How to Enhance Your Hair Color Using Tea

While dyeing your hair different colors can be fun, the chemicals in regular hair dye can be very drying and damaging to your hair. Instead, try enhancing the colors in your hair using different kinds of tea. This is a gentle, inexpensive way to give your hair subtle, semi-permanent color.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Enhancing Blonde Color in Hair

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1
Brew chamomile tea to gently lighten. Steep 2-3 tea bags of pure chamomile tea in a cup of boiling water for 10 minutes. Let cool and transfer to a spray bottle or pour directly onto clean, damp hair, then rinse.^{[1]XResearch source}
- Leave in for 30-60 minutes or longer, or sit out in the sun with the chamomile tea still in for stronger results.^{[2]XResearch source}
- Add additional ingredients to the spray such as lemon juice, white vinegar, or raw honey to help strengthen the lightening effect. Leave in hair for the same length of time, but note that repeated applications with lemon juice can dry out hair slightly.^{[3]XResearch source}
- In addition to enhancing blonde tones, chamomile has anti-inflammatory properties to soothe the scalp, conditions hair, and encourages hair growth.
2
Use calendula tea to bring out golden tones. Steep 2 tea bags of calendula tea, or ¼ cup calendula petals in a cup of boiling water. Let cool and put into a spray bottle or directly into hair before gently rinsing.^{[4]XResearch source}
- Leave the tea in for longer, or sit out in the sun with it in, for stronger results.
- Combine with chamomile tea, or other ingredients like lemon juice, white vinegar, or raw honey to help strengthen the lightening effect.
- In addition to golden tones, calendula also has soothing and antibacterial properties for the scalp.
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3
Make a rhubarb root tea for lighter tones. Cut up a half cup of fresh rhubarb root or use 3 or 4 tablespoons (44.4 or 59.1 ml) of dried rhubarb root and add to a pot with a quart of water. Simmer for 20 minutes and let steep overnight. Strain out the pieces and use the remaining liquid in a spray or rinse on your hair.^{[5]XResearch source}
- Avoid inhaling the steam created from simmering the root over heat, as rhubarb roots and leaves contain a high quantity of oxalic acid, which is toxic to ingest but makes the lightening effect last longer.^{[6]XResearch source}
- This treatment will also help mask gray hairs.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Enhancing Brown Color in Hair

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1
Use black tea to bring out darker colors. Steep 2-3 tea bags of pure black tea in boiling water. Let cool and use in a spray bottle or pour directly onto hair, then rinse.
- Leave in for 30-60 minutes or longer for a stronger effect.
- In addition to enhancing darker colors, black tea also helps flaky scalps and overly oily hair, and covers gray hairs effectively.
2
Make a tea out of dried sage, rosemary, and nettle. Purchase dried sage leaf, rosemary leaf, and nettle leaf, and put ¼ cup of each into 2.5 cups of water. Let simmer for at least 30 minutes or until the water is very dark. Let cool, strain, and use the liquid as a spray or rinse in hair.^{[7]XResearch source}
- Leave in hair for 30-60 minutes, or longer for a stronger effect.
- In addition to darkening hair, these herbs also reduce dandruff, add moisture, remove buildup, add depth, and cover grays in hair.
3
Use black walnut for a very dark color. Make a tea bag out of cheesecloth or an open tea bag and add ¼ cup of black walnut powder. Let the bag steep in 3 cups of cool water in a jar overnight. Then use the liquid as a rinse in the hair.^{[8]XResearch source}
- Leave walnut rinse in the hair and let dry in the sun for best results.
- This treatment will create a very dark effect in hair that is very dry or color treated, and can provide the darkest coverage for gray hair.
- Use gloves and take care when applying this treatment, as black walnut will stain very easily.^{[9]XResearch source}

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Enhancing Red Color in Hair

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1
Use rooibos tea to bring out reds. Steep 2-3 rooibos (red bush tea) tea bags in a cup of boiling water for 30 minutes. Let cool and apply to hair directly or with a spray bottle. Leave in for 30-60 minutes, or longer if you want stronger results.
- Add fresh beet and carrot juice to further bring out red colors in the hair. Note that these juices stain easily.^{[10]XResearch source}
- In addition to enhancing red colors, rooibos also encourages hair growth and prevents gray hairs, as well as soothing the scalp and reducing dandruff.^{[11]XResearch source}
- Add calendula tea or fresh calendula petals to help bring out lighter highlights in auburn hair.
2
Make a tea with rosehips to brighten reds. Find rosehip tea in a teabag or make your own tea by simmering rosehips in water for 30 minutes. Let cool and spray or rinse hair with the liquid.
- You can also add rose petals to this tea treatment for extra brightening of red tones, plus moisturizing, growth encouraging, and scalp nourishing effects.
- Add fresh beet and carrot juice to further bring out red colors in the hair. Note that these juices stain easily.^{[12]XResearch source}
- Add calendula tea or fresh calendula petals to help bring out lighter highlights in auburn hair.
3
Use hibiscus tea for bright reds. Steep 3-5 hibiscus tea bags, or simmer fresh petals in 2 cups of water for at least 10 minutes. Let cool and apply to the hair directly or with a spray bottle.
- Blow dry hair or sit in the sun for a stronger effect. You can also add a pinch of paprika spice to enhance reddening effects.
- Add fresh beet and carrot juice to further bring out red colors in the hair. Note that these juices stain easily.^{[13]XResearch source}
- Add calendula tea or fresh calendula petals to help bring out lighter highlights in auburn hair.
- In addition to enhancing reds, hibiscus also thickens hair and prevents hair loss, detangles hair, treats dandruff, adds shine, and covers gray hairs.

Expert Q&A

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Question
How do you keep natural blonde hair bright?
Karen Leight
Professional Hair Stylist
Karen Leight is a Professional Hair Stylist and the Owner of Karen Renee Hair, a private salon suite inside the Salon Republic Hollywood in Los Angeles, California. With over 12 years of experience, Karen is a licensed cosmetologist specializing in hair color, balayage technique, and women’s and men’s precision haircuts.
Karen Leight
Professional Hair Stylist
Expert Answer
I would suggest using a purple shampoo to keep your blonde hair as vibrant as possible, but there's not much that you can do to stop that process, because that has something to do with genetics. Try putting some natural pieces of blonde balayage to keep it bright.
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Can I do blonde enhancement for brown hair?
Community Answer
Yes. While it may take a few years to fully see the effect, if you use chamomile (shampoo and tea) on your hair, you'll achieve natural golden highlights.
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Question
When you spray it, will it only enhance a bit of your hair or the whole thing?
Community Answer
Tea coloring is targeted, so only the area you spray on will be colored.
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Tips

Leave tea treatments in longer for stronger color enhancing. You can even leave tea in hair overnight under a shower cap or plastic bag.^{[14]XResearch source}
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Spray black tea on hair after darkening it with a brown or red treatment to make the color last longer. Spray a tea made out of catnip leaves onto hair after lightening it with one of the blonde color treatments.^{[15]XResearch source}
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These tips work best to enhance hair that is naturally the same color, i.e. use blonde enhancers on blonde hair, brunette on brunette, and red on red. However, some treatments can subtly change other hair colors, like using chamomile to lighten brown hair slightly.^{[16]XResearch source}
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Warnings

These natural methods don’t have instant or overnight effects, and they are not permanent.^{[17]XExpert SourceKaren Leight
Professional Hair StylistExpert Interview. 13 November 2020.} For best and lasting results, repeat tea rinses multiple times to see more of a difference in hair color.
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Even though these are all natural ingredients, you should always test for an allergic reaction by spraying a small amount of your tea mixture onto a sensitive area of skin (like the inner wrist). If your skin reacts, or you apply it to your hair and your scalp becomes itchy or painful, discontinue use immediately.
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