How to lighten your hair (and dreadlocks)

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I dyed my hair 3 months ago but the color had faded and I decided to lighten it. I didn't want to dye it again because of the damage that this would cause to my hair. Here is what I did :

The ingredients:

-I took a bowl and filled it with 6 cups of water.(some people say that distilled water works best but I used tap water instead)
- 2 chamomile tea bags

- 3 tablespoons of raw honey
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

- 1 tablespoon of olive oil

- saran wrap

How to:

First, fill the bowl with hot water and dip in the chamomile bags. Add honey. Stir, so it can melt. Add cinnamon and THEN olive oil. Continue to stir. Let the mixture to sit out for about an hour. This will allow the peroxide levels to be released.
Cinnamon can cause some tingling, so it is recommended that you do a patch test on your skin first. It will also cause some redness but it will go away.

The best way to coat your hair with the mixture is to put your head in the bowl. I tried to pour it once and I lost most of it and I wasn't able to coat my hair evenly. Squeeze out the excess.

During the process of lightening, your hair must stay wet that's why you need to wrap it with saran wrap.

Leave the mixture on for 2 hours. Then wash several times to take off all the cinnamon from your hair.

-The second time I didn't use cinnamon.This time worked very well too.

-And the third time I added 1/4 cup of lemon juice.

Before After the first application Third one Final result

When I took the third photo there wasn't the same room lightening as in the 3 other pics because it was a rainy day. But anyway you can see the difference from the first one. Also my friends asked me if I had dyed my hair so this recipe totally works :)

How to lighten dreadlocks

Here is the recipe :

Boil 4 cups of water.
Steep 2 chamomile tea bags.
1/2 cup of lemon juice
Add 1 tablespoon of honey and make sure it melts completely.

Let the mixture cool down and then pour it in a spray bottle. You can also add sea salt in there. Spray your locks. Either blow dry them or let them stay like that. Wash them after 2 hours.
(*I've had dreadlocks)

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19 comments:

EmilyMay 17, 2012 at 8:23 AM
Hmmm must give this a try! ♥
FloorMay 19, 2012 at 12:48 PM
And you have beautiful hair! :o <3
stilhouetteMay 20, 2012 at 10:16 PM
sounds great! I think I will try it :)
xoxo anja

http://stil-houette.blogspot.de/
RonjaMay 21, 2012 at 1:06 PM
Yes, exactly ;) You have wonderful hairs!
Have a nice day
Ronja
UnknownMay 22, 2012 at 2:46 PM
very informative! Thank you so much! I'm following your blog .. crae to follow me back? :)

http://metajojuana-under-a-starry-nyt.blogspot.in/
Jaz xoMay 23, 2012 at 7:10 PM
Great post! xo
Safe in the Steep CliffsMay 23, 2012 at 9:03 PM
whoa... this is cool. how long did the color last you ?
lisa brandstaetterMay 25, 2012 at 6:53 PM
your hair looks really good! great post! :)
Carolina AurélieMay 30, 2012 at 4:53 PM
Like your result :)
LextravaganceJune 11, 2012 at 1:05 AM
This is a really smart idea! Definitely worth trying. Your hair looks amazing, especially on the fourth photo :) xx
Sarah EJuly 20, 2012 at 7:27 PM
I have medium to dark brown hair and I'm trying this to lighten it before dying with pure henna - I'm going for a natural red/copper look. I'm trying this as we speak, using the mixture with cinnamon instead of chamomile. I'm excited to see how it turns out! I plan to do it a few times before I finally color.

I'm curious to see if it works, since its supposed to have a "peroxide like" effect and I've put straight peroxide on my hair (I know, bad.) for up to an hour with no results.

Two things:
Do you find that heat helps?
How long did you wait before repeating the process?
UnknownAugust 29, 2012 at 4:51 AM
Will this recipe work with natural black hair? My hair is naturally black and I dye it black to cover up gray hair. I recently tried a bleaching kit and it was a disaster! I really want to lighten my hair and after doing the bleaching kit, I don't want to use chemicals. Please any advice would be appreciated.
SehriyoSeptember 18, 2012 at 5:41 PM
I just made this mixture. The honey mixed fine with the hot water. The oil created trouble. It obviously didn't mix with the water but it didn't let the cinnamon mix either. The cinnamon stuck to the oil blobs and no amount of heating or stirring would get it to dissolve in the water. Some of it did, but most floated on top in dark brown blobs with the olive oil.
How did you avoid this? My mixture ended up being watery with blobs on top!
AimeéApril 17, 2013 at 4:53 AM
I've never dyed my hair. I have a medium brown color and I used very concentrated cinnamon tea and lots of lemon juice. I put it in a bottle and sprayed it on my hair (I only wanted some highlights) and then I stood out in the sun. It worked really well and it gave me natural-looking golden highlights. I had never heard of cinnamon, I may add it and see how it works.
UnknownJune 19, 2013 at 10:33 PM
I'm Currently trying it. i have dreads and this is the first version of this recipe i've seen for dreads thanks!
Noura☆August 1, 2013 at 9:02 PM
Hi, I have dark brown hair, I tried this and nothing changed its kinda frustrating ): I read ur reply below and was wondering whats the color of ur natural hair, before dying it black? Was it light originally? because im thinking of henna-ing my hair then this again, maybe it'll give me the great result u had.. <3
Anna B.August 2, 2013 at 11:53 PM
The roots of my hair which are dark brown didn't get any lighter either. The recipe only worked on the colored hair. It was like a medium chocolate brown I think. You won't get the same results since our hair colors are different, but however, it will definitely turn out beautiful if you use henna :) I recommend you search some more for recipes with cinnamon for dark hair, preferably from african-american women, since their hair is very dark naturally. And I also think that maybe you should do it more than 3 times to see a significant change. :)
(I'm not sure what my natural color was, maybe a medium brown ? :S Still dark, but not as dark as dark brown :D ) <3
AnonymousNovember 29, 2014 at 5:58 PM
do i have to use raw honey?