I think most of us would agree that the little mirror on the visor of your car is your enemy-it’s possibly the worst place to check in on how you’re looking. Every flaw is amplified; every freckle is enlarged. Case in point: I was late for a meeting last week and, as I was hopping out of the car, decided to do one last check-in via the car mirror. There they were. A few gray hairs glimmering in the sunlight.
My hair is a dark brown-almost black and there have always been random gray hairs. But lately I seem to be finding more and more. My locks have never been colored (except for a brief run- in with sun-in during summer camp-think BRIGHT orange).
I know I’m not alone-statistics are showing more men and women are starting to gray at an earlier age: 32 percent of British women under the age of 30 have started to go gray — up 14 percent from two decades ago.
So what are us greenies to do when the grays come our way?
The gray is coming for all of us and there’s no stopping mother nature. As a green living advocate, like many of you, I pay close attention to the chemicals that go in and on my body. As much as I want to keep the dark hair, my intuition is screaming “toxic chemicals”.
OPTIONS FOR HAIR COLOR
OPTION 1: Bring on the gray
Gray hair is beautiful. There are so many people that look absolutely stunning with a head of gray hair. It can even be trendy to go gray. However, I’m just not there-maybe someday I will be, but not right now.
OPTION 2: Conventional hair dye
Most hair dyes also don’t have to go through safety testing that other cosmetic color additives do before hitting salons and store shelves. Studying something like hair dyes is complicated because they may contain any of thousands of different chemicals. According to the American Cancer Society, concern about cancer risk is largely limited to the semi-permanent dyes and the permanent dyes that contain heavy duty chemicals. Health concerns may range from skin irritations to cancer. I know many of you use hair dye and there’s no judgment here. I can’t do it.
OPTION 3: Alternatives to conventional dyes
Off I went to Whole Foods to check out their options. Box after box of hair color-even the ones that promoted themselves as “all natural” had ingredient lists that read like a chemistry text book. Many of the ingredients were challenging to pronounce- which induces an automatic “put me back on the shelf and run” reaction. Home I went, empty handed.
My next stop was Environmental Working Groups Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database, a database that rates the safety of all of your favorite personal care products. They actually have an entire category dedicated to hair coloring products. After scouring the brands and products, I decided that henna products were my answer to ridding my head of the grays.
My Solution: henna products
I ordered 2 henna products; both scored a hazard score of ONE (zero is the safest possible score) on Skin Deep.
Using these wouldn’t be harmful and could possibly cover up the few straggling grays. Now to see if they work!
Stay tuned for part two-you’ll hear all about my DIY henna applications and details on whether they actually worked!
Do you color your hair? Is this one area where you throw all green values out the window and go for permanent color?
Any other hair coloring options out there?
Do you have gray hair? How did you decide to go gray?
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[Top photo used under Creative Commons by Brandon Greer/Flickr]
So- a few years ago I went throught he same dilema/non-toxic search. My grey grows in patches along my temple- imagine bride of Frankenstein- not a good look. My neighbor uses real henna from an indian market and it looks great so I decided to try it. I went with the darkest possible color but guess what, because my grey is so “condensed” it actually turned those greys “Bozo the Clown” orange. Hubby couldn’t look at me w/o laughing and kids thought I looked like a rock star. I can laugh about it now… Unfortunately-Henna needs to be stripped off if you want to change it ASAP. This is a very chemical laden process, and then I needed to have a salon redye my hair- more chemicals. Lesson learned. I now use Naturtint from WF’s- moderate on the EWG list, but it covers well and doesn’t seem to dry out my hair. I can’t wait to hear how it goes for you Lori. I hope you have better luck than I did and that you uncover a good product.
Back when I had free time, I was a devotee of Manic Panic Pillarbox Red (my best friend called it Headwound Red; my brother called it Ronald McDonald Red). Ingredients, not too scary- Water, Synthetic Beeswax, Cetearyl Alcohol, Ceteareth 20, Humulus Lupulus (hops) Extract, Anthemis Nobilis (Flower) Extract, Acetic Acid, Methylparaben, Propylene Glycol. May contain one or more colorants.
P.S. I am being overcome with the desire to dye my hair as soon as I get home from work. 🙂
Ok-now I’m scared Stel! What a process you went through. I’m glad that you were able to find something that works for you that is relatively safe. I’ll keep you posted on my adventure!
I think I need to see some photos of the Ronald Mcdonald Red. Did you check out Manic Panic Pillarbox Red on Skin Deep? Just curious how the dye was rated.
Ooooo-did I respond too late? Did you dye your hair?
Ack! Run-in with sun-in? It must be a summer camp rite of passage! Add kool-aid to the list of summer camp hair dye experiments, though at least I was smart enough to say “You go first..”
When I saw that first grey hair I quickly plucked it out. My mom laughed at me. “What’s so funny?”…”You’ll see..” Good grief they were like wet Gremlins and I swear they multiplied overnight. So for a while I used a very eco-friendly product called “hat”. It’s is exactly what you think it is- a hat. Then I found this > http://www.actnaturals.com/permanent-hair-color-kit.html though it doesn’t have the staying power like its chemical-laden cousins. But a few years ago I started using Wen to wash my hair > http://chazdean.com/c-2-cleansing-conditioners.aspx?gclid=COfGrOmJjagCFY1n5QodZQbSCw (yes it was 3am info-rmercial impulse buy) and now the color stays as long as conventional dyes. Added bonus: I no longer have to put a single styling product in my crazy curls.
I can’t wait to see how your experiment works out- are you doing half your head in one and half in another? Good luck!!!
Kool-aid? How did I miss that one? Was your hair green, orange or purple? I’ve been plucking out the grays for a while-but now I can’t keep up. I will have to check out the hair color you mentioned-did you see how it scored on Skin Deep? The hat product sounds hysterical! I could do half and half-now that would be interesting. I have already used the products….each at a separate time. So I have the results ready to share. Stay tuned!
P.S. I recently had my sister pick up a highlight kit for me at Whole Foods, but after checking it out on SkinDeep, I had her return it. 🙁
I think I’ll be highlight-free until my child-bearing/nursing years are behind me, although I may try lemon juice/chamomile this summer.
Hey Lori,
timing couldn’t be better. just getting to that point too where I just can’t ignore the greys…but don’t want all those chemicals. heard aveda shampoos help for minimal gray coverage (it takes a while for it to build up on your hair but apparently covers the grays over time)..butI’d love to hear about what you discover. I can’t wait. I love this site!!!
I can’t tell you how many products I’ve returned after checking out their score on Skin Deep. I remember lots of blond friends using lemon juice to bring out the beautiful highlights. Sounds like a great plan Betsy!
Jenn! We should have a henna party 🙂 I just checked out Aveda Color Conserve shampoos on the Skin Deep site and they scored in the moderate hazard zone. Stay tuned and I’ll fill you in on my henna adventures.
my silver threads resisted color, just wouldn’t take the pigment, i was in my thirties and the grey wasn’t becoming, the hairs were dull and course. I tried a variety of natural color and the same issue. Finally I said cut all this color off, and I let it go. Interestingly “silver threads” appeared instead of the dull, my stylist at the time said – people would totally pay for this salt and pepper look. I have since grown my hair long, last this long 8th grade – I kid you not, and the natural silver threaded look for me is beautiful!!
Karen-thank you so much for chiming in. It’s so nice to hear from someone with beautiful, long silver threads. You are one of the lucky to have gorgeous, gray hair. Hopefully someday I will get to that place. Right now my grays are coming in randomly and in odd spots-looking more like a skunk than silver threads. Maybe the trick is to get it all cut off and start fresh like you did?
Aww that photo reminds me of my sister who is sure she was meant to be born with pink hair. It does suit her so well!
Truly, I find this topic fascinating. Thank you for broaching it and high five on the henna success!
I used to dye my hair from about ages 10-28. I cried about my light blonde hair getting darker and mom was happy to color my hair when she did hers. So it became a crutch for years. It was the ONE area that I “threw all green values out the window”, as you say. I bought vegan box dyes, but they are still loaded with harsh chemicals.
Eventually… after literally years of wrestling with this incongruence, I made the only choice I felt peace about… and I stopped dying my hair!
For months I would look at the growing roots, as the brown replaced the blonde, and I would sulk. Pout. Lament. Tell myself I wasn’t as pretty anymore. I tell ya, leaving hair dye behind is a serious commitment to self-growth! I had to constantly notice those thoughts and turn them around. See it as the liberation I wanted, not being a victim of a world that can’t make a simple box of non-toxic hair dye. Heh.
It’s been maybe 2 years now and the grown out hair now blends beautifully with the few inches of blonde left at the tips. (Or so I see it now!) I have learned to not just accept, but LOVE my natural color. I look at old photos and think “Blonde was really not that flattering on me. My brunette hair looks way more healthy and vibrant.”
If I decide to go gray (cuz my understanding is that I can choose not to), I will let it grow in. Silver and gray hair is really, super beautiful! My mom still dyes her hair, and has a love-hate with the grays. I think she likes them in her heart, but that people’s ideas about what gray represents makes it harder to embrace. I suspect this is true for many women right now…
Much Love,
Lauren Lionheart
Hi Lauren-Your comment is beautiful and I thank you for it. It is such a challenging decision for so many of us-to let the gray in, or allow our natural hair color to shine through. After years of coloring I can only imagine how challenging it was to let go of the hair dye crutch and allow yourself to go au natural. And look what happened-you LOVE your natural color! If and when you do go gray it’s nice to know that your decision has been made. You won’t have to agonize, like I have been, over this pretty trivial decision. Very well said-“peoples ideas about what gray represents makes it harder to embrace”. Society certainly has done a number on us!
I dyed my hair bright red in streaks once in my teens. Because my locks are dark brown (closer to black back then), I had to bleach them first. Never again! Although stylists expect bigger tips when they compliment their clients, I kind of believe them when they tell me my hair is beautiful because it’s really healthy. I’ve never used any products after washing (and I switched to natural shampoo and conditioner a few years ago). I’m not going to mess with it! Though, in all honesty, I have no grey yet, so it’s easy for me to say. 🙂
Ooooo-what a process to dye your hair red. You should have tried Sun-in, like I did. I guess that was bright orange not red 🙂 Let me know what you decide when those grays start rolling in.
@Lauren, I am in the same boat now. When it came to my hair, its as though all my green convictions flew out the window. I have blond hair, and all the natural dyes are for brown or darker. How does one use a dye for blondes? I really really want to stop dying my hair. It feels like a crutch! 😉
Have you written Part 2 yet? I tried searching for it but could not find it. I am considering using henna dyes and would love to know how they worked out for you. Your blog is really helpful!
Part 2 is coming….I promise! I have henna in my hair right now and lots of info to share. Feel free to email me if you want to try it before I get to part 2.
Part two has just been posted! After many months of trying products I actually found one that I like.
http://groovygreenlivin.com/2011/09/henna-a-healthy-hair-dye-alternative/