion You can add a pinch of vitamin C to act as a mild preservative and store it in a spray bottle in the refrigerator for up to one month You can use this infusion as a leave-on conditioner: simply spray evenly on freshly washed hair and air dry or blow dry as usual.

Chocolate Brunette Hair Rinse
2 cups purified water (do not use mineral water).
5 tablespoons dark roast ground coffee.
1 ounce black chocolate.

Yield

4 ounces

This rinse will not ruin your highlights but instead will make your brown color deeper and more vibrant. Do not use a coffeemaker to prepare the rinse, as the concentration of coffee won’t be strong enough.

1. Boil the ground coffee in two cups of water in a shallow pan for 10 minutes.
2. Add the chocolate while the coffee is hot. Let the mixture cool and carefully soak your hair with the flavorful blend. Beware of the spills!
3. Cover with a non-PVC plastic shower cap, wait for 10 minutes, rinse off, and shampoo as usual.

Red Hair Shine Enhancer
1/2 cup beet juice.
1/2 cup carrot juice.
1/2 cup lemon juice.

Yield

4 ounces

Word of caution: Do not use this blend if you have highlights. Use only if your hair is relatively uniform in color.
1. Mix all ingredients together and pour over clean, slightly damp hair. Cover with a non-PVC plastic shower cap.
2. Slowly heat the cap with a hot towel, a hair dryer on medium heat, or just by sitting in the sun for one hour. If using a hair dryer, aim for ten minutes of gentle heating—no need to burn the cap with the blast of hot air! Once you are done heating, rinse and shampoo as usual.

Are There Any Alternatives?
Consider green hair dyes. While they don’t always have the broad color palette and can be messy to apply, their damage rarely goes further than stained towels. Most often, natural hair dyes are based on henna with the addition of mineral pigments. They do not contain carcinogenic chemicals, ammonia, or peroxide.
Some so-called herbal hair dyes, such as Herbatint, are not much different from conventional coloring kits sold in groceries and drugstores. The last time I checked, some of the most popular “herbal” dyes contained p-phenylenediamine, p-aminophenol, resorcinol, ethanolamine, and tetrasodium EDTA, to name just a few offenders. The only thing green about these hair dyes is the color of the boxes. Don’t be fooled by natural-sounding names. Always check what goes in the product, and don’t be seduced by “green” claims until you verily yourself that they have any substance.
There are several plants that can be used as natural coloring agents. Henna is the oldest and most popular one. It was used in ancient Egypt, most notably by Queen Cleopatra, and today henna remains an important beauty tool in the Middle East and India. There are three types of henna: red henna (Lawsonia inermis, Lawsonia alba, and Lawsonia spinosa), neutral henna (Zizyphus spina christi), and black henna (Indigofera tinctoria). To achieve color variations, all three types of henna can be blended together, with the addition of indigo and iron oxides. The active ingredient in henna, lawsone, has the chemical name 2-dihydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone (not directly related to hydroquinone or 1-naphthalene), which makes henna a stable, yet semipermanent hair dye. It will nourish your hair and bring out beautiful golden highlights in dark hair.
Henna is the only colorant to have been safety-approved by the FDA. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always produce the expected hair shade. If your hair has been previously dyed with conventional hair dyes, henna is not recommended. Wait for a few months to let the chemical color wash out, and then perform a strand test with henna, similar to a patch test. Blend a small amount of henna according to package instructions and apply it on one lock of hair, preferably behind the ear.
Many women use henna not for color but for other benefits, such as increased volume, scalp irritation relief, and improved manageability of hair. To reap the benefits of henna without dyeing your hair, you can use shampoos and conditioners with neutral henna. This plant extract will not change your hair color.
Among the better hair dyes with henna, I would choose Light Mountain Natural (shades that flatter all skin tones, including Chestnut,Medium Brown, and Dark Brown) and Aubrey Organics Color Me Natural, which is both perfectly permanent and natural.The green beauty guide