Hey, beauty!

I have a personal question for you?

Do you color your hair? Or are you thinking of doing it?

Okay. Well, if you have brown or black hair, read on. (Sorry, blondes and redheads, this is just for brunettes, at least for now.)

I found my first grey hair at 22. Now I’m 47, and honestly, if I didn’t do something, I would be salt & pepper. Not that there is anything wrong with that – I am seriously almost ready to become a silver fox. Almost. Not quite. Which is the reason for this post.

Because despite the fact that I’m not quite ready to go grey without a fight, avoiding the use of chemicals on my hair and body is of utmost importance to me for health reasons.

Many years ago, I began coloring my hair with that so-called “natural dye.” You know, the kind you buy at the health food store that somehow still contains a lot of chemicals? Even though it was “less bad” than salon coloring or the popular drug store brands, it still had a lot of ingredients I didn’t want in my body (via my scalp), and I was never really satisfied with the color, either. It always turned too reddish and as my hair grew out, it looked really unnatural. Plus, it made my hair feel like straw.

So I turned to henna and indigo, which I used for year. YEARS. And I was happy with that solution for a while. Later, a little less happy. But, whatever, there weren’t any alternatives, and it was completely plant-based, no chemicals.

The positives of the henna/indigo (hendigo, as some like to call it) were:

  • It gave my fine hair more body
  • The transition as it grew out was more natural than dyes, and the grey hairs looked like highlights.
  • It was just plants, no chemicals (though you have to be really careful about the source. Not all henna and indigo are pure; some have mineral salts mixed in and who knows what else.)
  • It was economical.

The negatives?

  • It is a long process.
  • Some people don’t enjoy the smell. Personally, I kind of like it.
  • It’s messier than dye.
  • But the real reason I grew dissatisfied in the last year or so of using hendigo? My hair was starting to turn all kinds of funky colors. It was like brown and black with some parts showing a greenish cast, bluish cast, or a lot of red. The more I used the indigo, the worse it got (in my opinion), esp. in bright light. And as my hair got greyer, getting a good result with hendigo got harder.

I started hearing about a new hair coloring solution that is supposed to return brown or black hair to its original color. Original color?!!! I loved my natural hair color (from what I could remember, that is.) I remember my hair stylist from college always admiring my brunette hair as “a color you can’t get from a box.”

This new solution also promised to contain 100% natural ingredients – so safe, you could eat it. (No, I haven’t tried eating it.) I was cautiously intrigued.

What is this miraculous-sounding product? A system called Hairprint.

I read every review I could find – though there weren’t many. Some were positive, but some were not. I hemmed and hawed for months. Having previously used henna and indigo, the process of switching is more complicated, and I was intimidated. Plus, if it didn’t work, I worried about going back to hendigo (which is notorious for not playing nice with other kinds of hair colorants.)

Finally, about six months ago, I tried it. I figured, if it didn’t work, it was the push I needed to stop coloring and embrace the grey. If it did work, great.

Well, it worked!

Here are some before and after photos to prove it.

This photo was taken before the first time I used Hairprint, when I was still using hendigo, back in September 2016. You can see that my roots are growing in.

The photo at the top of this post was taken a couple days after using Hairprint for the first time.

Here are some after photos from today, a couple hours after using Hairprint for what is probably the 4th time.

Keep in mind that the hair usually looks darker than normal the first day or so after applying. It’s also a dreary day here, so the lighting is pretty bad, too. Also, keep in mind that I didn’t do anything to my hair, but let it air dry. I’m kind of wishing I had at least dug out the hair dryer now. Lol.

Here are my thoughts on Hairprint:

The pros:

  • It really does look natural, like my own original hair color – by far the biggest plus and reason to keep using it. And the transition as my hair grows looks good too.
  • Again, it contains only 8 natural, safe ingredients, so I don’t feel like I am burdening my body with toxins – this is really important to me in my efforts to heal from autoimmune illness.
  • Did I mention I LOVE the color?

The negatives:

  • It’s more expensive than henna/indigo – but still costs less than salon coloring.
  • My fine, thin hair doesn’t feel as thick as with the henna. That’s because henna actually coats the hair, creating the illusion of thickness.
  • It has more steps than regular boxed dyes.
  • If you have never colored your hair yourself, you may want to ask your stylist to do it for you, or have a friend help. I don’t have any problems doing it myself, but I’m used to DIY’ing my hair color.
  • It’s kind of messy, but not in the same way as henna/indigo. You do need to clean up right after using it, and it does stain clothes and towels.
  • Right now it is only available for brown or black hair, but supposedly the company is working on products for blonde hair.

If you are intrigued, check out the Hairprint website for lots more information and to figure out if this product may work for you. If you use my link, you will get 15% off your purchase! (I will also get a little cash, just to be completely honest with you. This is part of their customer incentive program, so if you try it and like it, you can get also get cash for referring your friends.)

Let me know if you have any questions or if you have tried Hairprint. And if you are a silver fox, I’d love to hear if you used to color your hair. I’m curious about the transition period away from coloring.