eTopical Precious Finds
Looking for a guide on how to lighten hair naturally? Here are some common ways to lighten black, brown and blonde hair. Also find out how to lighten body hair naturally, or bleach brown, Asian and body hair fast. Here are steps to getting lighter, sun-kissed hair or making those cute highlights that you have always wished for.
How to Lighten Hair Naturally
While there are numerous natural ways to lighten hair naturally, your natural hair color is an important consideration that needs to be taken into account. This determines the most appropriate natural hair lightening remedy for your specific hair. For instance, if your natural hair color is black, it might be a waste of time to try using vitamin C to lighten your hair. Also, if your hair is to dark, hydrogen peroxide may not be a great option as it can make your hair end up with a shade of orange that you may not like.
How to Lighten Black Hair Naturally
So you have black hair and wish to lighten it a bit or give it those sun-kissed highlights that shout fashion? Well, here is how to naturally lighten black hair naturally at home:
How to lighten black hair naturally with honey
Honey is a popular natural option for hair lightening since it contains an enzyme that gives off small amounts of hydrogen peroxide, a commonly used hair bleaching agent. Honey not only lightens hair when used over time, but also moisturizes, nourishes and gives a shine to the hair, thus making it appear healthy. It is what one would refer to as killing two birds with one stone (or is it four birdsJ).
Directions
To about 5 tablespoons of honey, add a little water to loosen the honey and make it easy to apply to the hair. Once done, apply the solution to wet hair and massage thoroughly all over or in the areas where highlights are desired.
Now cover your hair with a plastic cap e.g. shower cap or plastic wrap and allow it between 30 and 40 minutes to set in before rinsing the honey off with warm water and shampoo.
Some people also mix honey with the regular hair conditioner and use it on their hair after shampooing it.
How to lighten black hair naturally with chamomile tea
Using chamomile tea is another great and cost effective way to naturally lighten dark hair at home. Chamomile is typically available in the form of tea bags or as dried flowers. You can check with your local grocery store or health food store.
Directions
Drop 2 tea bags of chamomile tea or a few petals of the dried chamomile flowers into a pot of cold water and boil the mixture. Once boiled, allow the content to simmer for half an hour over small heat to strengthen the tea. Allow it to cool down before straining to obtain the liquid. Now rinse your hair after normal shampooing and conditioning of the hair. Allow the hair to dry outdoors in the sunlight to boost the lightening effect of the chamomile tea.
How to Naturally Lighten Blonde Hair with Lemon Juice and Vitamin C
What about if you have dyed your hair blonde but would like to lighten it up? Well you can here are various options that you can use to naturally lighten blonde hair at home.
Lemon juice
Lemon juice is perhaps the most widely used natural hair lightening remedy and although it can give subtle lightening effect to dark brown and black hair, it is the most effective when used to lighten blonde hair.
When the lemon juice is applied to hair and exposed to sunlight, the citric acid that is naturally present in lemon (and other citrus fruits) gets activated. This opens up the hair cuticles which then help to strip the pigment in the hair, thus lightening it. The downside to using lemon to lighten hair is that it has a drying effect on the hair.
Appropriate measures thus need to be taken to restore hair’s moisture and prevent excessive moisture loss during the lightening treatment. In particular you need to follow up the lightening treatment with a deep conditioning treatment.
Directions
- To a ½ cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice, add a ½ cup of water
- Pour the mixture into a spray bottle
- Ensure that your hair is a bit damp, then spray the lemon juice from the spray bottle thoroughly on the whole head of hair or in the sections where highlights are needed.
- Expose the hair to sunlight for 1 hour before rinsing the lemon juice off with water
- Finish with a deep conditioning treatment
Some people also mix the lemon juice with chamomile tea, honey, or olive oil for more effective lightening
Vitamin C
You can also use vitamin c to naturally lighten hair that is dyed blonde. Vitamin C works by stripping off the hair dye. Therefore this natural solution will not work if you have naturally blonde hair.
Directions
- Crush 15 to 20 vitamin C tablets and pour the powder into a small bowl
- Add a cup of antidandruff shampoo and coat your hair with the resulting paste
- Cover your hair with plastic shower cap or a plastic wrap and leave it intact for 1 hour
- Rinse the paste off and finish with a deep conditioning treatment
How to Naturally Lighten Hair Fast
For those who are in a hurry and wish to lighten hair naturally and quickly, the options are relatively narrower since most natural hair lightening remedies require several treatments for remarkable lightening effect to be visible.
Your best bet when it comes to lightening hair fast is to use a home dying kit or hydrogen peroxide, but if you are wary of using chemical dyes, then you may want to consider using honey mixed with distilled water.
Using honey to naturally lighten hair fast
To a few tablespoons of honey, add some distilled water and apply the mixture to your hair to make highlights as desired. Allow the mixture to set in for 30 minutes while covered with a plastic cap. Finally rinse the hair with warm water.
Mixing honey with distilled water makes it to undergo some chemical processes that enhance the rate of lightening. Some hair lightening experts also recommend lying out in the sun while the honey mask is applied to your hair to boost the lightening effect of honey and make lightening faster.
Using vitamin C to naturally lighten hair fast
Using vitamin C on your hair can also lead to a fast lightening effect if the hair is dyed. Vitamin C strips away the dye responsible for your present hair color (See instructions above)
Using Henna
You can also use henna to lighten your hair to a red hue. Simple mix henna with a little water, coat your hair with the paste and cover your hair with a plastic cap to let it set in for 30 minutes. Finally rinse it off with water.
Naturally Lighten Brown Hair
What if you have brown hair and would like it lightened blonde or to lighter shade of brown, here are some options you may want to consider:
Using Lemon juice
As we have already mentioned, lemon juice is a very effective and popular way to lighten hair. The idea is to apply lemon juice to your hair and then head out to the sun to activate the citrus in the lemon juice (see instructions in the section above).
Don’t forget to use a sunscreen though to protect the skin as you lie in the sun and to condition your hair after the lightening treatment to reduce the drying effect of the lemon juice.
Lime juice can as well be used in the place of lemon juice.
Honey
Honey can be used to lighten most if not all shades of hair color. See instructions in the above section.
You may also want to consider:
Exposure to sunlight: Sunlight can also help to naturally lighten brown hair even though not as fast as the above options.
Take a dip in a chlorinated swimming pool: Chlorine is also known to have subtle lightening effect on the hair. Combining a swim in chlorinated pool and sunbathing can make for a faster hair lightening than exposure to sunlight alone.
How to Lighten Body Hair Naturally
Wondering how to lighten those unsightly dark body hairs naturally? Well the best option is to use lemon juice which is mild natural bleach. You may consider mixing the lemon juice with some honey. You may however need to repeat this numerous times to see the desired results. If however you find this remedy irritating to your skin, stop using it. It is also a great idea to rest in the sun while the lemon juice sets in on your body hair.
Some people have also reported great success using papaya pulp and milk mixture. Simply apply a well blended mixture on your body hair and allow it to set in for 10 minutes before rinsing it off with cold water.
You can also try applying uncooked ripe tomatoes on your body hair for 5 minutes and then washing it off.
Lighten Asian Hair Naturally
Asian hair is notoriously tricky to lighten and the diversity of hair textures among Asian women makes it even trickier. As Kazumi Morton, a hair colorist puts it, “People think that all Asian women have thick, coarse hair, which simply isn’t true…” she also adds that, “Every hair textures takes in color and bleach differently”. So the results will typically vary from one Asian woman to another.
Regardless of the natural method you use to lighten your Asian hair (e.g. lemon juice, honey, etc, but not hydrogen peroxide if your hair is too dark to avoid an orange color interval) it is advisable to test it on a small section first to see the results.
It is also advisable to maintain a stringent cleaning and maintenance routine since Asian hair typically has fewer cuticles. It is especially important to deep condition your Asian hair every now and then.
More on Bleaching Hair
- How to Lighten Brown Hair Gradually
- Best Hair Lightener, Organic and Homemade
- How to Lighten Dark Brown Hair
- Best DIY Hair Lightening Spray for Brunettes
- Best Hair Lightening Shampoo
- Top 5 Natural Hair Lighteners
- Best Products for Dark Hair Lightening
- How to Bleach Arm Hair
- How to Lighten Colored Hair
