Permanent Hair Color – Natural & Safe
Hair color products are known to be one of the most dangerous personal products. I’d like to avoid it, but to cover gray hair, I need to use onw…
My criteria here is
- It must last long time, must be permanent, semi-permanent is not an option.
- The color doesn’t come off and stain pillows and clothes.
- Good gray coverage.
- As natural ingredients as possible, less harmful chemicals the better.
- Color looks natural.
- Do it yourself at home.
Since I use Dark Brown, I normally purchase between 3N – 6N.
Almost all of the Permanent hair color which claim “safe and natural” contain harmful chemicals rated higher than 2 in EWG health risk scale: 1 as totally safe and 10 as the most dangerous. When I write “safe“, it means that the ingredient’s EWG risk scale is 1, the safest level.
I marked the ingredients of the risk scale higher than 1 below.
Naturcolor Permanent Haircolor (3N）
Ingredients:
- Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) (Chamomile) Flower Extract
- Juglans Nigra (Walnut)Oil
- Juglans Nigra (Walnut) Extract
- Vaccinium Myrtillus (Bilberry) Roots/Stem Extract
- Rumex Acetosella (Red Sorrel) Extract
- Lavendula Angustifolia (Lavender) Flower/Stem Extract
- Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil
- Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Oil
- Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf/Stem/Root Extract
- Jasminum Officinale (Jasmine) Flower Extract
- Glycerin
- Hydrolyzed Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Protein
- Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter
- Aqua/Water
- Oleic Acid
- Hydrogen Peroxide （Risk level 2）
- Etidronic Acid（Risk level 2）
- Soyamine（Risk level 2）
- Propylene Glycol（Risk level 3）
- PEG-70 Mango Glycerides（Risk level 3）
- Sodium Metabisulfite（Risk level 4）
- M-Aminophenol（Risk level 5）
- Ethanolamine（Risk level 5-6）
- P-Aminophenol（Risk level 6）
- P-Phenylenediamine（Risk level 7）
This product contains less amount of PPD（Phenylenediamine）than other products in the market. If your goal is gray coverage, use “N” lines. Note that you can’t color your hair lighter than your current color. I noticed that it comes out darker than showing in their color chart, so I would recommend picking 1-2 lighter shades.
I purchased it at Wholefoods, $14.99, but you can purchase online:
Vitamin Shop : $13.79, free shipping for order $25 or above.
Naturtint Permanent Haircolor（4N）
Ingredients:
- Terasodium Glutamate Diacetate
- Oleic Acid
- Sodium Erythorbate
- Aqua (Water)
- Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein
- Aqua (Water)
- Limnanthes Alba (Meadowfoam Seed Oil)
- Alcohol Denat (Alcohol)（Risk level 2）
- Cetearyl Alcohol（Risk level 2）
- Cetyl Alcohol（Risk level 2）
- Hydrogen Peroxide（Risk level 2）
- PEG-2 Oleamine（Risk level 3）
- PEG-4 Rapeseedamide（Risk level 3）
- Propylene Glycol（Risk level 3）
- Ceteareth-20（Risk level 3）
- 2-Amino-4-Hydroxy-Ethylaminoanisole Sulfate（Risk level 3）
- Laureth-3（Risk level 3）
- Sodium Metabisulfite（Risk level 4）
- Oxyquinoline Sulfate（Risk level 4）
- 4-Chlororesorcinol（Risk level 4）
- 4-Amino-2-Hydroxytolueno（Risk level 4）
- N,N-Bis (Hydroxyethyl)-p-Phenylenediamine Sulfate（Risk level 5）
- m-Aminophenol（Risk level 5）
- Ethanolamine（Risk level 5-6）
- p-Phenylenediamine（Risk level 7）
Contains more harmful chemicals than Naturcolor.
It didn’t have too strong chemical smell, and easy to your scull. The color didn’t last as long as Naturcolor.
Amazon or Food Coop, Wholefoods sells $16-18
iHerb seems to have the best price overall. They have sale throughout the year, and also they give you points for every order which can be applied for your next order.
- iHerb： ＄12.63－13.35 (January 10, 2017）
Herbatint, Permanent Haircolor Gel, 4N
Ingredients:
- aloe barbadensis (aloe vera) leaf extract
- aqua (water)
- betula alba (birch) leaf extract
- cinchona calisaya (cinchona) bark extract
- echinacea angustifolia (echinacea) root extract
- glycerin
- hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel) leaf extract
- juglans regia (walnut) shell extract
- limnanthes alba (meadowfoam) seed oil
- oleic acid
- rheum palmatum (rhubarb) root extract
- simethicone
- Laureth-4（Risk level 2）
- tetrasodium EDTA（Risk level 2）
- cetrimonium chloride（Risk level 3）
- PEG-2 oleamine（Risk level 3）
- PEG-75 meadowfoam oil（Risk level 3）
- propylene glycol（Risk level 3）
- 4-chlororesorcinol（Risk level 4）
- sodium metabisulfite（Risk level 4）
- ethanolamine（Risk level 5）
- p-phenylenediamine（Risk level 7）
This product contains less amount of PPD（Phenylenediamine）than other products in the market.
iHerb seems to have the best price overall. They have sale throughout the year, and also they give you points for every order which can be applied for your next order.
- iHerb：＄12.56 (January 10, 2017）
Other Products
Below are other natural line of hair color products I checked but decided not to use, since they seem to contain more harmful chemicals than Naturcolor and Herbatint.
- Tints of Nature Hair Color 5N Natural Light Brown
- ONC Natural Colors Healthier Permanent Hair Color
- Madison Reed Modena Brown – 5.5NNN
Here is the comparison chart. Then number on the left of each ingredients indicates the EWG risk scale.
As I review more hair color products, I’ll update this page.