How many shades can honey lighten hair?

[blondie9912]

I've committed to growing out my natural hair colour, and am thinking ahead about how to enhance it in the future, when there is enough regrowth. I really like the idea of honey lightening, because my hair is a warm shade of light brown, and I feel it will respond well to it.

I'd be curious to know how much honey lightening can lighten your hair :hmm:

If someone could share their experiences lightening their hair with honey, and how much lighter it has made their hair, I would love it :D I'd be particularly interested in those who have used this method on light brown hair. If anyone can provide pictures (of before and after, or of how light you think light brown hair can become with repeated honey lightening) that would be lovely :)

Would you think that I can get my hair to be some shade of blonde? I'd love to have more natural highlights and a lovely ombre look when my hair grows out more.

Thank you all in advance! :flowers:

[beckishness]

Although I do not have any before or after pictures to show you (I really have to work on doing that when I try new hair treatments...) I can say that honey brought out more of my "natural" highlights. I would consider myself a dark ash blonde. The color change was very subtle, my boyfriend did notice the change (he really liked the smell of my hair afterwards), but my mother did not. I do plan on honey lightening every so often, however, just because I really do like how it brings out my natural highlights.

I would definitely recommend giving it a try. I am not 100% that you would be able to become a blonde, but it would give you more natural highlights. :-)

[danacc]

There is a long honey thread that includes experiences, recipes, and some pictures here: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=148.

[blondie9912]

Thanks for the reply beckishness! :) I remember my natural hair having natural caramel highlights, so hopefully honey will bring it out when my natural hair gets longer.

I've checked the honey thread before, but it's soooo long and I really don't have the time/patience to read through it. Thank you for posting the link though, maybe one day I'll have time to read it

[Alex Lou]

I did a bunch of honey treatments. 10 maybe. I followed the directions carefully with the right amount of distilled water. And I would say that my results on light auburn hair are not noticeable. I took before and after photos, but the results are so slight that lighting in the photos makes much more of a difference than the treatments, even though I took the photos at the same location and at about the same time of day. Either honey doesn't do much, or I'm using the wrong honey.

[ktani]

Thanks for the reply beckishness! :) I remember my natural hair having natural caramel highlights, so hopefully honey will bring it out when my natural hair gets longer.

I've checked the honey thread before, but it's soooo long and I really don't have the time/patience to read through it. Thank you for posting the link though, maybe one day I'll have time to read it

Most of the reports and all of the information needed is in the first post of the thread, with links. You just need to read the first post and not necessarily every link, to be set to try honey lightening.

How light can you go with it? There are people have had enough success with it to be very very pleased. If you try it.

Good luck!

[blondie9912]

Bumping this thread to see if anyone has any more advice or photos :)

[HollywoodRouge]

By the sounds of your description, my natural hair colour is almost exactly the same as yours. Light-mid brown with natural golden highlights. My hair responded really well to honey (as in there is a difference every time i do it.) I've used honey about 12 times now, and my hair is noticeably lighter. On its own, the honey brought out my golden highlights a lot, but because I'm aiming for a more dark blonde/light brown colour with ash undertones, i've been using a purple shampoo and conditioner to combat this, so right now my hair is a weird hybrid of colours, but slowly making progress towards my ideal colour.

[WaterMusic]

I find it a little odd that you describe that you are committed to growing out your natural colour at the same time that you are talking about lightening it. Just because you are using honey to lighten it does not mean it is your natural colour. There is absolutely nothing wrong with lightening your hair, but I think you are using the wrong terminology!

Best of luck. :)

[StellaKatherine]

I find it a little odd that you describe that you are committed to growing out your natural colour at the same time that you are talking about lightening it. Just because you are using honey to lighten it does not mean it is your natural colour. There is absolutely nothing wrong with lightening your hair, but I think you are using the wrong terminology!

Best of luck. :)

When i get highlights at summer from the sun, is it still my own colour ? I think what blondie trying to say, that she just wants to get her highlits that allready there to shine out, nothing wrong in that i think.

I am realy interested in trying honey treetment for same reason, I love the way my hair responds to summer sun , so if i get same effect with honey - i would be in heaven ^^

[maborosi]

Honey definitely works, but it just takes time. After a honey treatment (when my hair was much darker) and cinnamon/cardamom treatments, I noticed my red highlights from henna showing up much better, and my hair looked more brown instead of black.

I might give it another whirl. The honey lightening thread is really useful.

~maborosi~

[Lipbalmbabe]

I have never had any luck with honney and cinnamon, and the cinnamon would never wash out. People thought I had horrible lice! It's a great idea, but just not for me.

[jojo]

I managed to go from hendigoed dark brown to a golden brown and then i used colour B4 to get back to nearer my natural colour dark blonde, so for me it worked well. It does take time to see a difference, say 3 months of treatment at 4 hours each time but it does work well for med browns to dark blondes, any darker colours would give more a red/chestnut colour id think after repeated treatments.

[sazzie88]

Has anyone else with light ash blonde hair tried and succeeded? I have quite light greyish natural and am thinking of trying this on my roots :)

[maborosi]

Has anyone else with light ash blonde hair tried and succeeded? I have quite light greyish natural and am thinking of trying this on my roots :)

I would think that light hair like that would be fairly easy to see results with consistent honey treatments.

~maborosi~

[IndigoOptimist]

I've done a couple of honey treatments and it seems to be lightening a little already :)
I like everything though, it won't work for everyone. I've heard that it work amazingly first time for some people, and not at all for others ;)
My hair naturally bleaches in the sun with some ease so I'm wondering whether this has something to do with it's reaction to honey and cinnamon...

[blondie9912]

When i get highlights at summer from the sun, is it still my own colour ? I think what blondie trying to say, that she just wants to get her highlits that allready there to shine out, nothing wrong in that i think.

I am realy interested in trying honey treetment for same reason, I love the way my hair responds to summer sun , so if i get same effect with honey - i would be in heaven ^^

Thanks StellaKatherine, that's exactly what I meant :) I think the previous poster misunderstood, I meant I would like to grow out my natural colour, then lighten it with honey. I would then be aware that my hair is not "natural", though in all honestly I would still consider my hair to be my natural colour, just with a little boost.

[blondie9912]

Thank you for the feedback everyone :) it seems people have success using honey to lighten hair dye! I'm so curious as to how many levels I can lighten my natural colour. Is there a limit?

I did a honey lightening treatment overnight yesterday, and my hair looks quite a bit lighter underneath (where it's 100% natural). It's definitely taken on a more golden tone. The hair near my face, however, and my roots are more neutral in tone.

[sfgirl]

Does anyone know the affects of honey and cassia together on dark blonde hair? I can never find in the search anything about both of them used together, and if there is it's on henna'd hair. :(

[maborosi]

Does anyone know the affects of honey and cassia together on dark blonde hair? I can never find in the search anything about both of them used together, and if there is it's on henna'd hair. :(

Do you mean using them mixed together? Or lightening with honey then using cassia? If it's the former, I'm not really very knowledgable on henna/cassia concocting. If it's the latter, I would imagine that it would allow you to lighten, then the cassia would impart golden tones. It does that anyway, though.:)


Thank you for the feedback everyone :) it seems people have success using honey to lighten hair dye! I'm so curious as to how many levels I can lighten my natural colour. Is there a limit?

I did a honey lightening treatment overnight yesterday, and my hair looks quite a bit lighter underneath (where it's 100% natural). It's definitely taken on a more golden tone. The hair near my face, however, and my roots are more neutral in tone.

I don't think there's a limit that I've read. It's probably a matter of patience and persistence. Wow, though! It's great you had results! :)

I did a honey lightening tonight, and intend to do another tomorrow. My hair is in wonderful condition-it is so, so soft and smooth. Smells nice, too!

~maborosi~

[GaJunebug]

For those of you who have done the honey lightening, were any of you lightening over a permanent hair color and if so- did you see any positive changes? Not by my own choice, I had to have a permanent dye job last June. It's kind of a brown color but the last 8 inches or so are a bit reddish.
Do you think I could possibly get a little strawberry blonde look with consistent honey treatments?

Thanks in advance for any and all info-

[Lipbalmbabe]

Thank you for the feedback everyone :) it seems people have success using honey to lighten hair dye! I'm so curious as to how many levels I can lighten my natural colour. Is there a limit?

I did a honey lightening treatment overnight yesterday, and my hair looks quite a bit lighter underneath (where it's 100% natural). It's definitely taken on a more golden tone. The hair near my face, however, and my roots are more neutral in tone.

What type of honey did you use?

[Katze]

Honey has never lightened my or my DH's hair - we are both light brown, were blonde as kids. I do regular SMTs and do them on him when he will sit still (he is also a longhair) and our hair is (sadly) not blonde.

I also once did a strand test on hair harvested from our brushes and compared them to samples not soaked in honey. I left the strands in for several days. The only difference was in shininess, which then faded after time until the honey-soaked strands and the non-honey-soaked strands were indistinguishable.

The SUN, however, has lightened both our hair a bit - less so now that we treat our hair better, though DH has these natural platinum streaks around his face - whenever we get some. :)

[blondie9912]

For those of you who have done the honey lightening, were any of you lightening over a permanent hair color and if so- did you see any positive changes? Not by my own choice, I had to have a permanent dye job last June. It's kind of a brown color but the last 8 inches or so are a bit reddish.
Do you think I could possibly get a little strawberry blonde look with consistent honey treatments?

Thanks in advance for any and all info-

I used honey lightening on brown hair dye as well. It definitely helped to lift it, and my hair had a very golden tone afterwards. I think it would work well in your case!

[blondyhead]

I think honey lightens very well, be careful though because if used incorrectly can damage the hair due to traces of Hydrogen Peroxide in it, honey also reduces frizz ( or at least for me! )

[WaterMusic]

When i get highlights at summer from the sun, is it still my own colour ? I think what blondie trying to say, that she just wants to get her highlits that allready there to shine out, nothing wrong in that i think.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with lightening one's hair with honey! However, because it is the small amount of peroxide in honey that causes the lightening, I personally would not call the resulting colour natural. That is not a bad thing! It's just why I was confused by the original post in this thread, because to me, peroxide =/= natural colour. I also wouldn't compare it to sun highlights, because it is caused by peroxide.

OP, I think it is the amount of peroxide in honey that is the limiting factor in terms of how many shades lighter you can get. In a way you can think of it as a safer, more controlled way of lightening one's hair than using bleach, because it is basically impossible to go too far. However I believe that there is one poster here who has had damage resulting from honey lightening (Phalaenopsis perhaps?), so proceed with caution! Good luck, and enjoy your highlights! :)

[maborosi]

For those of you who have done the honey lightening, were any of you lightening over a permanent hair color and if so- did you see any positive changes? Not by my own choice, I had to have a permanent dye job last June. It's kind of a brown color but the last 8 inches or so are a bit reddish.
Do you think I could possibly get a little strawberry blonde look with consistent honey treatments?

Thanks in advance for any and all info-

Yes, I am lightening over old dye, mostly semi-permanent dark brown, and there's probably a layer or two of henna/indigo in there. I swear my color is marginally lighter, but I'm not sure because I'm only on my second one. :p I intend to continue for several more treatments to see what my results are.

I'm sure if you do it long enough, you'll be able to get a pretty drastic change, but that's the key there- repetition and consistency.



OP, I think it is the amount of peroxide in honey that is the limiting factor in terms of how many shades lighter you can get. In a way you can think of it as a safer, more controlled way of lightening one's hair than using bleach, because it is basically impossible to go too far. However I believe that there is one poster here who has had damage resulting from honey lightening (Phalaenopsis perhaps?), so proceed with caution! Good luck, and enjoy your highlights!

I agree that, technically, hair lightened with honey is not the "natural color", as in, the color that grows out of your head. However, the effects of a single honey lightening treatment are so small that I wouldn't really consider it on the same level as dyeing your hair- I'd be more inclined to call it an "enhancement of color", if you will.

And interesting how everyone's hair is different. My hair is in amazing shape after each honey lightening treatment. It is soft, shiny, smooth, and just feels amazing. It's really unfortunate to hear someone didn't have a good experience with it. :(

~maborosi~