How to Dye Hair Naturally With Coffee and Herbal Teas

Use hair dye that is environmentally friendly.

Tired of hair dyes that aren't natural and green? Hair Dyes are harsh and very unfriendly to hair. They can rob of hair moisture and luster and more. Women have been dying their hair since long before the chemical industry came to fruition. Some of the dyes they used even have beneficial properties for hair, such as sage, rosemary and marigold. However, over time the hair industry changed. There are a lot of hair dyes that have tons of chemicals, horrible odors and are not environmentally friendly. Use this handy guide to dye hair going natural the green way.

Things You'll Need

• One or more of the following: Coffee Tea Chamomile fresh or tea Lemon Juice Marigold flowers beet juice carrot juice rhubarb paprika rose hip tea apple cider vinegar

Instructions

1. Wash hair and rinse with apple cider vinegar. This will clear all traces of product from your hairs, giving your chosen dye the best chance to take.

2. Prepare your chosen dye as a tea. For example, if you are blonde and using marigold, pick around 20 flowers and steep them in boiling water until cooled. This approach can be taken with chamomile, sage and rosemary and any other fresh dye bases you may use.

3. Once the tea has cooled, strain the hair dye rinse to get rid of any flowers or other bits.

4. Use as a rinse. The longer these dyes are on your hair, the stronger the effect will be. Take care with some, however as marigolds can produce quite a yellow result if left on too long, and other dyes have similar unwanted effects. Make sure you have an even covering hair rinse over your hair, again, some of the natural dyes can be quite strong, so you need to make sure it is even for an even look.

   Apply daily or weekly to achieve the color you want. All natural dyes require frequent re-application, so be prepared to find the frequency which produces the result you want and stick to it.

5. Rosemary and sage make an excellent covering for grey, especially if used regularly. Mix equal parts of water, sage and rosemary and steep as you would any of the other dyes. Allow to cool and apply.

6. Paprika mixed into a paste with rose hip tea can produce beautiful red results as well. Apply as a hair cream and set for 15 minutes under a plastic or cling film wrap.

7. Once you have allowed the dye to sit on your hair for long enough, rinse and wash with apple cider vinegar again

Tips & Warnings

• Any vegetable, fruit, flower or plant which stains can be used as a natural hair dye.

• Experiment a little, and find the dye and frequency which gives you the result you want.

• As a rough guide: coffee and tea produce brunette results; lemon juice, chamomile and yellow marigolds produce blonde results; beet, carrot, paprika and rose hip, rhubarb and red marigolds produce red results; and sage and rosemary are excellent at covering gray.

Resources

• ehow Going Green Guide