Do Natural Hair Dyes Really Work?

If you’re among the nearly 65 percent of women who color their hair and want to detox your haircare regimen completely, you must also evaluate your hair-dye routine. Conventional dyes use chemicals such as ammonia (to irritate the hair shaft and allow color to penetrate), peroxide (to lighten), and resorcinol (to provide specific color).

The only truly natural and chemical-free hair-coloring agent is henna. And if you have ever tried it, you know that henna delivers unpredictable coverage and saturation.

Still, vegetable-based hair dyes provide a viable alternative. Many of them rely on as light a chemical load as possible, which allows you to use fewer toxic ingredients and still get good results.

We tested the gray-covering ability of Herbatint and Naturcolor, two brands that contain no ammonia or resorcinol and a minimal amount of peroxide. They both provided excellent coverage and left a natural-looking color that lasted for months—and the fewer times the hair was shampooed, the longer the color endured.

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Read more: Beauty, Hair Care, hair color, hair dye, haircolor, henna

By Kate Hanley, Natural Solutions magazine

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Maryellen D.

11:56AM PDT on Jun 19, 2010

I've been using henna for a few years now and am really happy with it. My hair is almost shoulder length and I get the job done in about an hour and a half. I use one that is called Medium Brown. It is true that it is therefore a blend of Henna and other herbs, but ONLY herbs, so I don't see that as an issue. The white or grey hairs dye a golden color and then the darker hair goes a nice chestnut/auburn (sorry, but I don't have a good grasp of what makes chestnut or auburn). Anyway, my hair looks pretty natural, with variations of color throughout.

send a green star

Danielle W.

1:00AM PDT on May 9, 2010

this article is lame, and provides no real information.

Kitty J.

7:14PM PST on Dec 10, 2009

never tried natural hair dye... im a manic panic lover :D (it's not tested on animals)

Citlalli V.

10:42AM PDT on Aug 9, 2009

I'm currently growing out my hair to donate, but as soon as I chop my mop off, I'm planning on dying what's left of it for the first time. I've always known processed dyes are bad, so I'm definitely going with henna! :-)

Goldie I.

7:14PM PDT on Jul 1, 2009

I found so much more freedom in just letting my natural silver come in! No worries about bad reactions or bad color!

I had no idea that so many other women felt the same as I did about ditching the dye all together until I found the website http://www.goinggraylookinggreat.com

This is a fantastic world-wide community (growing daily) committed to being the best color (yes, gray is a color!) they can be.

Have a look, it's completely informative & great fun!

Janice S.

7:50AM PDT on Jun 29, 2009

This article is dated but I would like to add my two cents. After a really bad reaction to PPD I researched and found a company online actbynature.com that creates this wonderful plant based hair color. It binds to the hair even gray adds volume and causes no reaction whatsoever. Gently washes away over time. I would advise anyone to give their product a try.

Frances H.

6:44PM PDT on May 17, 2009

A few tips from a happy henna user: Mix your body art quality henna with 50-50 lemon juice and distilled water or black tea; "cook" it in a warm place for at least 4 hours, preferably 8. You can add in a few drops of natural perfume oil to overcome the "hay" smell of the henna. Always start with clean hair. Strand test to make sure you like the color.
Before the plastic wrap goes on, I add a line of vaseline at the hairline, covered with hairdressers' paper to counteract leakage. I leave it on for 8 hours, with plastic wrap, a shower cap and a towel covering it. My hair is over 2 feet long, and takes a few showers to rinse clear. (no shampoo) I have a crown of dye-resistant silver hair, and it comes out a beautiful shade of red.
I also color my partner's dark brown hair. After henna has "cooked" for 6 hours, I mix some of it 40-60 with natural indigo dye, indigo being the larger amount. For lighter brown shades, increase henna, decrease indigo. For raven black hair, you do the henna first, rinse out after 2 hours, then apply indigo, leave on for 2 hours and rinse out.
These natural dyes are permanent and do not fade. Root touch up is necessary periodically. I can't emphasize strand testing enough, to be sure you're going to be happy with the final color. If you really don't like your henna color, you can dye over it, if you used body art quality henna. You can't dye over indigo at all; you just have to wait for it to grow out and cut it.
Happy dying!

Nora J.

5:56PM PDT on May 14, 2009

I have been going gray for many years and, after a bout of psoriasis, I did a good deal of research on natural hair dye. I think the best option is Atlantis Watercolours. Go here to find out about it and buy it online:

http://www.vitadelight.com.au/store/p115/Watercolour_Natural_Hair_Dye_-_No_ammonia,_no_mercury,_no_smell/product_info.html

If you live in Sydney, you can go to an organic hair salon where they use this product:

http://www.atlantishair.com/v6/ah/pages/products_faqs.htm

Angela N.

8:34PM PDT on Mar 19, 2009

Just a reminder - Henna only comes in Red. "Neutral Henna" is a misnomer - it is actually Cassia and does give similar conditioning without the color - but by calling it Henna it causes confusion.

Likewise for products from Lush if they promise a range of shades in something other than red/auburn - something has been added or it is something other than Henna if there is no red involved.

Go to www.hennaforhair.com for a through tutorial on henna and real life examples of results with Cassia, Henna and Indigo natural hair dyes.

Just remember - real henna is RED.

Odinsbacklash L.

8:00PM PDT on Mar 11, 2009

Great article.I bleach my roots,then I process my hair with neutral henna.It takes 2 washings to remove all the grit from my hair (and btw I leave henna on inside a shower cap for 4 or more hours),....then I process my hair with avegetable-based semipermanent dye in a purple shade.The henna thickens the hair and lets the dye grab well and last longer.I have had purple in my hair for 20 years.

If anyone wants to get rid of grey hairs that stick through their dye...just prelighten the grey hairs with hair bleach...thats how I dye my mom's hair.Sure it takes longer but the results are worth it.