After decades of eco-activism I wanted to return to my beauty roots and worked for a premier health store in the city Syracuse NY seeking a licensed cosmetologist for its cutting edge health and beauty department. One day my employer asked if I would color my hair using the “natural” hair colors in the store, giving me experience of the products that I could share with her customers. Since I had had experience with the two major “natural” hair colors from my own all natural salon I knew they were not “all natural” they contained some herb essential oils, but the active coloring agents still have ppd.
I told her that I would color my hair with a henna line that the store carried. Results were good! The gray was gone, my hair and color looked natural and thus began my herbal colorant journey.
When I delved into henna and the other herbal colorants, something stirred me deeply; it seemed to be in my DNA and I realized it was because my Levantine roots had a strong relationship to henna. I found myself taking traditional and current henna wisdom and testing everything because I wanted to know how everything worked myself, from color combinations, timing, and mixing pigments. I would take hair clippings from my clients’ hair and test out results on various hair colors and textures and kept them in a book.
When my book was first published, I was surprised that a common comment was “everyone should just go gray”, which was the path I was on when my former employer urged me to color my hair using products on her retail shelf. I still support going gray as self acceptance and celebrating our crone season can be an important part of self discovery. In fact as I write this I have allowed my silvers to come in more fully, what with lockdowns and juggling a huge move to our current location in the Great Northern Catskill Mountains – many folks love me gray and it was great to take a break; I am redesigning what my next herbal hair coloring look will be so stay tuned.
As my henna sister Norma Pasekoff Weinberg, author of Henna Head to Toe, said to me recently, “embracing our crone looks different for each of us”. In fact, what I learned on my personal hair coloring journey is that many people enjoy coloring their hair for many reasons, the most common being self expression, and self care. I have had pregnant clients whose doctors encouraged them to stop coloring their hair but they were not ready, terminal clients that did not want to stop coloring but could not use commercial hair dyes. Herbal hair colorants are a healthier option for people and planet and take our relationship to herbs beyond internal functionality, to ancient Divine Feminine healing traditions creating connections to nurturing wisdom, and playful joy.
For those who enjoy hair coloring or feel the pressure of ageism, those with chemical sensitivities, pregnant, or wanting to expand their already plant powered life, herbs for coloring hair are a viable choice. There is no right way for everyone but there is a right way for each of us.
With deep love and respect for how each individual chooses what is right for them, may herbs fill in some of the gaps in our lifestyles and values.
PS
Check out and download Norma’s free ebook Natural Hand Care in the Age of Covid-19
0 Comments