How to Darken Hair Without Dye

There are several folk methods of natural hair coloring for darker hair

If you're wondering how to darken hair without dye or to deepen and enrich a brunette hair color at home, here's how to do natural hair coloring with a few items from the kitchen. For some people, some of the steps will also darken grey hair.

Instructions

1. Use Hershey's unsweetened cocoa to darken hair without dye. Mix equal parts cocoa with shampoo and wash hair as usual. You can either pre-mix by pouring out half your shampoo into another bottle (to save for later), and mixing it with cocoa ahead of time, our just putting a little cocoa into your palm and adding about the same amount of shampoo each time you wash your hair and want to deepen your brown hair color with natural hair coloring at home.

2. Use vinegar and soy sauce to darken hair without dye. Though not as delicious to smell as is step number one, you can further darken hair color at home by using a half cup of apple cider vinegar with a half cup of soy sauce as a final rinse after shampooing. The scent of this natural hair coloring concoction fades as hair dries.

3. Once a week, use coffee to darken hair without dye. Along with steps one and step two, you can further deepen hair color at home using coffee as natural hair coloring. Mix a cup of "leave-on" hair conditioner or plain yogurt with a tablespoon of ground coffee and a half cup of strong brewed coffee (cold). Saturate hair with it, cover with a shower cap and wash out after about an hour.

4. Use sage to darken hair without dye. While the above steps act more like hair glazes, sage is a well-known natural hair coloring folk remedy for darkening hair color over time, even for those with grey hair. Make a strong tea from the same type of sage sold in the spice section of grocery stores. Apply it to your hair daily for six weeks or until hair darkens to the shade you desire, then apply once or twice a week for maintenance. One way to apply it daily is by mixing it half and half with a "leave-on" hair conditioner and apply it each day. Unlike step number three which is done before you shampoo, you can add this step after shampoo and just leave it in.

Tips & Warnings

• Coffee, tea and cocoa can stain skin and clothing, so use common sense.

• Test for allergies and test a small discreet segment of hair before applying to entire hair (this is a good idea for both commercial and natural hair coloring). Everyone's hair reacts differently to substances put on the hair.

• All hair absorbs pigments differently. Citric acid, found naturally in some foods, can help pigments enter the hair shaft. Yogurt has this acid in it. If you're not using the yogurt method, and if your hair is not too dry, add a few drops of apple cider vinegar to your mixtures to help the pigments penetrate better.

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