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Black walnut hair dye (using hull powder)
When I was looking for ways to all naturally darken my hair I came across the method of using black walnut hair dye. At first, I couldn’t find too much information online about how to use black walnut hair dye or if it really worked. So I figured I would try it out myself. At first I tried to buy the actual black walnut husks, but since no one sold them I bought a bag of black walnut powder online. It was about 3 dollars for 8 oz. I was even able to find organic black walnut powder.
After the walnut hair dye powder arrived, the next question was how do I make the black walnut hair dye from the powder. I decided to use a method that is used for dying cloth.
So I boiled a pot of water (about 5 cups of water), took it off the stove and put in 5 tablespoons of black walnut powder. I let this steep for about an hour.
Then once my walnut hair dye mixture cooled down, I dipped the ends of my hair in the pot (since this was my first time using it, I only dipped the ends of my hair in to test it out). I let it absorb for about 15 minutes and then just let my hair air dry for 3 to 4 hours. (note: After applying the black walnut hair dye I did not even rinse with water.)
The black walnut hair dye results:
The walnut hair dye did darken my hair! Yay, success! My hair is a light to medium brown color naturally. The picture above compares my test strand to my natural hair color. It seems it may work even better for someone with a lighter hair color.
To get an even darker color you could try steeping the black walnut hair dye mixture for a longer time.
AFTER PICTURE: (This picture was taken 2 days after doing the black walnut hair dye, there is a before picture of me on my about me page with my natural hair color and also on my facebook page).
If you are going to try black walnut hair dye, just note that my hair has not been colored or dyed in anyway, so I’m not sure how doing this on colored hair would work, but I am curious if it would have the same results.
Please leave a comment if you have tried coloring your hair with black walnut powder and let us know how it worked for you!
UPDATE: I have received a few comments from readers who have tried this method and suggested sitting in the sun or using a hair dryer when you have the mixture in your hair. The heat may help increase the ability of the color to stay.
Check out more Natural Hair Dye Methods using Fruit and Herbs!
I did this years ago. We have black walnuts in the park, and it was a mess making the dye. I thickened it with some cornstarch so it would coat the hair, and put a plastic bag over it to wait for an hour or so. It worked great!
How do you do touch ups?
Thank you for this article! I’ve been wanting to do this to my hair for a while, but I’m afraid I will stain our bathtub once I wash my hair for the first time after I dye it. Did you experience that at all when you washed your hair?