Natural Chemicals and Hair Lightening.

Discussion in 'Body Care' started by nox_lumen, Jun 20, 2014.

  1. nox_lumen

    nox_lumen Member

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    I know, the topic sounds like an oxymoron. On the other hand since may looking into natural body care are trying to skip on the harsh chemicals of commercial body care, it's kind of relevant.

    So, the story I tend to get on the inter-webs is that by making your own lightener at home, you won't get the scary peroxide and ammonia of commercial hair bleach. It sounds great, right, no stink, no harm, just shiny healthy hair. It's at least worth a try, right?

    Till you find out WHY the lightener works and just how long it will take.

    Chamomile, olive oil, cinnamon and honey all make hydrogen peroxide when mixed with water. Why yes, that same scary chemical you were trying to pass up by cooking up hair color at home.

    And one herbalist recommends adding 10 drops of urine to each cup of chamomile tea, so there is your ammonia to go with the peroxide.

    So, the savvy herb user may ask "Won't that damage my hair long term?". Yes, it will, but quantity plays a role. Then again the same goes for the salon bleaches.

    The difference comes down heavily to time. You can get the lightening over with in a matter of an hour or 2, then wash off the chemical soup with a specialist to minimize hair trauma. Or you can do it yourself over the next several weeks and find out the unpleasant way just how long you can use a honey hair mask before your ends are fried. Yes, fried, as in over chemical processing causing them to become brittle and snap off. As it turns out, natural hydrogen peroxide can over tax hair just like the carefully controlled laboratory concentrations used in commercial developers, only with nature the time limits are all estimates that vary from year and batch.

    On the bright side, the peroxide in these "natural" lighteners could be very handy on fresh cuts and scrapes as well as make good potential toner for skin.

    More good news: If you have a shampoo with chamomile in it, you probably need not worry. Chances are that the company used so little tea that you won't see any difference. See if your customers suddenly came up blond with dry hair, lawsuits would be had, so there will be too little plant to cause a radical impact with day to day use. Makes one wonder if the chamomile even needed to be in the hair product at that point, doesn't it?
     
  2. drumminmama

    drumminmama Super Moderator Lifetime Supporter

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    Honey hair mask is a humectant.
    People wind up with dry ends because the humidity is lower than the hair's moisture point.
    That will damage long before any homemade lightener.

    The difference in using home methods compared to box methods is concentration and buffering/penetrating ingredients. ( the stylists I worked with briefly would laugh that I remember this)

    Urea is nitrogen Rich, and is a super wetting ingredient, allowing saturation.
    That's what the urine is for. Common in fabric dyeing from time immemorial, now a powder taken from (typically) pig urine.

    Any stuff you mix up should get a strand test. Save shed/brushed hairs, or use a small lock in a hidden spot.
     

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