Ohh do be careful!!!! The active ingredient in lemon juice is citric ACID and the variables many: the colour and absorbancy of an individual's hair, the temperature whilst basking in the sun, the individual lemon's PH, as well as the time factor. My teenage daughter asked my opinion regarding her first use and not thinking much of it as she had long dark blonde hair I said sure. Well she came back 3 shades lighter up top and darker down the bottom, plus the blonding was an undesireable brassy shade on her hair. Now for my advice..do a test run, take a stand of hair (twiddling size) from the top of your ear then tie back/cover your hair. Apply as per above instructions and see how your hair reacts. Remember the test strand is lower level usually darker hair. If you like it go ahead under the same conditions ie within the hour. Afterwards, condition with coconut oil in which Hibiscus flowers have mascerated so prepare this ahead:
250ml coconut oil in a jar 2-3 red Hibiscus flowers, shake the jar thoroughly and leave 2hrs - o/night to mascerate. If no Hibiscus available - 2 drops tea tree oil. Massage scalp using fingertips then work into rest of hair. Wrap head with piled up hair in gladwrap or towel and then back in the sun for however long you want but leave oil in for a min of 1/2 hour. You can leave it in for hours for a really deep condition. Shampoo and rinse as usual.

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I found the following at http://hmbeautyrecipes.homestead.com/HAIRcolorlighteners.html - this solves the drying effect caused by lemon juice.

Methods for lightening hair color with Lemon Juice:

* With lemons, you need heat. Best to sit in the sun or wrap hair with saran wrap then apply heat with a blowdryer. But the sun does work the best

* Dilute the lemon juice with 3 parts juice, 1 part water.M ix in a spray bottle and apply to hair before sunning.

* You can also add 1 tbs of Olive oil to the mixture to combat the drying effects of the lemon juice on the hair

* Always condition after using lemon juice to lighten the hair! Lemon juice is very drying on the hair.

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vegan products here at care2 on the online shop http://my.care2.com/veganstuff

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I do this - as long as you don't do it every shampoo it is safe and it works! Can be good for your hair if you often use waxy conditioners as it rids your hair of the build-up. Don't try it on commercially colored hair. I like the other ideas posted here and will try them.

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Be careful if you do this before running or other forms of exercise. My hubby uses it but the lemon sweat in his eyes is no fun. I'm a brunett & you need to be careful it doesn't go brassy reddish.

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My mother would pour lemon juice on my hair after the shampoo when I was a child and I heard a year or so ago that if lemon juice is used on the hair it will strip all the natural oils out of the hair and actually do damage to the hair.

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A chamomile flower rinse also works very very well....and sun not needed ;-) (coming from blighty...the sun is not always readily available)

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I'd love to try this. Does anyone know if this can be done if you have previously (recently) used commercial hair dye?

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I used to do this, but in the winter in MN, what you can do is pour a good amount on your hair, massage it in, then rinse it off. Works great!!

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On here I found something on using rosemary and vinegar. I have been using this mix after each shampoo-ing for about a week: my hair is a lot lighter and looks very natural! And it smells divine ,-)

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