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Black walnut hair dye (using hull powder)
When I was looking for ways to all naturally darken my hair I came across the method of using black walnut hair dye. At first, I couldn’t find too much information online about how to use black walnut hair dye or if it really worked. So I figured I would try it out myself. At first I tried to buy the actual black walnut husks, but since no one sold them I bought a bag of black walnut powder online. It was about 3 dollars for 8 oz. I was even able to find organic black walnut powder.
After the walnut hair dye powder arrived, the next question was how do I make the black walnut hair dye from the powder. I decided to use a method that is used for dying cloth.
So I boiled a pot of water (about 5 cups of water), took it off the stove and put in 5 tablespoons of black walnut powder. I let this steep for about an hour.
Then once my walnut hair dye mixture cooled down, I dipped the ends of my hair in the pot (since this was my first time using it, I only dipped the ends of my hair in to test it out). I let it absorb for about 15 minutes and then just let my hair air dry for 3 to 4 hours. (note: After applying the black walnut hair dye I did not even rinse with water.)
The black walnut hair dye results:
The walnut hair dye did darken my hair! Yay, success! My hair is a light to medium brown color naturally. The picture above compares my test strand to my natural hair color. It seems it may work even better for someone with a lighter hair color.
To get an even darker color you could try steeping the black walnut hair dye mixture for a longer time.
AFTER PICTURE: (This picture was taken 2 days after doing the black walnut hair dye, there is a before picture of me on my about me page with my natural hair color and also on my facebook page).
If you are going to try black walnut hair dye, just note that my hair has not been colored or dyed in anyway, so I’m not sure how doing this on colored hair would work, but I am curious if it would have the same results.
Please leave a comment if you have tried coloring your hair with black walnut powder and let us know how it worked for you!
UPDATE: I have received a few comments from readers who have tried this method and suggested sitting in the sun or using a hair dryer when you have the mixture in your hair. The heat may help increase the ability of the color to stay.
Check out more Natural Hair Dye Methods using Fruit and Herbs!
what happens to dyed hair when you wash it?
Lori: You got so many comments. Some are for the successful cases.
Would you please update the how to use black walnut hull powder for hair dye instruction
at your convenience? The following is too simple::
Add 3-5 tablespoons black walnut hull powder to 2-3 cups boiling water.
Steep for several hours.
Massage into hair.
Let sit for 15-20 minutes.
Rinse.
Hi, that’s the method I used. I didn’t wash my hair afterwards for a day just to make sure the color held up.
Does the color stay after you shampoo?
That looks BEAUTIFUL. A success!
What I did with my walnuts…I had gathered a bunch of them, cut them open, stuck them in freezer bags and froze them. Then I, a year later, took a bag out, thawed it out, and put it into a large pot to boil, then simmer. I took a sieve and squished it on top and took a ladel to pour some off into a smaller pot, because I needed it to dye right away, as the rest of the big pot still simmers. I put about 2 cups into the smaller pot, and 2 heaping tablespoons of organic cornstarch. I let that boil, turned off the stove, then cooled the mixture down in the sink in a bowl with cool water, stirring the mixture. Then when it was warm, I donned gloves, took a paintbrush (you could put it into a squeeze bottle), and I painted it slowly into my hair that I hadn’t put any hairconditioner on the day before. So my hair was dry. I mushed it into my hair and roots with my gloved hand, while I painted it on. Then I took a thin plastic bag (you get them at the grocery when you take fruits or vegetables) and I put that on my head, then put a towel over that and sit around for about an hour. Then washed it out and put henna on my hair because I dye my hair a red colour and wanted a more auburn colour. It works beautifully.
Wow, that’s great! Thank you so much for sharing your steps! Glad to hear it worked for you.
Hi, I’d like to try this dye but I have a couple of questions. I notice you said you did not rinse out the dye. Will the hair return to its original hair colour when its rinsed or shampooed? And also if you don’t rinse it out, wouldn’t it be a disaster if one got caught in the rain…. the dye would ruin your clothes would it not?
I didn’t rinse it out for 24 hours. Then, I washed my hair. The color remained for about a month then it began to fade. You could try leaving it in for a shorter time, it may not be necessary to leave it in that long.
Has anyone tried to dye your eyelashes and eyebrows with the black walnut powder. Would love to not use mascara anymore.
I wonder how it would work on eyebrows too!
Did anyone consider whether or not there are chemicals in their water that make it so that grey hair doesn’t cover? Chlorine for example is a bleach. Iron or hard water makes a huge difference in how soaps work — and inevitably effect the taste of tea. So, it stands to reason that these factors can make a difference. I was trying to make fermented veggies – sauerkraut etc, and had batches that didn’t work. Then I learned that if I washed the cabbage in tap water the chlorine was making it so the good bacteria necesary for fermentation were not able to work.
I am interested in using this for root touch up. I have highlighted hair and don’t want to lose the highlights. How would I go about this?
What are you touching up grays? I would just apply it to the areas you want it to work on. You may need to apply it several times because it won’t be as strong as dipping your head in the dye.
Would you (and if here’s anyone else who have tried this) say this is a cold or a warm brown?? im looking for a natural hair dye with NO red tint! The result are beautiful on you 😀
Thank you 🙂 Hmm.. I think it depends on your color to start. My hair is naturally a little bit orangey brown and I think it removed the orange tint.
I tried using the Walnut Shell Powder to cover my grays, steeped it in water, boiled for 30min and let it cool. Then soaked my hair in it. Poured the solution over and over my hair. Let it sit for 3h and then washed it with cool water.
Nothing, nada, zilch. The dye did not cover even a single gray hair.
Pl. help.
Sorry to hear it didn’t work for you. I haven’t tried it to cover grays myself. Hope you can find something else natural that works for you 🙂
OMG!!. I have a black walnut tree across the street & drops sooooo many black walnuts, the gardener has to throw them in the waste bin. I know the Black Walnut Tree wood is the most expensive, but did not know the husks can be used to color hair. I opened one once and my fingers were black for a few days (had to use ajax/comet powder to get it off). Now I know I can try this to color my hair. THANKS for the tip!!.
Let us know the results 🙂
Last weekend I went to collect black walnuts. I pulled the outer layer off the from around the nuts and then added it all to three cups of boiling water. Let it steep for the better part of the evening and then put it in the fridge. Was too nervous to try it in my hair. I want to have my daughter home to help me as the dye will stain anything. You should see my thumb where I got a hole in my glove. It has been a week and still black.
Tomorrow I will be going out again to collect black walnuts. This time I want to dry the outer casing and then grind to a powder for later uses. Love trying new things.
Hi! This is UHHHH….MAAAZING!! How long did it last before you noticed it was faded or had gone back to your original color??
Thank you! It lasted about a month.
Welp. Still not working. Doubled the amount of black walnut, let it steep overnight and let it sit on my hair for TWO HOURS, applied heat and it still won’t even tint my BRIGHT BLONDE hair. Comes right out. Wasted my entire morning off…..
Sorry to hear it didn’t work for you 🙁 Do you have any color in your hair or bleach? I wonder if that may affecting holding the walnut hair dye.
You let it air dry? I used the same powder and my mixture turned out very watery but also gritty so the “grinds” end up in my hair so i can’t imagine letting it dry like that and not rinsing it out. I left it for 20 minute, rinsed with cold water and my hair looked the same as before. Maybe I need to let it steep longer than 1 hour?
Yes, I just towel dry my hair and then tie it up in a bun and let it air dry. There were some gritty pieces in mine too, I tried to strain them out a little, but just left the rest. I washed my hair about 12 hours later.
When you were explaining how to color hair. You left out few steps. So that left many people confuse.
1. How much water is in the POT ???
2. Did you boil the water first and then you add 5 tablespoon of walnut power ?????????????
3. Do you boil water again with the 5 tablespoon of walnut power ??????????????
4. Then do you let it set for 1 hour, which means let cool down ???????????????
5. And how long did you leave it in your hair ??????????????
Thanks Nancy! I added the specifics above in the post.
Does the walnut dye cover stubborn greys?
It is supposed to but, I don’t have grey hair to try it on myself.
Hi, I’m so excited to try this! On mountain rose herbs website did you buy 4oz, 8oz or 1lb of black walnut powder?
Also how many cups of water did you use?
I bought the 8oz.
I tried it and once I rinsed, it all went down the drain. Before I rinsed, I let my hair dry and it looked like the powder never dissolved, and was just sitting on my hair in little specks. Am I supposed to boil the powder in water or put boiling water on the powder in a separate bowl? I did the latter and dunked my hair for 20 minutes after letting the mixture sit a few hours. I love the color before it washes out, just want it to stay! Any suggestions? Thanks! Love your blog!
I put the powder in the boiling water (after it was removed from heat). Someone commented that after you put it on your hair, it helps to either sit in the sun or dry it with a hair dryer.
I think many may have conditioners in hair or coating like hair spray……
Does anyone know how long it takes for the dye to fade out? I’m just curious. Thanks!
It lasted about a month for me.
Lori,
Thanks for the post. Your hair looks dramatically darker than before. How long do the results last? Have you heard of any other natural ways to darken hair?
It lasted for about a month or so. There are other ways, like using coffee. But, I’ve found the walnut hair dye to work for making my hair substantially darker. The coffee only darkens my hair a little bit.
Where did you buy the walnut powder online? What is the name of the online store?
I did get it online. I linked it above in the article 🙂
Hi, I wanted to ask if you washed your hair after dying it with the walnut or if you just let it dry in your hair. Would the color rinse out completely if I shampooed after dying? Thanks!
I didn’t wash it right away. I think I washed it the next day to make sure it stayed in.
Hi ! I’m just wondering if you know if this is safe for pregnant women? I’m 40 weeks pregnant and wanna dye my hair but don’t want to risk any chemicals with the baby.. Do you think walnut hull powder is safe ? Also did you strain the mixture at all after adding the powder to the water and letting it steep? Or after it was steeped did you just dunk your head right into the mixture- hull powder and all? Thanks !
Hi, I didn’t strain the mixture at all. After I steeped it, I just dunked my hair into it. I’m not sure about during pregnancy because I know some say to avoid eating them during pregnancy but haven’t read anything about applying it topically. I would check with my doctor first just to be extra careful.
From where we can purchase online black walnut hull powder?
I linked it above where I bought it. 🙂
How much time we have to boil the water before mixing walnut powder? How much time we have to boil the mixture of water and walnut powder? For how much time we have to keep the mixture before applying it to hair?
I just brought the water to a boil. Then with the black walnut powder, I let it steep for 1 hour before applying
How long the black walnut color lasts in hair?
It lasted about a month for me.
I want to do this, how long with the color last?
It lasted about a month before fading.
Didn’t work for me either, not a smidgen of colour…
Sorry to hear it didn’t work for you. I wonder why it only works for some. Do you have color treated hair?
I am looking for a healthy way to color my hair. I have had a really bad hair experience, I have natural dark hair, I have been fighting grey hairs and been coloring with salon hair colors. My mom had a great idea of just going blond, so we did it.But we only did the top layer, thinking it would be a nice overlay style. Now its black under a nasty yellow / orange color. Well after 2 bleaching treatments, (worst thing ever), it was kinda blond with a hint of orange. So we tried a Henna dark brown to try and get it back to a brown color,well at the first was the henna washed right out of my hair leaving a brassy yellow, orange color again.
So at this point the only thing I can do is something natural to help repair my hair. I just used a mixture of coconut oil, coffee, and coco. I let it sit on my hair for 2 hours. It did change my hair to a golden blond color and is shiny / silky smooth.
Has anyone tried this black walnut on bleached hair? I ave seen a lot on grey coverage but nothing on bleached hair.
Any help would be great.
I’m thinking of doing the coffee and coco mixture with out the coconut oil. I don’t want my hair to be over oily.
Hi there! I am super allergic to any kind of hair dye so I would really love to try this . I read something online about Black Wallnut Hull being dangerous orally and topically… I was just wondering if you you know anything about this? Or if it’s safe for long term usage on the skin?? Hoping it’s ok
Thanks!
I’ve come across that too and got concerned, but I think it is safe because a lot of people actually eat black walnut hulls. Some use it to help treat cancer. I actually just bought a supplement to kill parasites that has black walnut hull in it that I’m going to start taking. For myself, my general rule is, if it’s safe to eat, then I feel comfortable putting it on my skin/hair.