Herbatint Natural Haircolor
Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 9:23PM 
Natural Beauty comes at a price. For me that price is orange hair during a natural beauty experiment gone wrong. Over the summer I got the most gorgeous highlights from the Louis Licari Salon in Beverly Hills. I loved the color so much that I put off going for a partial highlight in London because so far I’ve never been able to find a good colorist in London. I’ve tried in vain to find the colorist who will give you “American style” (i.e. natural looking) highlights rather than what I call the skunk effect produced by main stream salon chains; this is where girls have very dark hair on the bottom and platinum color on top. The look is further accentuated with choppy layers and flat ironed within an inch of its life. I never understand why people intentionally make themselves look ugly all in the name of some obscure trend/fashion. But I digress
On a whim (this is where I should have know better) I purchased a box of Herbatint in color 8N Light Golden Blonde. After I had applied the product (see video) and while I was waiting for the product to do its magic, I did some online research about Herbatint. This is what the Herbatint website says:
“HERBATINT™ has been formulated using the minimum pharmaceutical chemical ingredients which, balanced with vegetal extracts from plants and herbs creates a unique hair colour formula that not only gently colours your hair but protects and nourishes it.”
I was shocked to find that its toxicity rating (8 out of a scale of 10 with 10 being the most toxic) in the Environmental Working Group’s cosmetics database was the same as all the other beauty companies who don’t claim to be natural. The big claim made by Herbatint is that they don’t use ammonia in their products. What a relief! However, they do still use P-Phenylenediamine (try saying that 3 times fast!) which is an extremely toxic colorant (10 out of 10), resorcinol, o-amniophenol, and p-amniophenol. All of these toxic synthetic chemicals are linked to cancer, violations, allergies, organ system toxicity, amongst other charming things. So all in all, Herbatint wasn’t really natural at all.
I had a bad feeling in my stomach when I went to wash out the haircolor (hopefully it was just from my nerves and not the toxic chemicals). Sure enough once I had washed, conditioned, and blow dried, my roots were orange. Not exactly the most natural color, unless found on a carrot. I’m sad this natural beauty experiment didn’t work out. However, I will make an emergency hair appointment at a natural hair salon in London and let you know how it goes. I will persevere with these natural beauty experiments!
Reader Comments (3)
I share your frustration on the hair dye front, I'm simply not ready to go grey yet (I still feel 17 but tragically, I'm very much not) but the alternatives aren't very attractive either.
What we have to accept is that any product, no matter what it's called, that alters the colour of your hair must first strip it, then re-coat it with the desired colour. It has to happen that way for it to work and not just wash off the surface of the hair. The only things capable of this - and providing the range of colours we've come to expect - are chemicals. Even things as natural as henna still alter the structure of the hair. So asking for a chemical-free colourant is a little like asking for the moon, all one can do is attempt to find the least unappealing of all the alternatives. Which isn't ideal, is it?
I don't think Herbatint are alone in being a halfway house in this field and I don't think they're the worst offenders in chemical ingredients either (and I don't work for them or stock them in case you're wondering!) but I do think the whole question is a minefield. I'd be VERY interested in hearing what other colourants you find though so I wish you all the best of luck in your search - keep us all posted on your progress please - I don't love my grey roots!
Hello! Just procrastinating and reading your lovely blog! Just thought I'd recommend somewhere I've had my hair highlighted in the past with a very natural looking effect - Windle in Covent Garden.
I don't know much about the types of dye they use (doubtful that it's non toxic though unfortunately) but technically they're fabulous, especially Takashi. Plus they give amazing head massages and wash your hair with real care.
http://www.windlehair.com/
I read these comments with interest as the UK Technical Director for Herbatint. Firstly, Herbatint has recently been, independently, scientifically proven to be the least toxic permanent haircolour available. The report you qoute has to be rather antiquated and I would question its source. Having said that, Herbatint claims to be the MOST natural, NOT totally natural. NO hair colour, permanent or otherwise, will ever be TOTALLY chemical free. Herbatint does NOT contain resorcinol, ammonia, parabens, alcohol or fragrance (as there is no smell, making it unique among the rest).
Many people who have been through the trauma of chemotherapy choose to use Herbatint after their treatment as, with no ammonia present, Herbatint does not penetrate the epidermis in the way that other, more potent, hair colours do. For the same reason pregnant women also choose to use the brand.
With regard to your choice of colour and trying to lift the shade to match your highlights I have to ask, ''why?''. Did you not read any of the information enclosed in the box? Did you not first call the FREEPHONE Helpline to ask for advice? You, obviously, are not a hair professional so to use a product wrongly and then blame that product (any product) is akin to a bad workman blaming his tools! My simple advice is this. If you want to highlight your hair then use a product that is sold over the counter for that purpose. If, however, you want to cover your greys using the MOST GENTLE hair colourant available then use Herbatint (after, first, reading the instructions).
For the other lady's comments about how a hair colourant, 'first strips the hair then re-coats it' is, I'm afraid, nonsense. Actually NO colour works that way. A permanent hair colour deposits artificial pigments under the cuticle and expands them to trap them in the hair. The expansion is caused by the oxygen within the hydrogen peroxide that is mixed with the colourant. Herbatint mixes with just a 3% peroxide (equivalent to mouthwash). This is why the colours can not be used to highlight the hair. For that you would need a bleaching agent and a much higher percentage of peroxide.
Please, if you are going to make inflammatory statements, do your research first and ALWAYS read the label!
Philip R Allen