Henna
Mix enough powder with 200 ml cooking water to a not to thick paste. Add a teaspoon of lemon juice and let paste cool down to a pleasant temperature. If your hair is very dry you may add an egg. Apply paste on your hair and let it work as long as you want (from half an our to a night).
To make your hair darker
Mix juice of one lemon with a cup of strong coffee and rinse your hair without washing out.
For brown hair
Walnut oil applied with cotton-wool swab is helpful to get your hair darker. But attention it may cause spots.
To make blond hair brighter
Make a tea from 2 teaspoons dryed camomille blossoms and 600 ml cooking water and rinse your hair. You may dry it at the sun.

E.

When I was using henna on my hair, I used to mix it up with a little red wine vinegar for the acid (to help intensify, like the lemon juice does) and for its scent. It really helped draw out the color, and cut down on that 'fresh dirt' aroma. ;)

And remember to clean up the room you're applying the henna in immediately and /thoroughly/ after you've got the henna in your hair! My bathroom has a few stains in the wallpaper from where I missed tiny splotches of the henna the first time I went over the room, and didn't find them until they had dried thoroughly. :/

Rinse with water until the water runs clear. It takes -forever- to get it all out. If your hair is dry, I'd condition afterwards, but not shampoo.

You could try dyeing the gray to your natural color first, and then dyeing the whole of your head. Beware though, dye makes your hair very dry, are you sure you want to do it? Also, you could just leave the gray streak in and dye the rest if you're worried about the color.

One natural method for blonde hair I have been using is a rinse/leave-on treatment with rhubarb root.I mix pulverized rhubarb root with boiling water,let it cool off a bit and then apply it to the hair for about 45 mins.This has always given nice golden highlights to my dark blonde hair,but it is VERY messy(stains!)and I never liked the smell.So I hanven´t been doing this for a while.
Anne-Marie

I used only about a handful,in Germany you can buy it in pharmacies/healthstores,it comes in small pieces(not as a whole root).I put them in a coffee grinder to get a fine powder.
Anne-Marie

Hm,I´m not sure.Maybe you could leave the root to dry for a few days after digging it out?It might be hard to pulverize it otherwise!I never thought about digging out the root actually we´ve got one  plant in our garden too.I hope you like the colour effect,it has always given me very golden highlights.

Well - one thing I would definitely make sure not to do for enhancing blonde hair is to use lemon juice (whether squeezed fresh or from extract) it will dry out your hair, and leave it susceptible to damage - especially if you use either heat instruments on your hair or in the summertime when out in the sun or in chlorine - it's awful!  I've seen what it's done to other friends of mine hair, and it's not worth it!  In winter time (when my hair sometimes looks darker since it gets a lot lighter in the summertime) I just use a spray of sun-in (not natural I know, but it's gentle on my hair, and has leave-in conditioners) whenever I need to blow-dry my hair a bit so that it doesn't freeze when leaving the house!

Hi! 
Delighted to find this forum.  I have waist length slightly wavy, thick hair.  I've been coloring out the grey for a few months now with over the counter products, but I would like to try Henna instead, as my hair has become so dry and brittle.  Does anyone know a good source for purchasing it online?  I know there are different types and I'm not sure which to look for, or if it would even work on hair that's been dyed with stubborn grey roots bleh. lol

I'm also interested the recipe I saw for sage to eliminate grey, has anyone ever actually done this and does it work?  I'd love to see before and after pics if any brave soul has any. 

I'll be reading this site for hours, very helpful stuff!

You should also be careful about using henna when you have been coloring your hair.  A chemical reaction can occur which can either damage your hair ro cause the color to be unpredictable.

Hi, I have just cut off all my hair But I had saturated it in sun-in, and before that untold tortures of regular bleach, then color to tone it down then bleach to lighten it back and then tons of sun-in, luckily for me I have exceptionally healthy hair! But I decided to cut off all that mess and now its short mostly my natural dark brown with a bit of the sun-in left in it. Yesterday I put a demi-permanent mix of dark brown and sand dune on it to get it to my own natural color, but I got scared and washed it off after only a few minutes because I was afraid it was changing a weird color, its ok though just kind of a dull brown. I want now to completely forego chemical products and treat my hair with the respect it deserves. I have been thinking about using henna as a hair color mainly because I like the volumizing effects and I have read how good it is for the hair. I know it says not to use it on highlighted hair, but since there isnt really much sun-in left in my hair about 1/3 on top, is it safe to try it? I plan to wait until oct. to give this demi-perm stuff I used yesterday a chance to wash out even though I had only left it on for a few minues. I realize once I start using henna, I have made a commitment, that you cant use chemicals over it. Can anyone advise me on the use of henna? Thanks in advance Nicco_

Hi there!! It's been a while since I logged in...my hair's about shoulder length right now...still debating about growing it longer...

Anyhow...I've been using Avalon Organics Rosemary Conditioner and find if I leave it in for 1/2 hour every other day it helps darken my brown hair.  I know there's sage extracts as well as rosemary in it so I don't know which one is doing the darkening.   ???

I was wondering...I've seen a few recipes for using sage leaves to darken....can you use sage OIL instead?  I'm thinking if I add a few drops of the oil in the conditioner.....?  Anyone used sage before?

Í remember reading somewhere that the green outer layer (not the brown shells!) of freshly picked walnuts will darken hair.( I think they have to be boiled and then used as a rinse)

I've heard many wonderful things about using henna to enhance the red in your hair.  I understand your reluctance, however.  I would think that a strand test would most certainly be a good idea if you do try the henna.

I know I've run across a site that had lots of info on henna.  I will see if I can find it again and pass it along to you.

Hi Bikerbraid,

Thanks for the help. I agree: a strand test is definitely a good idea.

Do you (or does anyone) know how permanent henna coloring is? For example, if I do it and I hate it, will the color added by the henna be there forever? Or, does it eventually fade out?

Also: how sensitive is henna-colored hair to sun exposure?

Thanks much!
Christine

Quote:


I've been wanting to try a coffee rinse to darken my blah-brown hair. I'm hesitant about the lemon, though; the length of my hair's already pretty dry. I've also heard of mixing the coffee with conditioner, but my scalp tends to be oilier. Could I mix all three? I also use a vinegar rinse; what if I used that instead of the lemon? Also, how long does the color stay in for?

Any other suggestions or ideas?
-Cairn-

You could put the coffee mixture in a bowl and put the length of your hair in the bowl.  This would ensure the ends get plenty of the mixture on them.  Then work the mixture up to the roots.

I use this bowl method to do my vinegar rinses as well.

I mix a couple of tablespoons espresso with some boiling water to create a thick paste. Then I mix it with conditioner and put it in a bowl. Just as bikerbraid suggested, I dump the length in a bowl and then let the coffee/conditioner mix sit for a while. 

I have naturally dark brown hair, and I use the coffee to make my length darker (it's got some lighter brown tones in it). I'd say it lasts about a couple of weeks, depending on how long you leave the mixture in for. If you use a heat cap it stays in longer  . What color is your hair?

You could do it every 2 weeks I think. Experiment and see