Do Natural Hair Dyes Really Work?
If you’re among the nearly 65 percent of women who color their hair and want to detox your haircare regimen completely, you must also evaluate your hair-dye routine. Conventional dyes use chemicals such as ammonia (to irritate the hair shaft and allow color to penetrate), peroxide (to lighten), and resorcinol (to provide specific color). The only truly natural and chemical-free hair-coloring agent is henna. And if you have ever tried it, you know that henna delivers unpredictable coverage and saturation. Still, vegetable-based hair dyes provide a viable alternative. Many of them rely on as light a chemical load as possible, which allows you to use fewer toxic ingredients and still get good results. We tested the gray-covering ability of Herbatint and Naturcolor, two brands that contain no ammonia or resorcinol and a minimal amount of peroxide. They both provided excellent coverage and left a natural-looking color that lasted for months—and the fewer times the hair was shampooed, the lo
