Can you dye your hair unnatural colors using natural methods?

[kittenpajamas]

I was just wondering. I understand you can add golden highlights to hair with cassia, henna dyes your hair various shades of red, including a very bright, unnatural red color, and indigo makes your hair darker colors. I googled it and found results like using berries to dye your hair purple colors or even Koolaid, though that isn't necessarily natural...But I don't think it's really bad for your hair either...

Has anybody ever dyed their hair unnatural colors using natural methods in here? I wish it were possible to dye my hair lilac or silver without having to bleach it :c Oh well, maybe if I'm lucky I will have snow white hair when I'm old and I'll dye it pastel colors then...

[Arctic]

It's not natural, but if your hair is on the lighter side or is medium colour, you can use shock dyes (manic panic and similar) in certain colours. I think violets and reds work without bleaching. Any darker colour probably will take, but they might not look like you want them without bleaching. But purples and reds, maybe even dark pinks could work, depending on your own colour. Light colours (grey too, I'd think) probably demand bleaching first.

[kittenpajamas]

So, I figure using Manic Panic color probably takes better to your hair than just using, like, food coloring. Out of curiosity, I googled Manic Panic ingredients to see what all was there other than the colorant and it's:

Water, Synthetic Beeswax, Cetearyl Alcohol, Ceteareth 20, Humulus Lupulus (hops) Extract, Anthemis Nobilis (Flower) Extract, Acetic Acid, Methylparaben, Propylene Glycol. May contain one or more colorants.

So beeswax...some sort of alcohol (what is that?), what is ceteareth 20?? And, hops extract...and some sort of flower extract....I wonder if you could like recreate a dye somehow. What does the hops do, I wonder? I've read that beer is good for your hair...

Edit: More googling...seems like the alcohol is just an emulsifier so really not even necessary, except for product consistency. And the ceteareth is pretty much the same thing.

[meteor]

For something as light as lilac or silver you'll need a very, very light base color, white or almost white so bleach would be necessary, I'm afraid.

But if you want more intense, darker colors, you can use lots of non-damaging veggie dyes like Manic Panic, Pravana, Directions...

Marigold, chamomile, paprika, carrot juice, beet juice.... can give temporary intense orange-y or red stain, check out the huge list in this article: http://archive.longhaircommunity.com...ad.php?t=51646

[kittenpajamas]

For something as light as lilac or silver you'll need a very, very light base color, white or almost white so bleach would be necessary, I'm afraid.

But if you want more intense, darker colors, you can use lots of non-damaging veggie dyes like Manic Panic, Pravana, Directions...

Marigold, chamomile, paprika, carrot juice, beet juice.... can give temporary intense orange-y or red stain, check out the huge list in this article: http://archive.longhaircommunity.com...ad.php?t=51646

Oh, NICE! I didn't know that was on here. Thanks!

[Arctic]

Cetearyl alcohol is a fatty alchohol, not one of the drying ones. Manic panic and similar shock colours are very much like conditioners, and they are not damaging if your don't bleach first. I have some experience with a shock colour called Directions (made by La Riché) and I've been pretty happy with it. It's fun for few weeks, no commitments.

I have no idea if you can recreate this type of product.

But if you search the forums, I remember at least one person experimented with berries and such (Spidermom, I think). You will probably find other experiemnts as well. Plus will notice many here have tried shock colours at some point!

[lapushka]

If you count an indigo-oops as natural getting unnatural results - then yes. I had blue/green hair due to a mishap once.

[kittenpajamas]

OH wow lol I used a conventional blue-black dye one time, over very brassy bleached blonde hair, and it eventually faded to this horrible green/black/blue swamp water color...It wasn't even the same color all over my head. I had black roots (where my natural color was) and I guess the rest of my hair was so damaged from being bleached, that it couldn't hold the color! So I would have some strands of blue hair, some of green...It was a mess xD

I wanna try one of those methods on that list to dye my hair some weird color. I guess I'll start by lightening it with honey....

[Arctic]

Do your research first and be careful. Even if it's "just honey", the lightening effect is based on peroxide, and can damage hair. I remember someone with long hair had to cut the damage off, that honey lightening caused.