Q&A for How to Lighten Your Hair Naturally

Yes baking soda can be used to lighten your natural hair color. Your hair needs to be damp prior to applying it, and it can be applied as often as about once a week.

No, coconut oil has not shown any signs of being capable of lightening hair. Coconut oil is best known as being a moisturizer for hair.

Some people have noticed a change in their hair color after swimming in salt water. If this is a method that you would like to experiment with, add one part salt to five parts water. Let the mixture sit on your hair for at least fifteen minutes, and then rinse and shampoo as you normally would.

You will need about half a cup of vinegar if you have shoulder length or shorter hair. If your hair is longer, began using one cup.

Everyone's hair reacts differently, so it would be best to perform a strand test first. That way, you'll be able to know exactly how long you need to let the peroxide sit to get the desired shade that you're looking for.

This combination will likely not lighten your hair as much as bleach unless it is already very, very light, but it can make your hair lighter and is a safer alternative to bleach.

It can take a week or more to get a more intense look on your hair. You can shorten the period of time by using the natural remedies quite often, however.

You are essentially dyeing/bleaching your hair naturally so the effects will be lasting. However, as with everything, it can become dull. So, once you have achieved something you are happy with, you can maintain it but conditioning your hair with a honey/coconut oil mix, which is much healthier for hair than store bought products, will keep your highlights bright and healthy.

Most of them are safe even after chemical highlights. However, for the peroxide, vitamin C and lemon juice treatments, it is safer to wait for at least a month after getting chemical treatment.

NO! This will cause your hair to fall out. Go to a hairdresser, or buy hair dye or bleach meant for hair at your local drug store or beauty supply store.

Use a vinegar rinse or lemon, each works as a lightening agent. Stripping the color would require daily shampooing of hair.

You'll have to keep it up. Henna is the most permanent on this list, that and hydrogen peroxide.

This technique will lighten it, but probably not to the extent you would like. I recommend using bleach. (I am a fellow African-American.)

I know the cinnamon mask works, and for me, it took 3 tries to get it to a nice auburn color. I have dark brown hair, but it may take longer for black hair.

Use a colour stripper, which will strip all unnatural colour from your hair.

Most likely yes.

These are all herbal and natural remedies, and in many cases they may be fine. That said, the dye used might react to some ingredients, so it pays to know the ingredients and do some research first. You can also try a test patch of a small area, to determine whether there will be any undesirable color reaction.

Use a color stripper from a beauty supply store.

I wouldn't recommend using all of these at once because it could result in dryness or breakage.

Black tea is great for lightening all hair types and colors. Chamomile tea and berry tea are also good. Chamomile tea will bring out blonde highlights while a red-tinted berry tea will bring out red highlights.

Honey will not work very well. What will work better, is bleach mixed with a lot of water. The water minimizes how light the bleach makes your hair.

In a way, yes, because it can make your hair turn dry if you use it too often. Add some oil to the lemon juice to keep this from happening, and be sure to deep condition afterwards.

When you mix both together, you get a paste. When you put it in your hair, just wait between 20 and 60 minutes before rinsing it out.

No, as long as you evenly spread the substance over your hair or the places that you want to highlight, you'll be fine.

Wait for a few weeks. Make sure to keep your hair moisturized and then dye it.

It might lighten it a little bit, but it wouldn't be very noticeable.

It will definitely get damaged. If you use hair masks and deep conditioners, however, you can keep your hair in decent condition.

No. While it might work, there is a high probability that it will just ruin it, or have no affect at all.