First of all, some information about my hair: it's blonde with red tint (more blonde than red). It tends to dull in the fall and winter and brighten in the spring and summer. It's fine and thin. It has some damage on the ends.
My goal was to brighten my hair, hopefully at least 2 shades which is about how much store bought color brightens my hair. I wanted to do it without the bad chemicals though.
I read different methods online of how to do this. Most of them said to make the tea as usual, bend over and pour the tea over your hair several times, catching it each time. This sounded very neck breaking to me, so I made up my own thing.
I boiled some water in a pot on the stove, about two cups. After the water became hot, I put the tea bag in. I let it sit there steeping for 30 minutes, stirring it occasionally to get the chamomile color nice and golden. By the end of the 30 minutes, the water should look similar to your pee in the morning.
At the end of the 30 minutes, I put the pot on the counter to cool off. I waited for the chamomile tea to become room temperature. Once it was, I squeezed the tea bag a few more times just to get all the juice out, then I put it in the trash.
I took the pot to the bathroom and got a wash cloth. I leaned over the sink, dipped the wash cloth in the chamomile tea, and squeezed it into my hair. I did this until all of my hair was soaked through. I placed the wash cloth on the top of my head and I got a plastic walmart bag. With my hair still dripping, I put the walmart bag over my whole head and used the handles to tie it at my forehead.
I left it on my head for a total of an hour and thirty minutes. I don't know how long you should leave it on. This is just what I chose to do. After that, I washed it as usual, combed it, and let it air dry as usual. When I combed my hair, there wasn't a single tangle! I couldn't even believe it.
My hair is more shiny, more healthy, and lighter. Don't listen to anyone who says you can't dye your hair with tea. It's not completely blonde, but it is about 2 shades lighter now which is the most you can do without bleaching your hair. It's more manageable and feels more healthy. It only took a couple of hours and one tea bag.
I had no idea it would do this but it left my hair with less split ends too. In the first photo, my hair is so damaged and in the second one it's much more healthy. I got 30 tea bags for $1, so that's 30 hair treatments. What a deal. I'm probably going to do it again tomorrow just to lighten it some more.
Before chamomile hair dye:
After chamomile hair dye:
Check out my blog about dying your hair with items from home.
As you can see the hair is more blonde and conditioned. You can hardly tell there is any damage. The results are amazing especially since chamomile is so cheap to buy.
Before chamomile hair dye:
After chamomile hair dye:
Check out my blog about dying your hair with items from home.
As you can see the hair is more blonde and conditioned. You can hardly tell there is any damage. The results are amazing especially since chamomile is so cheap to buy.
I appreciate your comment. I know there are many websites about diet pills and herbal remedies, so I try to make this one stand out as much as I can. It's hard to have a popular website in this subject, so I do what I can. Have a good day.
ReplyDeleteWow I have been looking for healthy ways to lighten my hair for such a long time now! Everything else has dried out my hair so much. Thank you for sharing this! What brand of tea did you use? I know it shouldn't matter too much but since you got such great results, I thought it would be smart to use the same type. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteNo problem! The brand is a special kind only sold at Dollar Tree I think. If you don't have a Dollar Tree in your area, you can always order online through their website. But any chamomile tea should work.
DeleteI just checked and I don't think they have it in their online store, so if you have a dollar tree near you.. or you can just use walmart.
When you are using other forms of lightening your hair, a good way to protect your hair from drying and damage is to use virgin coconut oil. It's so good for your hair. It makes your hair grow faster and also makes your hair thicker. I've been using it lately. But it should protect against any damage from peroxide or lemon.
Thanks so much im doing it right now!!!
ReplyDeleteYour welcome. If it doesn't make your hair as light as you want it to be, add lemon juice to the chamomile tea and sit outside in the sun for 30 minutes. That should amplify the effects. Don't forget to condition the hair afterwards.
DeleteI plan on doing this treatment for my daughter to bring out her natural highlights. I will be doing it a little different then how you did but I love the before and after pictures. It gives me an idea of how it may look afterwards. Also is it perminate? Did it change your natural hair color or will it eventually just fade away and the your natural color comes back?
ReplyDeleteSadly, it's not a long-term thing. It temporarily stains the hair and makes it more shiny so after a few days it goes back to the way it was before. If you want something a little more permanent, you'll need to use lemon or honey. These can possibly damage the hair, but that's less likely if you take precautions (like conditioning the hair afterwards with a good leave-in conditioner).
DeleteI just use plain old extra virgin olive oil if my hair needs to be repaired from something like this. The hair will soak up what it needs and you can wash the rest out. Usually after a session of lemon lightening, my hair soaks up all or most of the oil because it needed it! Just use a drop or two because you don't need much.
Do you condition it In the shower to after shampooing it all out?
ReplyDeleteThe order I follow is filling a spray bottle with half lemon juice and half water. Spray the hair. Wait around outside until it dries and the hair gets crunchy which takes about 30 minutes to an hour. Go back in a shampoo twice because the lemon is hard to get out. Wrap the hair up in a towel and let it air dry. Once the hair is dry, dip a finger in the oil and rub it in the hair. Keep doing that until the hair feels moisturized but not greasy, which takes about 3 times for me (I have thin hair so adjust if needed). Then leave it in the hair for most of the day kind of like a leave-in conditioner. You might check later and it feels like there is no oil at all because your hair needed the moisture. However, if you do check on your hair after a few hours and its greasy, just wash the rest out of your hair.
DeleteSometimes I put it in a bedtime and leave it in all night and then wash out in the morning.
Make sure you get the oil that's made for cooking, not the "oil" that you find on the hair care isle because that stuff isn't really good. It's just petroleum jelly which you don't want to put in your hair. It's heavy, clogs pores, and doesn't wash out easily.
Some people might think it's weird to put oil in your hair, but trust me it's the best thing you can do if you have dry hair. Most of the ladies at The Long Hair Community do it at least once a week and their hair is gorgeous.
I just realized that I didn't directly answer your question lol sorry. I don't usually use conventional conditioner in the shower. You can if you want. I use natural oils in the place of conditioner and let it soak in the hair. If there is residue, I wash that out.
DeleteIf you choose to use regular conditioner, just make sure you let it sit in the hair for a few minutes in the shower and then spray a leave-in conditioner on your wet hair when you get out.
Do you spread the wash cloth over your hair?
ReplyDeleteWhat if I spread the wash cloth over my hair? Will it still work?
ReplyDeleteDo you have to use up all the tea bags to get your hair to become lighter, or will just one tea bag do?
ReplyDeleteOne tea bag is fine. You don't have to put the wash cloth on your hair for it to work. It's just something I do.
DeleteI'm sorry but I fed your fishies. I hope you can forgive me. Great post by the way! I'm going to try this tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteNo problem. The fish actually needed it.
Deletedoes tea come out eventually.
DeleteIt actually comes out a lot quicker than you might want it to.
DeleteWill the tea come out of the hair
DeleteYes. It actually comes out a lot quicker than you might want it to.
DeleteWill this work on dark hair?
ReplyDeleteNo, the only way to lighten dark hair is to damage it in some way. You have to change the chemical structure of the hair and take out some of the pigmentation. You can try honey. Honey still does some damage to hair, but it's an alternative to other methods like bleaching. The chamomile is only meant to bring out golden tones in hair that is already light to begin with. So someone with dirty blonde hair or strawberry blonde hair who wants to lighten it up a little will see a slight lightening, but it only lasts for a few days.
DeleteHow do you use honey to lighten hair?
ReplyDeleteI always refer people to the long hair community because they have the most helpful information, including lists of brands that work and don't work and before and after photos. You can get all the information you'll ever need here: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=148
DeleteHoney has natural peroxide in it. Peroxide lightens hair. Honey conditions hair. So, it's probably the safest way to lighten hair. Of course, you'd be doing it at your own discretion and there's still a chance for damage. They suggest using filtered water and a heat source to activate the honey. You'll want to also keep the hair wet with the honey solution, so steam from a running shower or sunlight are probably good sources of heat. Anyway, the information is there if you're interested in trying it. They tell you how to do it and like I said, there are photos so you can see what your possible outcome might be.
I even think your hair looks healthier after the camomile dye ? or is it just me ?
ReplyDeleteIt was. It conditions the hair and makes split ends less noticeable.
DeleteI am about a light-medium brunette and I wanted to really get the natural highlights(I have natural goldish highlights) to show up in my hair. The first time I tried this it brought out some really pretty golden colors throughout my hair, not as bright as I wanted it though so I did it a couple times throughout one week and even used lemon in it and I must say it worked BEAUTIFULLY!! Yes, it doesn't stay super long but my hair does look great and feels great so that's a plus. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteUsing lemon definitely increases the effectiveness. Honey and extra virgin olive oil are even better.
DeleteHi, I'm from Indonesia and my hair is naturally black, but I had the half-down part bleached a month ago because I wanted an ombre dip dye hair. And after bleaching it was orange, and I dyed it purple, but it washed out so now its orange again. Since its orange, will this method be useful if I wanted it to be lighter (only the half down part)? Like I want it to be atleast kind of blonde-ish, because I want to re-purple-dye it but I want the purple to stand out more than the last time, thus needing a lighter base than orange.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately not. chamomile only brings out the blonde tones in hair that is already blonde. It's kinda like that shampoo for blonde hair. But if someone with brown hair used it, their hair is not going to turn blonde. If someone with blonde hair used it, their hair becomes more blonde. The same way with chamomile. It can only enhance what is already there, not lift color.
DeleteThank you much!!!!!! I did this today an I love it so much! Im going check out your other postes since this one was really great and thank you agian! an Im a Guy just saying also 17 (:
ReplyDelete