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Thread: Black tea or other herbs to DYE/cover gray

  1. #1
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    Lightbulb Black tea or other herbs to DYE/cover gray

    Hi everyone
    I am 30 years old and have lots of gray hairs. My hair is a very dark brown its so dark it looks black. This past year the gray in my hair has quadruplet. I am not against gray hairs, but at this moment I do not want them, I am not comfortable having them, therefore I nee YOUR help.

    This past saturday I almost bought a box of hair dye from my local drugstore, but decided that I was going to research other natural alternatives to "cover" my grays.

    I have been reading about black tea and dark coffee and so many other herbs that are great for coloring the grays. Some of the herbs such as marigold color the grays to look like highlights.

    I am very interested in experimenting with natural safer ways to cover my grays. It will be nice if I can make the grays into highlights or just cover them into my natural hair color.

    So my question is:
    What herbs have you used to dye your hair?
    What is the recipe?
    How long do you leave it on for? and how often do you use it?
    ANY advice would be greatly appreciated!

    I am new to all this and would LOVE to hear all you experiences, suggestions and recipes. I am trying to learn as much about natural hair dye as possible. Thank you all and have a great weekend!!!!

    p.s. I also bought a bar of henna from LUSH but decided henna was not for me, after I heard so many people complain how difficult it is to remove the color etc... I decided to leave henna as a last resource.
    Last edited by Anisaa; September 2nd, 2012 at 01:34 PM.

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    Default Re: Black tea or other herbs to DYE/cover gray

    Unfortunately, grey hairs are the hardest to dye, no matter what method you use, even regular peroxide box dye doesn't always do it. And herbs might be temporary at best, like if you found a concentration of, say coffee, that actually affected your hair color, you would likely end up having to use it every time you washed. I think herbs can only be a tiny and temporary boost even in a henna mix, but they're fun to add. It wold be nice to mix up some hibiscus tea to make our hair red, rather than use henna that is beyond permanent! Or coffee to make hair black rather than henndigo, that would be awesome. Alas, it's not to be.

    You could however make a gloss using the Lush Caca you've already got, chop up 1 brick, or even less depending on your length/thickness, add hot water to make a paste, let it rest a few hours to overnight, then add it to a conditioner and leave it on your hair for a few hours. You'll get conditioned dark hairs and possibly golden red greys! Do this on a micro-scale to do strand tests first, like a 1/4of a brick, etc.

    What shade of Caca do you have?
    Last edited by jillosity; September 2nd, 2012 at 02:19 PM. Reason: typo

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    Default Re: Black tea or other herbs to DYE/cover gray

    What a fantastic idea t make a gloss! Thank you soooo much. I have below waist straight healthy hair not thick and not thin... So I think one brick will work good.
    The color I bought from lush is caca marron
    What conditioner do you suggest I use the gloss with?
    How much conditioner should I add?

    Again, thank you and I am definitely trying this
    Also how often do I apply the leave in?
    do i apply it all over my hair? or only the roots?
    Last edited by Anisaa; September 2nd, 2012 at 02:54 PM.

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    Default Re: Black tea or other herbs to DYE/cover gray

    Quote Originally Posted by Anisaa View Post
    What a fantastic idea t make a gloss! Thank you soooo much. I have below waist straight healthy hair not thick and not thin... So I think one brick will work good.
    The color I bought from lush is caca marron
    What conditioner do you suggest I use the gloss with?
    How much conditioner should I add?

    Again, thank you and I am definitely trying this
    Also how often do I apply the leave in?
    do i apply it all over my hair? or only the roots?

    Oh good, glad I could help! But oh my below waist length, take no chances with it!! you must do a strand test first! Just collect hairs from your brush til you have a good amount, then mix up a tiny amount, like 1/8 of a block as I describe above. Conditioner can be any you like, some say no 'cones, but that's up to you. Then mix the Caca paste with maybe 1/4 cup of conditioner and coat your hair with it, then time it to see how long. With your hair being so dark you won't have any real surprises, so you can't really make a mistake, but you want to know how your greys will respond. Start with 1 hour, then check every half hour or so after that, til you like it.

    When you figure out how long to leave it on, mix up 1 brick with 1-2 cups of conditioner, enough to coat your hair but not be too drippy. Although there will be drips Always are.

    Marron should work well, I used it for several years, my greys eventually went a golden red, but I was using it full strength. Smells like coffee too!

    Cool thing about a gloss is you'll never get scary results, the color will always build slowly and you can always reapply. How often after the initial is up to you, you'll need to see how fast your hair is growing, etc

    Good luck, post pics if you can!

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    Default Re: Black tea or other herbs to DYE/cover gray

    Just a friendly warning, read everything about henna on these boards before you put henna mud on your head. There are lots of good articles in the section for that.
    Henna is PERMANENT!!!! There is no guarantee that Lush cacas will turn your hair brown. With greys they can end up everything from orange to light blue depending on the type of caca, the rate of indigo and henna and how you use it.
    If you really want to use henna and indigo, AFTER you have read everything, use BAQ henna and quality indigo. The cacas are just for emergency use at best.
    There is pages upon pages with information about henna, read it and then decide.

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    Default Re: Black tea or other herbs to DYE/cover gray

    Quote Originally Posted by Isilme View Post
    <snip>
    If you really want to use henna and indigo, AFTER you have read everything, use BAQ henna and quality indigo. The cacas are just for emergency use at best.
    There is pages upon pages with information about henna, read it and then decide.
    I used Caca's for years and I must respectfully disagree. They use BAQ henna to make them, they're just already mixed up with cocoa butter and other herbs, just like how people make their own henna mixes here. I definitely agree that LHC is not the best place to get advice about how to use them, Lush has their own forum and you'll get better tips over there. I was a lurker over there for years and learned how to use them effectively from reading the many threads devoted to them.

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    Default Re: Black tea or other herbs to DYE/cover gray

    Thanks for all the great info! I am still researching and trying to make a decision on how to go about my grays!

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    Default Re: Black tea or other herbs to DYE/cover gray

    If you can get some walnut hulls, not the dried hard ones we find in the stores at christmas but the leathery ones, then you can dye your hair darkish with that. It will be enough to blend in your greys unnoticeable.

    / CMG


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