Chamomile to lighten hair?

[PrincessIdril]

Ok so the other day I was looking at my pictures on FB and I realised that my hair colour is a fair bit darker than it used to be. Now I'm pretty sure that the reason for the change in my hair colour is that I used to use a chamomile shampoo but Lush then discountinued it and I never tried to replace it.

So I want a natural way to lighten my hair again, basically all I want to do is bring out the golden undertones a bit more. I don't want to try honey since I've read a lot on here about people getting serious damage from it. Lemon juice and sunshine are also out because summer is over here so sunshine isn't going to happen any time soon and because of my scalp psorasis I really don't fancy putting lemon juice on my scalp. I figured that chamomile would be the best way since it clearly worked in the past.

I was thinking about using chamomile tea rinses and basically I'm just looking for advice, your experiences and other suggestions. I've tried using the search but nothing really came up, but if another thread like this exisits I apologise! Thank you all in advance :)

[spidermom]

Chamomile can't lighten hair, but it can definitely add shine and enhance your natural highlights.

[akilina]

I wish I knew more :)
I have heard several times over the years that chamomile will help lighten. I tried it last year but accidentally ended up letting my tea rot. Really nasty. I already had white blond hair though I was just hoping for it to sort of lighten the yellowish parts.
Did you try a google search for something like "chamomile on the long hair community" ??
Sometimes it really helps to check google. I have found more stuff pops up thru here on there :)

[spookyghost]

Hi! I double what akilina said. Check out google. The search function on here is useless-to me anyway. So I google everything. For some reason I still have a hard time finding an original thread from here on google but I still find alot of related info.

I just googled the heck out of black tea rinses and did alot of research on it. In fact my hair is air drying now from my second black tea rinse. Best decisioin I ever made was to do the black tea rinses. And I have google to thank for that!;) Theres so much information out there so just have fun and investigate. After I have my fun on LHC tonight I plan on googling powdered black walnut to put in my black tea rinses. I want to try it but I dont want any surprises!

Good luck and let us know your results with chamomile if you end up using it!

[Ambystoma]

I love using chamomile to brighten my natural colour! I don't think it lightens it any, but it always looks redder and more vibrant if I use it for a while.

[EtherealDoll]

I'm occasionally doing chamomile tea rinses because I love the goldy-ashy shine my hair gets afterwards. But I don't think it lightens hair.

[melusine963]

I've also heard that chamomile lightens hair. I used a chamomile shampoo for a while as a child, but I don't remember it making a noticeable difference.

[Elessaelle]

Hi! I double what akilina said. Check out google. The search function on here is useless-to me anyway. So I google everything. For some reason I still have a hard time finding an original thread from here on google but I still find alot of related info.

I just googled the heck out of black tea rinses and did alot of research on it. In fact my hair is air drying now from my second black tea rinse. Best decisioin I ever made was to do the black tea rinses. And I have google to thank for that!;) Theres so much information out there so just have fun and investigate. After I have my fun on LHC tonight I plan on googling powdered black walnut to put in my black tea rinses. I want to try it but I dont want any surprises!

Good luck and let us know your results with chamomile if you end up using it!

For me, the easiest way to search LHC is to type this in google: "site:http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/ (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/+(whatever) + (whatever I want to search for)" :)
It's much better than forum search :D

[Henrietta]

Chamomile can't lighten hair, but it can definitely add shine and enhance your natural highlights.

That's what I read, too. It can temporarily add golden tones to your hair, but no permanent lightening is possible.
From my experience (I used a tea rinse many months ago to stop greasiness) chamomile tea dries hair like crazy. It's not only my experience, besides. It's temporary effect, goes away with next wash and conditioning, but still.

[Alex Lou]

Chamomile will not lighten. Look for honey lightening instead. Honey produces natural mild peroxides when mixed with water. There is extensive research about it here on the forums.

[Henrietta]

Chamomile will not lighten. Look for honey lightening instead. Honey produces natural mild peroxides when mixed with water. There is extensive research about it here on the forums.

Yeah, a full article, even.
I know that in OP you said that you're afraid of honey damage. But isn't it like... whatever lightens hair also damages it? It's changing the hair structure, lifting some colour... I may be wrong because it's just a theory but I think that lightening is always damaging. With honey you can at least control it all. Unlike when you go for a bleach to a salon.

[gracenotes]

Chamomile won't lighten, it will only make golden tones look brighter. To my knowledge, the only way you will be able to lighten it is with some form of peroxide, which always has the potential to damage, even with something as mild as honey lightening.

[gogirlanime]

Chamomile has minute amounts of peroxide / acids so it barely lightens your hair over time. More so it adds a yellow hue so red seems redder and blonde seems brighter

[MonaMayfair]

Chamomile won't lighten, it will only make golden tones look brighter. To my knowledge, the only way you will be able to lighten it is with some form of peroxide, which always has the potential to damage, even with something as mild as honey lightening.

I agree with all of this.

Also, although some people say honey damaged their hair, there are many others (including me) who found it not only lightened, but made their hair softer and shinier.

I've read about honey used as conditioner and lightener on other forums too (some people using it for conditioning and being surprised at the lightening effect as they didn't realize honey can do this) and the people who found it improved their hair's condition are definitely in the majority.

Of course, maybe lots of people have found it damaged their hair and just haven't mentioned it online, but I think that's unlikely as I've read a lot about the subject on various forums.

[PrincessIdril]

I'll just politely disagree about if chamomile does lighten hair or not, because having used chamomile products in the past I know it makes a difference to my hair. And even if it does only enhance natural highlights, that's exactly what I said I want so whatever.
Thank you to the couple of people who did reply with their experiences using it

[blondie9912]

I tried it (strong brew while I sat in sunlight for a few hours) on highlighted hair, and it made my hair YELLOW. Literally, cartoon-character yellow. I don't know if it would do that to virgin hair, but I think it alters tone as opposed to removing pigment (ie lightening) hair.