Has anyone tried making their own herbal hair color rinses/dyes?

For my grays at my temples, I've tried Sage/Rosemary (didn't work very well) and Darjeeling/Tobacco (did work but using tobacco on my scalp worries me!). I have a great herbal book which lists all kinds of other herbs that produce colors when boiled, but I'm curious if anyone else has tried any?

My goal is to dye my grays with (ideally home-grown) herbal rinses until there's enough gray to let it go natural (may be a while). I feel kind of "locked in" by using henna since it is so permanent, that when I'm ready to go natural there's going to be some ugly growout stages. Also, I like the idea of growing the herbs myself, so I know exactly what's in 'em!  ;)

Mellie

hm, Im not sure that there are many herbs alone that will dye the hair, or stain it, like Henna or Indigo (or any of the other things used in conjuction).

I know that Rosemary is good for dark hair, but it doesnt really stain hair.  I think youll need something that will stain and then add herbs to change the pigment, things like paprika are added to Henna mixes to change the stain slightly, but they still require the henna to actually stick the hair.

It's deffinately an interesting question.  Let us know if you find anything that works!

I have heard of many people using a coffee rinse to darken hair.  It is not immediate, but when used over time, it will apparently give hair a darker color.  I don't know if it would work in your case, but it would be easy enough to try.  I would suggest using a very strong coffee for best results.

Thanks! I did try espresso once or twice, but the smell got a bit funky....but I'm not a big fan of coffee either. I'm sure that it works really well though!

Here's the herbs that can be grown at home, that apparently can dye:

Brown:
Sage leaves
Walnut leaves and shells
Onion skins
Comfrey
Hops leaves
Meadowsweet

Yellow/Blond:
Fenugreek seed
Tansy flower
Sunflower petals
Chamomile flowers
Calendula flowers
Horseradish leaf
Agrimony

Lighten/Brighten:
Mullein flowers
Chamomile flowers
Honey (not an herb of course!)

Red:
Alkanet root
Calendula
Red Hibiscus

Pink:
Sweet Joe Pye (seed heads)

Blue:
Chicory leaf
Meadowsweet (leaf and stem)

Black:
Meadowsweet (root)

I will have to try some of these! I did try Chamomile/Mullein/Honey with some lemon squeezed in to lighten my hair a little. Here you can see the results (compare to my avatar photo):
http://portlandviolin.bizland.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/honeylemon.jpg

Mellie

Nice job, Mellie! I can see the difference. How long did you leave the mixture on?

Thanks!

I left it in for probably two hours while I sat in some sun on my porch.

I'm really pleased with the results! I'm going to try it again if we have sun today! :-)

Mellie

I hope the second round went well if you did it today. I'm amazed at how well your recipe worked. I had heard that chamomile and lemon can lighten hair, but I had no idea how much of an effect they can have.

Thanks Juri!

I did try it again yesterday, but I used a cheaper kind of honey though and it didn't seem to work very well. I didn't get the fabulous shine and body that I did the first time. The first time I used a rather expensive alfalfa honey. This time I just used cheap store brand clover honey, 'coz I thought, I'm not eating it, right? But maybe it makes a difference!

Mellie

BTW, I saw fresh cranberries at the store yesterday, so I did an experiment. (I think it would be so fun to make pink hair dye!!). So I boiled the cranberries in a little bit of water until they were soft. I tried putting a few hair strands in for approx. 30 minutes while the berry mush was still warm. Nothing happened! Didn't seem to do anything at all, even on my pure white roots, it didn't take whatsoever. Oh well!

Mellie

Update: I tried hibiscus and it worked as a red dye!

1: Before
2: After a honey lightening treatment, followed by a strong hibiscus rinse:
http://portlandviolin.bizland.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/DSCN0681.jpg http://portlandviolin.bizland.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/honeyhibiscus.jpg

Mellie

Wow!  Your hair looks great.  I love hibiscus tea, to drink that is.  The color is awesome.  Does it smell funny?

Thanks Sakina!

It smells really nice! The color is holding on pretty well, too, except for my grays...  >:(

Mellie

If it's of any help, I know that my mum used to dye her hair a chestnut brown using walnut tree leaves.
Her method was to pick a couple of leaves off a walnut tree and boil them in water, she then used the water to rinse her hair. Of course, she had to do this regularly for the colour to start showing.
However, be careful. Apparently if you leave in the leaves too long, the mixture can get very strong and could burn your hair.