This ritual used to be one I would do every spring and summer, to lighten my hair. I call it a ritual because in retrospect it had overtones of an earth-honoring beauty ritual. I dried my hair with this plant-based rinse on my hair in the sun. Growing up in the north, I have always found time in the sun to be warming on many levels.

Try this one-ingredient rinse to lighten your hair with the sun:

The only ingredient you need, besides the sun, is fresh squeezed lemon juice. After washing your hair, pour about one-quarter to one-half of a cup of lemon juice onto your hair (use more or less, depending on the length of your hair), and without rinsing, go lie in the sun until your hair is completely dry. Rinse if desired.