Dye Your Hair With Indigo

Dyeing your hair is a fun way to make your hair the color that you want. Unfortunately, this can involve putting chemicals in your hair that irritate your scalp and skin. Dyeing your hair with indigo powder is a way to avoid this. Indigo powder is produced by grinding the leaves of the indigo plant, which means that indigo powder is completely natural. With indigo powder, you can make your hair as dark as you want without using chemicals. Generally, to do this, people with light-colored hair need a henna base, and those with darker hair can use indigo powder without a henna base.[1]

Steps

Using Henna as a Base

  1. Buy or Make Henna henna. Henna is not difficult to make. However, if you want to save yourself time, you can generally find henna at Middle Eastern or Indian grocery stores. But enough henna to cover your hair. 200g is usually enough for shoulder length hair. If you want specialty henna, you may have to visit a henna artist.
  2. Prepare the henna. If you have light colored hair, then you will need to use henna as a base. You should put a small amount of henna in a bowl. Pour a small amount of hot water into the bowl. Then, mix in some lemon juice or vinegar. Stir this mixture till it gets thick. Keep adding liquid till it has a creamy type of thickness to it. Once it’s thick enough, you should wrap the bowl with plastic wrap.[2]
    • You should do this the day before you dye your hair. It’s recommended that henna be refrigerated for twelve to twenty-four hours, as this will release the dye.
  3. Apply henna to your hair.Do this in sections by parting your hair into three even chunks. You want to place a large amount of henna paste on your hair. It should be so thick that it goes down to your scalp.
  4. Cover your head. Once you’ve placed a substantial amount of henna on each section of your hair, wrap plastic around your head. You should not remove this wrap for two to four hours. Doing this will make sure that your hair absorbs the henna completely.

Preparing to Dye With Indigo

  1. Purchase indigo. You can generally find indigo at big retailers and beauty supply stores. You can also purchase high-quality indigo on websites like Amazon. Buy 100g of indigo for every six inches of hair.[2]
  2. Get your space ready. If you have any old newspapers or towels, you should put them on the floor of the space that you intend to use. Henna may be dripping and you won’t want to clear the sticky substance off of the floor. If your bathroom is big enough, you might want to consider dyeing your hair there. Indigo will permanently stain clothes, carpets, pets, and furniture, so be careful.
  3. Clean your hair. Wash your hair thoroughly, then dry it naturally or with a blow dryer. You can use your regular shampoo and conditioner. You just want to make sure that you get rid of any excess dirt and henna, if you applied any. This will make the dyeing process easier. Your hair can be a little damp; in fact, a little dampness is good for the dyeing process.
  4. Section your hair. Comb your hair and aim to get rid of any tangles or knots. After you do this, you will want to section your hair into a few different parts. This will make dyeing your hair less difficult. The most common way to section hair is to create four different quadrants. To do this, create two divides. First, you should divide your front and back hair. Then, you should part your hair into a left section and a right section. This will give you four separate parts.[3]
    • Use bobby pins or hair clips to hold each section in place.
  5. Put on gloves. Your hands might get dirty and end up looking blue from the indigo. To avoid this, put on a pair of rubber gloves prior to applying indigo. Latex, kitchen, or gardening gloves will do.[4]

Applying Indigo

  1. Prepare the indigo. It’s best to do this once you are ready to start the dyeing process. Pour warm water into a medium-sized bowl. Sprinkle in the indigo powder. Wait for about ten to fifteen minutes. You will want to mix this until you create a textured sort of paste.[5]
  2. Apply indigo to your hair. You should now have a prepared indigo mixture. Spoon this on your hair using your hands. You should place indigo on all parts of your hair that you want to be darkened.
  3. Wrap your hair. You want to make sure the indigo seeps into your hair. Therefore, once you have covered your hair with indigo, you should put a plastic wrap or a shower cap on your head. You will want to leave your hair covered for about an hour.[6]
  4. Rinse off the paste.Take the wrap off. Using cool water, you should rinse out all of the paste that is in your hair.
    • Do not use shampoo for the next two to three days.
    • It will take a couple of days for the indigo to oxidize. Once it does, then you will see the actual color it was supposed to produce.



Tips

  • Adding a teaspoon of salt to the indigo mixture can increase the richness of the color.
  • Indigo has the consistency of wet sand. Adding an egg white or two will make it easier to work with.
  • An indigo mix cannot be stored, so only mix as much as you need.
  • This works best on brunettes and redheads. Blondes may end up with greenish-blue hair.
  • Do not store powdered indigo in the freezer, this will kill dye release. Keep it in a dry, dark place.
  • Do wash your hair for one to three days after applying indigo. Otherwise, the indigo will be washed out.

Warnings

  • Indigo is permanent. You have to wait for it to grow out.
  • Indigo will permanently stain clothes, carpets, pets, and furniture, so be careful.
  • Indigo may slightly dry your hair. Frequent indigo users should alternate between indigo and henna. Henna conditions your hair and won't lighten the black.

Things You'll Need

  • Indigo powder
  • Old towels, clothes, and newspaper
  • 2 eggs
  • Mixing bowl and spoon, both non-metallic
  • Plastic Wrap
  • Warm water
  • Henna

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.storey.com/article/four-pure-herbal-colorants-for-coloring-hair-naturally/
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://www.hennacaravan.com/how/indigo.html
  3. ↑ http://www.hairfinder.com/hair2/sectionhair.htm
  4. ↑ http://www.mehandi.com/shop/hairindigo/black.pdf
  5. ↑ http://www.mehandi.com/shop/brunette/brunette.pdf
  6. ↑ http://www.mehndiskinart.com/indigo_hair_recipe.htm
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