How to Highlight Hair Naturally With Guaranteed Results

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I do not know why. But I have been happy with the hair color I was born with. My hair color is in its darkest brown. Like deep dark brown. And I love it. 

I never felt the need to get it done in any other color. 

Since a few decades there is a constant trend to get natural hair highlights for black hair. But I never fell for this fad. 

In 35 years of my life, I never ever got any hair lightening done. Neither did I try it any of the hair salons. Nor I ever tried it at home myself.

But in case you need to highlight hair naturally. Then, I have my share of research into the process for you below:

Why highlight hair naturally at home

The advent of professional hair salons and hair highlighting kits are a boon. But along with convenience, they bring damage from the bleaching agents in them. 

Peroxide is a common ingredient in hair highlight solutions. It is popular as bleach. It works by fading the uppermost layer of the surface it gets in touch with. 

So, that is how with the bleach one gets to remove tan from face and body. Also, the stains from clothes also vanish with bleach. (You got the hint!) 

Removal of tan/ stain seems a valid reason to allow getting in touch with bleach. But with hair, the theory changes. 

Tan is a response to overexposure to Sun’s rays in the form of darker skin. But when the hair gets exposed to Sun, they turn lighter. Thus, there is no need to bleach them. The urge to style them causes one to highlight them, though there is no cosmetic need for the same. 

Overexposure to Sun is enough to lighten the hair color. But one looks for causes milder than the mighty Sun to highlight their hair. 

That is how one ends up to chemical peroxide fixes as a quick solution. But if you wish to try a method to highlight hair naturally, then read further.

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How to highlight natural hair at home

The process to highlight hair naturally is two-fold. The first one involves a hair pack. The second one is a rinse. Both together help lighten the hair.

How to prepare the lightening hair pack

1. Take about 20 g of honey. Organic, raw, and unfiltered ones are the best.
2. Add 20 ml of fresh lime juice and 5 g of cinnamon powder to the honey.
3. Mix all the ingredients to a paste.
4. Use this paste as a lightening hair pack on the specific hair strands.
5. Apply it on the entire length of the strands without touching the scalp.

I recommend keeping this pack for a minimum of 4 hours. You can use a hair clip to manage them well. 

After 4 hours, you can wash it with the hair lightening rinse.

How to prepare the lightening hair rinse

1. Take about 100 ml of organic apple cider vinegar. Make sure that it is unfiltered and unpasteurized.
2. Add about 200 ml of water to the vinegar. Shake well.
3. Add a few drops of lemon essential oil to the above mix. (Optional)
4. Wash your hair strands with this lightening acidic rinse.
5. Feel free to use plain water to wash off any residues. But for best results, you can keep it on.

The water in the rinse is enough to wash off honey from the hair. The rinse also serves as a moisturizing agent by locking the cuticles. 

This hair pack and rinse combination highlights the hair over time. It is not an overnight hair lightening mask. 

Once in a week application repeated 5-6 times is good. Though individual results will vary as per the density of melanin pigment. But if you are regular with it, you will see results.

Precautions for Honey – Lemon juice highlights

Since the ingredients in this highlight treatments are natural. But they do come with their individual anecdotes. I have used all these ingredients in my hair care routines. That is how I have come up with a list of dos and don’ts for their usage. They are as below:

1.     Be careful with the honey that you use

Most of the honey available in stores is an amalgamation of sugar syrup and honey. Also, one cannot be sure of the source and extraction process of honey. These factors could affect your highlight treatment.   

Since honey has inbuilt peroxide properties. It might also interfere with the melanin in the body. So, instead of getting highlights, you might end up with gray hair.

It sounds freaking, but there is a solution. You can do a  patch test with honey on a small portion of your hair. If that particular patch of hair does not turn gray within 2  weeks of time. Then, you can use that honey to highlight your hair strands. I have learned this lesson the hard way when I noticed my few gray strands. The brand of honey that I now use is Organica.

It works fine on my hair. But I still suggest you test it before giving it a try.

2.     Never let any acidic product get in direct contact with your body.

That also includes good acids like apple cider vinegar and lemons. They should always be in combination with another liquid.

Our bodies are alkaline in nature. Hence, the acids may cause an adverse effect on it. Though a little acidity keeps infection at bay, so their use in moderation is vital.

I use fresh organic lemons from my backyard. You can buy yours if you do not have a lemon tree at your place. The brand of apple cider vinegar that I use for topical application is organic and comes with the mother.

Also, it is not from apple juice concentrate, but from raw apples instead.

3.     Do not expect results overnight

Honey-lemon treatment involves natural milder ingredients as compared to the peroxide one. Thus, it does not give the results in one sitting. Rather you need to repeat it for a minimum of 5-7 times.

The wait time seems daunting, but it has its merits. The philosophy is to not damage the hair. This allows you to do more fun with them in the near future too.

In Conclusion

It is not an easy task to get natural hair highlights for black hair. That leaves you with the lone option to get a professional salon treatment for the same. 

But as it is obvious, that treatment involves the use of peroxide to bleach the hair. The strong chemicals in the highlighting treatment weaken the hair cuticles. Thereby, the hair shafts loosen and lead to hair problems. 

That is why hair fall and split ends tend to increase after highlighting treatments. 

But when you highlight hair naturally with household ingredients. The damage issues are almost negligible. 

Honey and lemon are one of the safest ingredients to color hair naturally light brown. You can adjust the quantity of this highlighting treatment as per your requirement. 

Both in combination bleach the hair minus the hair issues. Though they are not a quick solution to get the desired effects. But with consistent efforts, you can have natural highlights for black hair.

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