The Horrors of Hair Dye

I thought to write this because I just dyed my hair. I haven't put regular hair dye on my hair in probably 5 years. I have gotten highlights a few times and only because the stuff doesn't touch your scalp when you get foils. I love dying my hair and I used to change colors all the time. It was a way I found to express myself. Once my hair started breaking off and I ended up with nearly no bangs left for my wedding, I started to think about what I was doing. I started a hunt for dye that wasn't so harsh. I found what I was looking for.
Hair dye is FULL of chemicals. Research has connected a lot of it's chemicals to cancer. It also contains several metals like nickel. Hair dye has been shown in studies to show up in urine within 24 hours...Scary huh? That means that junk gets absorbed in your system, which is why they say don't dye your hair while you're pregnant.
The safest way to color your hair is Henna. The bum deal with Henna is that it can't lighten your hair, but if you want to cover gray, go red, or darken your hair it's perfect! It's also a natural conditioner which is a plus. It looks and smells like dirt, so you know the stuff's gotta be totally natural:) I've used the colorless Henna in the past to add moisture and body to my hair.
The dye I use now is Naturcolor. It's made in Italy and is free of chemicals. You can buy it at Whole Foods and it's only a couple bucks more than what you buy at Walmart. Remember that just because something at the drugstore says "Ammonia Free" or "Gentle" doesn't mean it still isn't packed with harmful stuff. There are some other brands at Wholefoods that are herb based, but I read the ingredients and they don't compare to how natural Naturcolor is. They're still leagues above most drugstore or salon products, though.
I was super pleased to find out that Aveda uses vegetable based color and there permanent hair color is 97% natural!! So if you like to have your hair done at a salon, find an Aveda salon. I'm going to do this next time:)
Best of luck!