Natural Hair Dyes:

Dazzling hair color without the guilty conscience

by Green Gurl

I was recently at a slumber party at a girlfriend’s house while her husband was out of town. We had a great time until we decided it would fun to do hair colors. Being the Green Gurl that I am I was pushing hard for some permanent natural hair colors that I have used in the past and found work really well. Unfortunately for my friend Lindsey, not everyone was interested in using natural hair dye. Lindsey had never had her hair dyed before so nobody new she was allergic to the non-natural hair colors, but was she ever. Within a few minutes her scalp was itching like crazy and she had red bumps and welts all over the hair dye affected areas. Needless to say we washed the hair dye out of her hair and scalp for the next hour and a half, but she still had severe dermatitis for several days afterwards. Although her hair color was a beautiful shade of red I think anyone would agree that no hair color is worth that kind of pain. (By the way the hair dye applied to Lindsey’s head was one of the most popular brands of hair color, I can’t say more)

Why are 'Regular' Hair Colors so Bad?

Before we get to the natural hair colors, let me tell you a little about what makes the non-natural hair dyes so undesirable. First is p-phenylenediamine (PPD), this agent is found in a lot of the ‘regular’ permanent hair colors and is thought to be responsible for a majority of the allergic reactions to hair dye and is thought by some to be a cancer causing agent, although I could find no hard evidence of this. It was not in the hair color that Lindsey had used – who knows. The other negative impact of non-natural hair dyes is the pollution they add to surface water. Most of these molecules are too small to get filtered out at the water plant and go right back into fish, wildlife, and us. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be drinking my hair dye!

On to the natural hair dye:

Permanent Natural Hair Colors

Herbatint and Naturtint are two common permanent natural hair dyes both available in a broad selection of natural hair colors and are ammonia free and utilize natural ingredients. These natural hair color tints are great at darkening, coloring, and covering gray but their lightening potential is limited to about two shades. I find they both work well if you follow the instructions. Naturtint lasts a couple weeks more for me so that’s what I recommend.

Clairol also makes a natural hair color, Natural Instincts, that is ammonia free and made with natural ingredients as well. My friend Tracy gets really good results with this natural hair dye product although I've never personally tried it.

Demi or Semi Permanent Natural Hair Colors

Henna based natural hair dyes are definitely the way to go here. I use Surya Henna Hair Dye and it works great for me. I like to change my hair color often so it doesn’t bother me that it washes out after about 7 hair washes. I also have a bit coarser hair so the henna hair dye residue doesn’t really show up, but I have seen some cases where henna hair colors make very fine hair appear somewhat dull, so if you have fine hair henna may not be the natural hair dye for you. Although, since Henna hair color washes out so readily, you aren’t taking much of a risk to try it.

Keep making the world a greener place with natural hair dye choices and natural hair colors.