Plant-based hair dye: brilliance rather than blonde

If washing your hair is a science in itself, then colouring your hair is a step even further. There are lots of products to choose from in loads of different shades that tint or permanently dye your hair. You can even get plant-based dyes. These tend to be more gentle on the scalp and hair, although essential oils, for instance, can also potentially be allergenic. And, generally speaking, plant-based hair dye is also vegan.

But there are two drawbacks. You have to compromise on coverage and colour choice with plant-based hair dyes.

What exactly is plant-based hair dye?

If you don’t want to use chemicals on your hair when colouring, you need to bear in mind that terms such as natural, herbal, as well as henna, organic and natural aren’t legally protected. For example, «Öko-Test» Germany, a consumer magazine, regularly puts (supposed) plant-based hair dyes through their paces – and repeatedly finds ingredients that have no place in natural hair dyes (site in German), including banned substances such as pesticides. «Plant additives don’t make a hair dye into a plant hair dye» (site in German), emphasises the institution. It discovered that many cosmetics manufacturers «advertise plant-based ingredients and yet use harsh chemicals, such as extremely sensitising aromatic amines.»

Unlike those kind of sham dyes, plant-based hair colour is purely natural. It’s not allowed to contain ammonia or other chemical components. Instead, it must comprise 100% natural ingredients, such as henna, indigo, turmeric, walnut shell and hibiscus. Your best bet is to look out for trustworthy cosmetic seals (site in German) when buying purely plant-based hair dye. But how can you tell if it really is authentic? The trick is, if it’s powdery all you’ll need is to mix it with hot water. Unlike conventional dye, you won’t need a developer.

Do plant-based hair dyes have the same effect as conventional colour?

Not quite. Plant hair dyes are semi-permanent and contain no artificial pigments. As a result, the colour settles on the hair and washes out again after 15 to 20 washes. Conventional dyes are different in that they break up the hair structure, which makes the colour last much longer. But they also attack the hair a lot more. On the other hand, you have more colour choice with artificial products. Plant dyes are good for achieving warm hues, i.e. brown, red, copper and gold tones. However, they’re not able to produce cool shades such as violet, grey or blue. Plant-based dyes are much better for accentuating your natural hair colour.

If you just want to go a little darker, you can easily do that with plant dyes. If you want to dramatically lighten your hair, on the other hand, you won’t be able to do this with natural colours, and so bleaching is out of the question. For blonde hair, however, plant extracts can add more brilliance to your locks. Just don’t expect a complete makeover. Similarly, plant dyes can’t change hair from black to brown.

Does this also mean that plant-based dyes won’t conceal grey hair?

Plant dyes do work on grey hair. As you may know, grey hair doesn’t actually exist. It just looks grey. In reality, small air bubbles are deposited in the corneal layers of «grey» hair, which turn them into pigment-less strands. In other words, white hair. While white hairs are still in the minority, you’ll get an optical illusion of grey hair when it intermingles with the pigmented or coloured locks. The higher the proportion of effectively white strands, the lighter your head of hair will look, until it eventually appears as white as it actually is.

But back to the question: grey (white) hair can certainly be coloured with plant-based hair dye. But sometimes, depending on the initial hair tone, it may need to be dyed twice or even more before it takes. In this instance, it’s also true that lighter shades are easier to achieve than darker. For grey hair coverage, it’s worth seeking out a natural hair colour expert at your hairdresser.

Is applying plant-based hair dye different to chemical colours?

When you mix plant dye, you’ll notice it’s a lot more crumbly and difficult to stir than conventional hair dyes. As mentioned above, you (only) need to stir plant dye with hot water. If you add another liquid or cream, it’s no longer real plant-based colour. So how does the process work? The hot water turns the powder into a solid, compact mass, which is quite difficult to apply to the hair. Plant-based hair dyes also need to be left on for longer – depending on colour and intensity, this can take between 45 minutes and an hour. During this time, you need to wrap the hair in a towel to support heat build-up for most products.mad m With conventional dyes, you don’t cover your hair.

Can you switch from conventional to natural dyes?

Theoretically, you can. Nevertheless, as with any dye, it depends what your hair was like to start with, irrespective of whether you had natural hair colour or already had coloured hair. Therefore, you might only do a test run on one strand of hair to start with. One crucial point when colouring your hair at home is that it shouldn’t contain any silicone from previous hair washes or hair care products. These actually reduce the effect of plant-based dyes. You’ll know if the ingredients contain silicones by the telltale «-xane» and «-cone» endings. But even if you switch to silicone-free hair care, it’ll still take two to three weeks for most of the silicone residue to wash out of your hair.

If you’re unsure, you’d be better asking a professional to (re)colour your hair, even with plant hair dye. When you take a close look at your head of hair, how much white is already visible? What colour nuances does your hair naturally have? What can go wrong in certain cases is the reverse switch. If you previously dyed your hair with plant-based dye and then have it chemically bleached, you may end up with green hair.