"The groundwork of all happiness is health." - Leigh Hunt

Hair dye is toxic – can a natural alternative be made to work?

Do you actually know what you're putting in your hair? There are many hair colours that you could buy in stores or hairdressers. Contains toxic chemicals which might cause skin problems and even increase the possibilities of DNA mutation (a possible explanation for cancer). As a result (and to lower your expenses), many individuals are turning to natural alternatives, with the Internet showing up. A plethora of homemade and plant-based concoctions. Yet only a few of them provide evidence that they color hair.

My colleagues and I recently conducted research to see if ultrasound, which is used to encourage fabric to soak up dyes, may also help make natural hair dyes more practical. . But while the outcomes were positive, we also found that treatments – and a few natural dyes themselves – can damage hair.

Hair dyes work by filling the hair strands with coloured chemicals, which enter the hair follicles. In everlasting dyes, two varieties of molecules go through these holes after which react to form a bigger variety of molecule that can't escape again. Semi-permanent dyes, meanwhile, only penetrate the outer layers of the hair and use chemicals that prefer to stick with the keratin protein within the hair. In each cases, alkaline solutions reminiscent of ammonia will help to plump hair, open hair cuticles and widen pores to enhance penetration and enhance coloration.

A wide variety of natural products are really useful online to cover gray hair, create highlights or completely change hair color. Contains really useful ingredients. Coffee, tea, beets, carrots, Onion skins, Nigella seeds And a delicious recipe Vinegar and soy sauce. Because they're all things we eat, they're inherently non-toxic, but most articles that recommend reapplying them every week or fortnight provide little evidence that they really do. let's work.

A typical suggestion for highlighting is to make use of Lemon juice, honey and sunlight. The sun's ultraviolet rays damage the melanin within the hair, leading to yellowing, and the small amount of citric acid in lemon juice can speed up this response. But acid may also shrink the shaft of every strand, leaving the hair thin, and stripping the hair of essential oils. And humidity.

You may also buy hair dyes that use naturally derived ingredients. If you don't mind purple hair, there's a natural ingredient that's been shown to work. There is blackcurrant extract.. However, probably the most common ingredients in natural dyes are henna or indigo, with henna getting used Ancient Egyptian. When mixed with indigo, henna can create a variety of colours from brown to black. These color extracts act like temporary dyes and are absorbed into the surface of the hair. But like other plant-based dyes, henna has a cure. Limited by Their dirtiness and the necessity to use them often.

Mehndi hair dye is natural but limited.
PhotoLotto/Shutterstock

To see if we could improve the hair coloring properties of natural hair dyes, my colleagues and I Experienced recently Effects of ultrasound on goat hair samples. To the relief of the university's ethics review board, this didn't involve taking the goat to the local hairdresser. Light-colored goat hair samples provide a consistent medium for testing and have properties just like human hair.

We already know that ultrasound can improve the performance of natural dyes. wool, Silk And Cotton. This creates pressure waves in liquids that cause small bubbles to rise and fall, creating micro-turbulence that Characteristics of ultrasound, will help the liquid molecules move faster. Under certain conditions, ultrasound may also open pores Natural materials. Our results show that, with the proper settings, ultrasound can cut the standard two-hour dyeing time of henna-based dyes in half.

Hair loss

But we also took large pictures of the hair using a scanning electron microscope before and after different treatments. They showed that when the ultrasound was applied long enough, it modified the structure of the hair, creating a unique hair texture than had been seen before. Patients with ectodermal dysplasia.

In some cases, there was also some damage to the hair surface, almost definitely erosion attributable to ultrasonic bubbles falling near or on the hair surface. The photos also showed that henna-based dyes can damage the hair's outer layer, or cuticle, which is often related to dry and damaged hair.

Overall, ultrasound under the proper conditions was capable of produce a more intense color that was more proof against washing than using henna dye by itself, and without damaging the hair. But before you stick your head in an ultrasonic bath, we'd like to work out all the protection implications. Our next step might be to see how ultrasound can best be used to enhance different colorant formulations without damaging the hair and the way it will probably be utilized in the true world.

Until now, it doesn't appear to be natural hair colours are without their downsides. But there's definitely room for brand new products that don't involve smelly, sticky food in your hair.