Natural Blonde Highlights

[FroggyMonkeyMom]

In high school I was the "perfect" natural blonde. Sunny yellow on top, darker shades underneath. And then after 14 years of wearing a headscarf (hijab, that's a whole other story, I'll spare you) my hair became very dark blonde, from lack of sunlight. It has a natural reddish tint to it also. So this year I stopped wearing the scarf and I would like to know of any natural high lightening techniques, like honey or something. NOT HENNA. Love the stuff, and I have used it in the past, but my hair will be shocking red. I'll just stick to mehndi with the henna. I do like it not-so-yellow blonde, with the reddish coppery tint, but would like to lighten it up a bit. Am I making any sense, and is this even possible?

[BlazingHeart]

If you use the search function, there's a big thread on honey lightening. I understand that cinnamon can also be used for lightening, but I don't know more than that. If you have trouble with the search function here, go to google.com and type in exactly what I have here - site:longhaircommunity.com "honey lightening"

You can do the same thing but replace honey with cinnamon. Hope that helps!

~Blaze

[Amber_Maiden]

Lemon juice and a heat cap or blow dryer... Or going out in the sun?

[Winged]

Going out in the sun! Lots of time in the sun. I always get light blonde highlights when I spend more time outside during the summer.

[papera]

apparently a camomile tea rinse helps as well, but it needs to be warm to work .. have a similar issue like you, was quite blonde as a young girl and after 7 years of living in Ireland where it's just not that sunny my hair has become quite dark-blonde.
Tried the camomile rinse this summer and I think I got some more "natural" highlights, but that could just be my wishful thinking :p
but honey's apparently quite good ...

[FroggyMonkeyMom]

is there a specific amount of the treatment to mix per length of hair?

[emelnd]

Henna won't lighten your hair anyway.

Sorry you were wearing the hijab for so long. I don't mean to offend your beliefs but I can't imagine it feeling good.

[jacqueline101]

I have light brown hair you can go out side like I do and get the sun to fade your hair.

[FroggyMonkeyMom]

Henna won't lighten your hair anyway.

Sorry you were wearing the hijab for so long. I don't mean to offend your beliefs but I can't imagine it feeling good.

It wasn't that bad hahaha In the past year or so I have changed my thoughts on religion quite a bit though. It was 100% my decision to wear and then to stop wearing it. To each his/her own. As long as it's not forced on you, in my case it never was. :-)

[xoxophelia]

Maybe try some Sun In or Blonder (don't remember the name of the company for that but it is at Walmart). Those aren't natural but they may be more effective than honey lightening. Although, it wouldn't hurt to give that a go at first either. I was thinking I would try some honey lightening myself until the next summer :)

[racrane]

I quite understand! My hair is very blonde in the summer and develops a reddish tint in winter when I"m inside the majority of the time. In my case, I don't mind. But being out in the sun always lightens it. :) Lemon, honey... there's quite a few tricks. Have fun experimenting!

[Springlets]

Maybe try some Sun In or Blonder (don't remember the name of the company for that but it is at Walmart). Those aren't natural but they may be more effective than honey lightening. Although, it wouldn't hurt to give that a go at first either. I was thinking I would try some honey lightening myself until the next summer :)

Xoxophelia, if you are talking about the John Frieda Go Blonder shampoo and conditioner, they are natural- they have chamomile and lemon (the lightening spray is the same as Sun In though, perhaps that's what you meant). :)

As to the OP, the shampoo and conditioner I just mentioned are both good. A lemon or white vinegar rinse is also good to keep things bright (ACV brings out red tones though). But the biggest thing that helps me is sunlight. Obviously it's not easy in the winter, but when there is a sunny day I always try to make sure I spend some time outside. HTH!

[dili]

chamomile tea usually works, some people in brazil do it in kids to lighten the hair a bit, its soak with tea and stay in the sun

about hijab, i use hijab and i love to use, i decided to use...since always i like use scarf, even before be muslim or think about convert to islam i already wear scarf a lot, and for me its like breaking free from other people`s toughts about my hair or my body
i dont use EVERYDAY, sometimes i go out without it...and if i go to a wedding, or to the beach, or randomly just cause i didnt find a scarf that matches my cloths

[Katze]

No, sorry.

My hair is getting darker and darker. I've continuously moved farther north and away from the California sun of my childhood, so only my eyebrows (siiiggghhh) are blonde now.

Having spent YEARS bleaching my hair, and trying all supposed natural alternatives, I can say with full conviction that there is NO way to naturally bleach hair. There are old wives' tales, yes, but, at least in my case, none of them ever did diddly for my hair color.

Many people here are of the opinion that you can bleach your hair with honey. If that were the case, I would be baby blonde again, and so would my DH, whose hair is also continuing to darken. Also, if honey bleached fiber, my towels would all be bleached, many of my sleep clothes, head scarves, etc. And I would no longer have age spots/sun damage on my face!

A few years ago I tested the honey hypothesis on my and DH's shed hair. It made the hair samples much shinier in comparison to the non-honey-soaked samples, but after the shine had faded, the color was exactly the same.

Lemon never lightened my hair either, but it did give me a scary, scary burn when I went out in the sun. Citrus is a photosynthesizer - beware!