How to Lighten Your Hair Naturally

How to lighten your hair naturally? Natural hair lightening can be a time-consuming and tedious process. Still, if you want to achieve a look that is several shades lighter, untreated hair with various chemical preparations, you can also reach out for some natural methods to make your hair a couple of shades brighter.

You should always be cautious when lightening hair, as getting a lighter shade will be easier if you have golden or yellowish hair pigment. In contrast, you could achieve unwanted (or any) effects for darker or red-pigmented shades.

Many things that you already have in your household can be used as a replacement for expensive commercial preparations. For this purpose, lemon, chamomile, and a combination of honey and cinnamon, to name a few, are commonly used.

How to Lighten Your Hair Naturally

1. Lemon

Rinsing your hair with lemon juice is the most famous natural way to lighten your hair. If you choose this method, you will need a fresh lemon (or two if you have longer hair), a bottle with a  small pump, a strainer or gauze, and lots of sunshine.

• Squeeze lemon juice and then mix it with half a cup of warm water (ratio 1: 1 or less in favor of lemon). Pour the mixture into the small pump bottle and use it to apply the lemon mixture to your hair equally.
• If you choose to lighten your hair with this method, the primary key here is the impact of the sun, so get out and let your hair dry gently in the sun.
• When completely dry, rinse your hair with nothing but water. If you think your hair looks damaged and dry, you can use chamomile tea, allowing your hair to achieve more effective results.
• Lemon can be beneficial for your hair, but if you use it too often, it can cause dryness and damage, which is why it will be dry, brittle, and lifeless.
• It is, therefore, essential that you don’t do this more than once or twice a week. Also, when washing your hair, feed your hair with masks or peelings to maintain a healthy and groomed appearance.

2. Chamomile

The other way to naturally lighten your hair is to apply a strong chamomile tea with soothing properties. Chamomile is excellent for sensitive blonde hair; thanks to its natural properties, the hair will have an intense glow.

In addition, chamomile flowers contain apigenin – flavonoid yellow color, which further lightens the hair. Chamomile hair care products suit every type of hair and daily care.

• Take 2-3 cups of chamomile flowers and pour 500 milliliters of boiling water over them. Slowly cook for 15 minutes. Allow the tea to cool down for half an hour, then strain it and add the juice of one lemon and two tablespoons of conditioner to the mixture.
• Apply this mixture to your hair, let it stand for half an hour, and then rinse.
• If you can not get chamomile flowers, you can use ordinary tea, but only those twice stronger as the ones you usually prepare and drink.

3. Honey

Lightening hair with honey gives genuinely outstanding results. If you choose this method, you will need two tablespoons of honey and half a cup of warm distilled water.

You should use only dark forest honey; however, good results are also shown with meadow honey, so choose between those two.

In this solution, you can add a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil and two teaspoons of cinnamon, whose purpose is to encourage hydrogen peroxide production to lighten your hair successfully.

• Leave the mixture to sit for about an hour to create peroxide, and then apply it on your hair and hold it like that for an hour.
• It is important to note that the hair must be wet throughout the treatment, so that you will need a swimming cap, a shower cap, or aluminum foil for protection.
• After an hour, wash your hair with shampoo. Use one that nourishes your hair, so you don’t have to fear your hair drying out.
• The hair will be silky and smooth, and after several treatments, you can expect and notice lighter tones and shades of your hair.
• You can also use honey if you have reddish pigment and dark brown hair. You will be amazed by the result: soft hair two to three shades lighter with a slight reddish glow (strawberry blonde is a popular color name for this shade). With lightening, the mixture below will emphasize the hidden shadows of your hair, and it can be applied to hair treated with conventional hair dyes.

4. Cinnamon

Cinnamon is often used in the household as a condiment and, more recently, as excellent preparation for hair. Proper application can achieve excellent results in lightening the hair, where your hair will remain moisturized and soft.

The combination of honey and cinnamon is perfect, and most will say. Still, considering preparing the mixture, we give an alternative to the previous method (the one prepared with honey above).

• In a medium-sized bowl, put 250 milliliters of conditioner, three tablespoons of previously crumbled cinnamon, and 100 milliliters of natural bee honey.
• Mix the ingredients with a plastic spoon. Do not use metal, as some metals may adversely react with the mixture’s constituents. Cover the pan and leave it for 30 minutes at room temperature.
• Wash your hair with classic shampoo and conditioner, and then uniformly apply the mixture to the hair. As with the previous method, the hair must be wet, so after applying the mixture, cover your head with a warm towel, swimming cap, or aluminum foil.
• After half an hour, you can unwind your hair, but leave the mixture on for another 3 to 4 hours to set. The longer you hold the variety on your head, the better the results will be. To complete these processes, rinse your hair with warm water.
• Avoid skin exposure to the mixture, as cinnamon can irritate sensitive skin.

5. Olive oil

Some women swear that they managed to get a couple of lighter hair shades just by using olive oil. Apply olive oil to your hair, comb it and sit in the sun a half an hour to an hour. Olive oil is an excellent hair conditioner and can naturally lighten the hair.

• You can even make a mixture of lemon juice and olive oil and put it in a spray bottle.
• Shake the bottle (to mix the ingredients) when ready to use and spray it into wet hair.
• Apply more mixture throughout the length of the hair instead of on the roots.

6. Rhubarb plant

Rhubarb plant and its roots can lighten medium light brown hair and dark blonde hair. Cook plants and seeds in water in a bowl, and then rinse your hair with the liquid once it’s cooled.

7. Beer

Beer is a popular drink with which almost everyone loves to socialize. In addition to the special taste, light beer helps lighten the hair. You can get two to three shades of lighter hair by using beer. Apply beer to your hair and relax for a while in the sun. After an hour, rinse your hair with cool water.

8. Baking soda

To clean your hair from the chemicals deposited on it for years, you must use baking soda. Baking soda is known as a natural hair lighter.

Applying baking soda to your hair will take a little longer than other means, but if you make time for this treatment once a week, your hair will be saved from harmful chemicals and the way it naturally lightens.

9. Classic Henna

Traditional henna, or just “henna” (Lawsonia inermis), is a plant growing in Africa and Asia. Henna gives reddish hues, covers greys, and adds volume and shine to your hair.

The power of henna is in the healing of bad hair and restoring the alkaline balance of the vertex. Henna does not harm the hair but optimally nourishes and protects its structure.

It is an excellent conditioner because it forms a protective layer on the hair. This prevents further damage and moisturizes, reinforces, and strengthens the hair.

As we mentioned, it gives reddish hues and shades but mixed with indigo-colored powder, you can naturally get dark brown or even black color, but when combined with colorless henna (Cassia obovata), you can get light-brown or even blonde hair by using this natural way.

10. Salt

Do not forget the salt if you have sensitive hair and want to use only natural and non-invasive ingredients for lightening hair. Mix salt with water into a smooth paste and apply it to your hair.

Just remember how salt affects hair color during summer when you spend most of your time in the sea. Mix onee scoop of salt with the same five measures of watel; apply on hair and let it act for about 15 minutes.

11. Vinegar, Honey, and Olive oil

In combination with honey, vinegar is an excellent combo if you want to lighten your hair, while olive oil protects it from drying. You will need 2 cups of vinegar, 1 cup of honey, a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil, and a teaspoon of cinnamon.

Stir it all together in a compact mixture and apply a comb or a brush to your hair. If you want the effect of summery, lightened hair, this mixture is ideal for you.

How to Lighten Your Hair With Recipe

The honey and distilled water ratio are 1 to 4, and the lowest amount of honey is 10 grams. For how long your hair is, evaluate the amount of honey you need for this mixture. You can also add a teaspoon of cinnamon, cardamom powder, and a spoonful of olive oil. Let it all sit for at least an hour at room temperature.

The thing is that during contact with distilled water, honey releases natural hydroxide, and cinnamon, cardamom, and olive oil enhance the effect of the compound. After it sits in a refrigerator for a while, apply the mixture to clean hair. It will help if you put on a plastic shower cap, an old towel, or aluminum foil.

While some suggest that it is not good to keep it overnight, some women held it for about two hours and got lighter hair. After you’re done, usually wash your hair with your regular shampoo and conditioner (although you don’t have to use conditioner). After each treatment, your hair will be lighter.

Isn’t that an excellent alternative to laboratory preparations? However, to achieve much lighter (almost blonde) hair, you’ll have to repeat everything and do several treatments. No worry that this will negatively affect your hair, like conventional, laboratory-made dyes.

Extra tip:

During preparation, it’s essential that your hair is clean and shampooed. After washing your hair gently dry it as it should be moist/wet. After shampooing your hair, it is essential that you do not put conditioner on it because it can wrap your hair with a silicone layer.

You can use a natural conditioner without silicone oil if you have dry hair. But note that you should put only a tiny amount of conditioner and rinse it well because vegetable glycerin can cause a similar effect to synthetic silicone oils.

Silicone oil in the ingredients of hair products is easily recognized; you need to read the label and if there’s: Dimethicone, Cyclomethicone, or Phenyl trimethicone, avoid it.

Natural colors are great, but the only drawback is that these natural ways of lightening the hair can quickly wash out, but it is up to you to consider whether health or esthetic is more critical.