GD Lisa's hair: a natural progression - before, during, after

I have been highlighting my hair for nearly 20 years. I’ve been doing it so long that it became too blonde and I had to add low-lights. What is wrong with this picture? About a year and a half ago, I decided to stop the madness and go natural. Much to my surprise and delight, I didn’t have much gray. But it did take some getting used to, and while getting used to my image in the mirror, I did fantasize about naturally coloring my hair. I didn’t have the stomach for going back to toxic solutions so I did a little homework and here is what I learned. 

Think about it, changing the color of your hair is an extreme thing to do. So it is difficult to find hair dyes that are not offensive in some way.  You must look for natural hair dyes that contain less or no paraphenlyenediamine or PPA and that are completely free of ammonia. And remember how your hair takes to color change may depend on the kind of hair you have and it’s health.

For these home remedies you may have to repeat these steps and over time you will get the color you want.  The good news is that the results will leave you with healthier hair and you won’t be exposing yourself to harmful chemicals.

4 Things you can do at home

For red tones: Make a brew of beet and carrot juice and soak your hair in that for an hour or so, it can bring out the reddish highlights in your hair.

For brown tones: Soak your hair in coffee for 15 minutes.

For gray hair: My older sister has the most beautiful gray/white hair, but she would like to bring out the low-lights.  I found a recipe for boiling one-part dry organic Sage in four-parts water, strain and massage into hair, leave for 40 minutes then rinse.  It should help the hair shine as well.

For blonde tones: I remember putting lemon juice in my hair and hanging out in the sun to get that sun streaked look that we now call highlighting. I just read that you can also mix lemon juice with chamomile tea and massage it into your hair and then head outside.  And of course the more you do it, the more lightness you get.

Here are 6 products  you can purchase

1. Aubrey (about $9 Aubrey Products)
2. Light Mountain (about $16 amazon.com)
3. Lagona (about $13 drugstore.com)
4. Surya Henna (about $7 amazon.com)
5. Rainbow Henna (about $8 amazon.com)
6. Herbatint (about $10 amazon.com)

As you can see there are lots of Henna choices.  Henna is a plant from South America that has been used for centuries to dye hair, skin, leather and wool.

FYI – I found a great blog entry about how to apply or remove Henna from your hair by Melinda Brianna Epler.

By the way, I love being free from the expense and toxins from coloring my hair.