Red hair is bold, sexy, sassy and fun. It stands out in ways that other hair colors just can’t compete with, especially when it catches the light in just that certain way. But very few of us are naturally blessed with this gorgeous hue, from pale ginger to rich auburn, so if we want to feel like a flame-haired bombshell a la Christina Hendricks or Florence Welch, we’ve got to fake it.

Red can be one of the hardest hair colors to achieve, since it tends to fade quickly, and the wrong shade can send you to the clownish side of the spectrum. Here are some natural red hair color tips, and organic red hair dye brands that can safely get you the vivid shade you’re looking for, including healthy and all-natural henna. 

At the Salon: Aveda Plant-Based Hair Color

Nobody does red hair color better than Aveda, and if you want to avoid the pitfalls that can come with at-home dye jobs, putting yourself in the hands of a pro is your best bet. The brand’s full-spectrum permanent dyes are up to 99% naturally derived, with plant-based formulas instead of the petrochemicals that typically make up permanent hair dye. The nice thing about going to a salon is you can have a color custom-mixed to ensure that it’s just right for your skin tone, and the colorist can blend different shades to give your overall look more depth.

Aveda isn’t the only option for safe, organic red hair color, of course. Look for a salon in your area offering organic, non-toxic options, and check out the brands they use online before making an appointment.

At-Home Permanent Red Hair: Naturtint and Herbatint

If you’d rather just grab a box off the shelf and get it over with, there are a few options to choose from. Whole Foods and other natural food stores offer brands like Naturtint and Herbatint. Herbatint is free of ammonia, alcohol, fragrance and parabens, and uses less peroxide for a more natural-looking result; the Environmental Working Group (EWG) gave it a safety score of 2 out of 10, (lower numbers indicating a safer product). Red shades range from light copper blonde to ‘flash fashion’ crimson red, and they can be mixed to create your own custom shade. The same goes for Naturtint, which scored a 3 from EWG. These box formulas aren’t perfect, but they’re a big improvement over the conventional store brands.

Not sure which shade to choose? When it doubt, go lighter. You can always dye it again if the results aren’t bold enough for you, but it can be hard to fix cherry-red hair that’s darker and more dramatic than you wanted.

Making a Big Commitment: Henna

By far, the healthiest and most permanent option for red hair color is henna. Totally plant-based, henna bonds with the proteins in your hair rather than just coating it in a very long-lasting reaction that’s hard to reverse. Because it has a sheer effect, working with your own natural hair color, the results tend to look fairly natural, with lots of dimension.

You can control the hue of your results using the custom formulas described at HennaForHair.com, which incorporate other natural ingredients like coffee, hibiscus petals and lemon juice. Always try it out on a small piece of hair before coloring your entire head.

Temporary Red Hair: Vegetable Dyes

If you want to give natural red hair color a try, but you’re feeling a little commitment-shy, try a temporary rinse. Vegetable dyes like Manic Panic can be used over your current hair color (assuming it’s not too dark) for a subtle effect that washes out in a week or two. Manic Panic is vegan, PPD-free and never tested on animals, but some formulas do contain parabens. Learn more about the ingredients at Bonzai Aphrodite, and make sure to do an allergy test before use.

Main Image: megan leetz Other Images: Aveda.com

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A Brush with Eco-Friendly Hair Color

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The post Be a Redhead Bombshell: Safer Natural Red Hair Color from Salon to Box to Henna appeared first on EcoSalon.

Eco-friendly hair color. It’s so enigmatic it deserves its own sentence fragment. Does it really exist? Can you get lasting hair color without color-binding ammonia? Is a brunette really a redhead and a blonde really a blonde when false colors are involved? Does George Clooney really mean that he’s never getting married? (Sorry, just threw that in there.) Some experts estimate that between 65 to 75 percent of women dye their hair, and it is believed that the practice goes all the way back to ancient Egyptians.

First, the bad. Most hair dyes are made of up ammonia, which binds the color, and hydrogen peroxide, which lightens existing color. Many dyes also contain p-Phenylenediamine (PPD), which is linked to problems with the immune and nervous systems. PPD creates a permanent, natural look. However, women who used hair dyes containing PPD have shown an increased risk of diseases such as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Jackie Kennedy Onassis died in her sixties of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and her hair stylist Peter Lamas famously suggested that her doctors believed hair dye may have caused her cancer.

Healthier hair color is certainly on the minds of industry professionals. L’Oréal Professionnel just announced that is premiering an ammonia-free line of hair color.
But to call it eco-friendly is a bit of a stretch, as even the best organic hair colors are going to have some chemicals that we may not like. While experts argue that the best color you can get will always be professional, there are some box brands that go easy on the chemicals. For example, brands like Naturtint contain no ammonia. This particular color is enriched with wheat, soy, corn and oat plant protein complex. Another brand, Light Mountain, contains no peroxide, ammonia or other additives.

But are they healthy? I asked the experts.

One fine, recent Wednesday, I took myself to Primrose Organics Salon and Boutique, located in the heart of Los Feliz, California. Walking into the warm space filled with eco-friendly products galore, I spoke with owners Melissa Tournay and Felicia Howe. They explained to me that picking an eco-friendly hair color is more like picking your battles. Anything that colors your hair may have certain chemical ramifications, but there are healthier hair options out there.

Primrose Organics offers up primarily two lines of color. There’s the EcoColors line, which calls itself a non-toxic. It is free of gluten, parabens, sulfites and contains many natural based ingredients. They get props for offering up an ingredient lists – other eco-friendly lines responded to my request for ingredients like I was asking for secret to George Clooney’s dreaminess. (Again, just throwing that in.)

And then there is the Organic Color Systems. This line is free of ammonia, parabens, plastics, Sodium Lauryl Suflates, and other baddies. They also offer up a comprehensive ingredients list, which includes the ingredients, what they are derived from, and their function. For example, Organics Color Systems contains Alcohol Denatured, derived from corn, which works as a viscosity adjuster.

My hair, newly done with the Organic Color Systems.

But frankly, this all just covers the glossy surface of eco color. As I write this article now, I feel like I’m wreathed in spa scents – literally, hours later, my hair still smells like lavender. And I truly dig the color – I am self-admittedly, ahem, a bit intense about my hair and want it to look its “best version of natural.”  Mission accomplished, Organic Color Systems! And sure, retaining my dark blonde color might have been the “greenest” thing to do. But beauty doesn’t have to be toxic, and it seems that these hair color lines are on the forefront of the fight against chemically-produced color.

Images: Alex Campos, Katherine Butler

Editor’s note: this review is FTC Compliant.

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