After a long winter, I get a teensy bit bitter when my hair looks dirty. Some call it a “dirty blonde” and that bothers me to no end. It’s no secret that your hair gets darker over the winter, but it’s extremely obvious for blondes, who I argue, regenerate energy under sunlight.
I hate dirty blonde hair. It’s not a bad thing. Any hair color is fine, but I don’t prefer it on my own head, even when it naturally gets darker. There’s no need to dye my hair either with harmful chemicals, especially since it’s bound to become lighter as the weather gets warmer and the clouds clear up. I like to speed the process up a little bit with something I learned a few years ago called honey peroxide hair lightening.
This trick is a bit strange. It uses naturally produced peroxide from a mix of honey and water in order to lighten hair.
You should take 4 parts water and one part honey (it doesn’t matter what kind, but if you look up the honeys with the most peroxide, they should be used) and mix well. Dark colored honey is usually best. This fancy Australian honey has the most peroxide. It’s also suggested to use distilled water.
There are a few spices that produce a lot of peroxide. Some I’ve used include cinnamon and cardamom. You can also use cloves and ginger as well. Cinnamon and hibiscus can also add a reddish tint to your treatment that may temporarily dye hair.
I usually mix up the honey mixture and then forget about it or I find that it’s not the right time for me to use a hair mask for whatever reason. This isn’t great because the mixture should immediately start producing peroxide. From what I know about hydrogen peroxide, it should be kept in a dark place and as long as you don’t open the cap, you should be fine. However, you can leave it for an hour or you can apply it directly to your hair.
All you need is one more hour for the peroxide to take effect. I have left jars of honey and water mixtures unused for weeks and I didn’t notice a difference in its effects… however, I did notice a small white scoby form in a jar once. Honey kombucha?
It helps to put the honey mixture in a spray bottle and constantly spray your hair while you are doing the treatment. The hair must remain wet. My hair dries out pretty slowly as long as it’s not too hot outside, so I haven’t had any issues. It also works to use a shower cap or wrap your hair in plastic wrap (yup). The plastic wrap isn’t ideal. It leaks.
Once you have the mix on your hair for an hour, you are good to rinse it out. Leaving it on for longer rarely makes your hair any lighter and it’s not worth the hassle, especially if you used the plastic wrap method. Don’t apply the mixture on top of a hair mask, especially if it’s oily. It won’t work. Don’t sit out in the sun or blow dry your hair (I know this is what you’re supposed to do with Sun-In, but this will damage your hair if you’re using the honey technique. Don’t add Vitamin C to the mix. This will react with the peroxide in a bad way and mess up everything you set-up.
It is perfectly okay to re-use this treatment. It won’t harm your hair in any way. The honey may make your hair a bit stiff, sticky, and dread-like. If you’re “no poo” like me, you will have to deal with that for a few days. White vinegar helps. If you use shampoo, just shampoo it out and you should be fine.
Have fun and happy summer!
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Wonderful idea I am going to try this. Wonder if if works on grey hair…!
If you want whiter hair, I don't see why not! Let me know how it goes.