How to Sun-bleach Your Hair Naturally

Add a sun-kissed glow to dull, monotone hair with all-natural sun bleaching techniques. It's a safe and easy way to create natural-looking blonde highlights using edible products from your kitchen. Harsh, over-the-counter bleaching products can leave hair brassy and brittle, and salon highlights cost a fortune with upkeep. Don't stress your tresses, find out how to lift your hue without having to spend hours in the sun. Read on to learn how to sun-bleach your hair naturally.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Lemon juice
• Water
• Chamomile tea
• Blow dryer
• Spritzing bottle

1. Start with clean, dry hair.

2. Decide which method is best for you, lemon juice or chamomile tea. Here's the difference: Lemon juice is more acidic, so it will lift your hair more quickly. Since it works fast, it's best to use on hair that's already relatively light, such as sandy or ash blonde. Chamomile tea works well on blondes too, but since it's less acidic, brunettes and red heads will love the caramel colors that it creates. There's less of a chance for brassy results if brunettes and red heads use chamomile.

3. If your hair is already fairly light and you've decided to use lemon, mix together two parts pure lemon juice to one part water in a spritz bottle.

4. If you've decided to use chamomile, steep a large mug of the tea and pour it directly into the spritz bottle after it cools off. You do not need to add extra water.

5. With your desired sun-bleaching solution now ready, brush your hair the way you would typically style it or let it fall and part naturally. Start spritzing your hair all over with the bottle held away about 6 inches. Blow dry completely and leave it in for about a half hour. Wash it out and repeat the process a couple times per week until you've reached the desired level of natural sun-kissed highlights.

6. If you want to add highlights only around the frame of your face, pull hair back into a loose ponytail using your fingers. Spritz your crown, but do not douse the sides too much or the highlights will appear very unnatural. Blow dry completely and leave it in for about a half hour. Wash it out and repeat the process a couple times per week until you've reached the desired level of natural sun-kissed highlights.

7. If you have the time, and agreeable weather, some people prefer to spritz on sun-bleaching solution and lighten up in the sunshine. If you plan to sun bleach for hours at a time, especially on your first time, keep an eye on how much your hair color is lifting. You don’t want to bleach too quickly and turn out brassy.

Tips & Warnings

• If you want to sun bleach on the go, chamomile works for all hair types and it's a lot less sticky than lemon juice. It's also less pungent.
• Lemon juice is highly acidic and will sting if it gets spritzed too closely to your eyes.

[mattlee]

on 6/19/2008 LOVE THIS - Great tips - thanks