CHOICE 5: The Un-chemical Quandary
It Ain’t Easy Being Green When You’re Gray
When I was writing Going Gray, Looking Great!, I had women in their twenties tell me they couldn’t wait for the book to come out because, when their hair started to gray, they weren’t ever going to put chemicals on it. It seems a lot of women feel this way now, no matter what their age or stage of graying. There’s no doubt about it, most permanent and semi-permanent colors contain ingredients that are believed to be carcinogenic when absorbed through the scalp. Temporary hair dyes contain fewer toxic chemicals, and are not absorbed by the body. But still, you wonder. It was easier when we didn’t know this. It was also easier when we didn’t know how harmful UV rays were, and baked blissfully in the sun for hours. It was easier when we didn’t know second-hand smoke could cause cancer.
But now we do. So what are we going to do about it? It seems going “green” is the latest idea for gray. I don’t know if that’s going to reduce your carbon footprint, but it is going to make you feel better about what you’re doing to your hair (and body!). Some salons (very few, but some) are now instructing their clients who wish to go gray to do it naturally, placing emphasis on the cut to solve the growing-out problems. That’s a little scary in itself! As one salon owner put it, “Women are afraid of looking like a calico-cat.”
Then, of course, there’s henna for women who want to cover or color away their gray. Henna has been around since the Egyptians, but it’s getting a lot of play lately. The point is, you’ve got to play with it. And you have to be very committed, very tolerant of making big mistakes, very patient. Henna on gray or white hair simply turns it orange. I said so in my book, and I still say so. One of the pro-henna places I went to tells you right out – “If you henna hair that has no melanin (no pigment), the only color you see is red-orange.”
Of course, you can go to a knowledgeable pro to have your henna configured and applied. But many women who like to do it themselves go at it with the zeal of a hobby, searching for the best quality grades of henna (some say body art henna is the ticket), browsing in health food stores for essential oil “additives,” and creating their own special henna recipes. To me, it seems like risky business, but to many women, it’s creative, fun, and a far better solution than chemicals.
There are all sorts of ways to alter that Ronald MacDonald look. There’s indigo, for instance, another plant dye. First, you’ve got to use the henna (if you use indigo alone on gray hair, you’ll turn into a blue-hair for sure). But once you’ve turned your gray hair orange, you go for the indigo. This can give you a dark color with red or burgundy highlights.
And now it gets a little tricky. If you don’t want bright orange hair, you have to get the greatest dye saturation, or use other dye plants (like indigo). Then you can add some essential oils to the mix. Essential oils act as solvents, helping dye dispersion and penetration, to give you a darker color. So you might add a little Tea Tree Oil, Cajeput or Ravensara oil. Other oils that are “nearly as good” include Lavender, Geranium, Cardamom, and Cypress. A little less effective: Neroli, Pine, Juniper, Thyme, Rosemary and Marjoram. You could also go with Clove Bud oil or Black Pepper oil, but these can cause skin irritation. I don’t know, I keep wondering just how many drops of these essential oils do you have to add?
Other ingredients people like to add to aid in deepening or “browning” the tone are walnut powder (if they’re not allergic to walnuts!), paprika, cinnamon (watch out for dermatitis), eucalyptus oil, blackberry wine, corn syrup, honey, allspice, rosemary, beetroot powder, India Spice tea – it’s all a bit of kitchen chemistry. You make your own concoction. And if it doesn’t work, you can always try again. But once you start, beats me how you get the same shade over and over again. Yes, eventually, you’ll arrive at your own formula, but how can you tell if you’ve used it to cover up your first mistake? Only one way. Let the henna fade away (which it should do over 4-10 weeks.) Don’t go running back to your colorist. You definitely can’t put anything chemical on it.
Henna “develops,” as well. The color you get right away won’t be the color you’ll keep. It takes about two days for the dyes to darken to peak color. And I don’t even want to mention how long it takes to prepare the henna, wait for it to release its dye, and then let it sit on your head. The whole process is very time-intensive.
Safe as these “natural” dyes may be, you still have to do a patch test before using them. Safe doesn’t mean allergy-free. So first you patch test the henna, wait 48 hours, and then do an indigo patch test. It’s also advisable to do a strand test, especially if your hair has been previously chemically treated.
Other caveats: wait a good 4-6 weeks after using a chemical dye before you go the henna route. Some henna manufacturers suggest as long as 2-3 months. If you’re going to get a perm, wait at least two weeks after a perm before you use henna. There are those who say “the longer the better.” Seems henna and chemicals just don’t mix. Ditto indigo. Wait at least 6-8 weeks if you’ve used dyes or bleaches on your hair before using indigo, as it can be “unpredictable.”
But, somehow, none of this is daunting to women looking for alternatives to chemical dyes. They experiment, they try different recipes, and they get the color they want, eventually, although most will admit, whatever color it turns is laced with red. As one woman discovered, “At first, the gray at my temples was a little orangey, but now, two days later, it has darkened to a deeper red.” And from a daughter who was doing her mother’s gray roots, “Her hair came out a nice medium red (not Lucille Ball, but not that dark either.)” Another woman said she got a “cool brownish-red!” So you’ve got to like red in your hair – a little or a lot – if you want to use henna to cover your gray.
I don’t like chemicals, but I don’t like red, either. I also don’t like experimenting with my hair. But for those of you who are seeking a safer, “greener,” solution to coloring your gray away, you might want to check out these websites: http://www.renaissancehenna.com , http://www.hennaforhair.com , and http://www.terressentials.com .