The color of a person’s hair, skin and eyes is determined by human genes before their birth. The determinants for hair color are called melanocytes. They form the color of the hair and make the distinction between black, brown and red hair. The percentage of each pigment makes the hair blonde, brown or red. Melanocytes decay as the years passed and the hair becomes gray and white.
People usually use synthetic hair dyes to obtain the hair color they desire, but nature provides different ways of natural hair coloring. Plants have been used since ancient times for hair coloring. One of the most popular plants used for this purpose is henna. It is used to make your dark hair red. The effect of this plant lasts through several shampoos. The problem with henna is that its concentration is hardly controlled and the final results may be unpredictable. In addition, this plant has been reported to cause asthma and allergies in some individuals, so people who have these problems should not use it. People with grey hair should not use henna to color their hair because it will become orange.
Gray hair may be treated with special dye preparations which contain a combination of red, yellow, blue and orange dyes in different proportions. The molecules of the dyes are very small and can pass through the cuticle into the cortex without causing damages to the scales of the cuticle. They can be washed out easily, too. Such preparations are also used to add highlights.
Natural hair coloring will maintain your hair healthy and beautiful. Synthetic hair dyes damage hair and should not be used very often. It is recommended that hair coloring with synthetic dyes is avoided as much as possible.