Coloring your hair vs. tinting it – what’s the difference?

By Bahar Krahn, founder NOELIE

After the topic of new beginnings, I feel the need to talk about a very specific type of new beginning: switching to herbal hair colors .

Lately we have been seeing more and more customers telling us during the initial consultation that they have “only tinted”, have already “used herbal hair color” or that the last hairdresser only used hair color “without ammonia”. I put that in quotes because today I'm showing you that things aren't always what they seem.

When it comes to advice, it is our aim that every customer is met individually and, above all, receives comprehensive advice regarding the use of our NOELIE herbal hair color . This absolutely includes knowing what we are working with.

Your hair is our workspace, in this case almost a canvas. Of course we want and need to know what we find on it. Your color result depends on this and whether our care plan is really the right one for you.

That's why we're talking about hair colors today, what's important for an anamnesis and why we're asking you so many questions even though you "just" want to buy one color.

Your nursing history is important

First of all, it is important for us to know what you have previously dyed your hair with. Because your hair is subject to different levels of stress, pigmentation and full of old chemicals and care residues.

Your hair is damaged and split, dull or difficult to comb, the color isn't brilliant or your scalp is completely out of balance - something has definitely encouraged you to call us or write us a message and at least think about an alternative. If we are to present these to you now, we need your cooperation.

Sometimes it almost seems to me as if the customer is trying to justify herself to us as a plant dye manufacturer. We just want to know all this so that we can create the optimal plan for an excellent alternative for you in the future. You don't have to justify your path, it's yours. And our job is to meet you where you are.

What could your hair care routine look like? Discover our haircare .

Myth tints

Let's go back to the tints. Basically, it's actually like this: A tint contains so-called direct pigments, which color your hair immediately but do not penetrate the hair. Nevertheless, they are synthetic pigments, which are considered to be carcinogenic and carry an extremely high allergy risk. Whether they penetrate or not, they harm your organism. There are actually no pure tints anymore. The classic pubic tint from 25 years ago has had its day.

As soon as you have to pour two products together or your hairdresser does, it is no longer a tint. Because the second agent is an oxidizing agent. So it's a color mixture, even if the hairdresser or manufacturer says it's just a light tint, not a real color. Many argue that very low potencies of oxidizing agent are used here. True! However, it also damages the hair, just more slowly. Your hair structure will still be broken down, drained and the color will no longer wash out. The name “intensive tint” is another word for “low-dose color”.

Plant hair colors are also often classified as tints. This alone wouldn't be a bad thing, but the lack of definition of what a herbal hair color can be also makes it difficult for us as end consumers and even as hairdressers to find our way around in Germany.

The names “plant hair colors”, “vegetable tints” or “plant-based colors” are very misleading. One manufacturer produces powder that is even mixed with water like a plant mixture - but mixes synthetic pigments into it. The next one advertises so and so much percent plant-based, but the remaining proportions contain an incredible amount of chemistry, which in turn turns the mixture into a conventional color. Still others advertise lots of plants on products and posters - but there isn't a single one in the bottles.

The fact remains: If it doesn't have a definition and therefore a recognized certification, it won't be a chemical-free herbal hair color.

And whether I choose a purely plant-based color or not, I want to be able to decide based on facts and not based on misleading names and advertising.

Hair colors & lightening

A commercially available hair color is usually mixed with 6% oxidizing agent. This is pre-dosed in the enclosed bottle and you add the tube of paint. Shake well and you're done. Here you can now achieve more quickly and invasively what an intensive tint would usually have achieved with a longer exposure time. Artificial pigments are stored deep in your cuticle and have to grow out - washing them out doesn't work here either.

That's why the statement "I last dyed chemically six months ago, it's long since gone, faded, washed out" is not entirely true. Because the color and its chemical imprint are still on and in the hair, probably even in the scalp.

As soon as your hair color is lighter than your original hair color, it is already lightening. Depending on the original hair color and hair structure, the hairdresser now decides whether to increase the proportion of oxidizing agent in order to penetrate the pigment layer and delete your own pigments. This can mean, for example with bleaching, from 9% to 12% oxidizing agent, in other countries even more.

The higher the oxidation level, the more your hair will swell. The cuticle becomes more damaged each time and has to be repaired with plasticizers and silicones.

Good results from day one

So we can say: Conventional colors, which also include intensive tints, as well as bleaching, leach out your hair and damage it - always. And the associated conventional haircare is primarily there to cover up this damage and not to care for it. It is always rich in film formers, plasticizers, plastics and silicones because this is the quickest way to make hair appear healthy.

And the industry is smart: silicone-free simply means that a substance is used that is not called “silicone” but does exactly the same thing.

So if you want to switch to NOELIE herbal hair color , it is important to free your hair from all disruptive factors.

With our Cleansing & Purifying Treatment you can intensively cleanse your hair before your first herbal hair color, even if you still wash and care for it conventionally. This way you can ensure that your hair is as free of annoying residues as possible when you dye it with plants for the first time.

Wash, care and style, but with certified natural cosmetics - at the latest from the first coloring with the NOELIE plant hair color . In Germany, the terms natural cosmetics and herbal hair colors are not protected, so you have to make sure that your products are free of disruptive factors. We only recommend certified natural cosmetics. You can recognize them by their seals and these regulate what is allowed to be inside and what is not.

Preparation Step 1: With these products from NOELIE you cleanse your hair and scalp and accelerate the detoxification of your scalp:

Cleansing & Purifying Treatment

Scalp Stimulating & Purifying Shampoo

What do NOELIE herbal hair colors do differently?

Our NOELIE herbal hair colors protect and nourish each individual hair when dyeing and make it more stable and healthy in the long term.

In addition to the nourishing plant pigments, we have enriched them with super foods for hair and scalp. There is no synthetic content at all and only medicinal plants, bio-active ingredients and minerals are used to strengthen and repair your hair and scalp.

They stand out from other herbal hair colors because they were specifically developed for European hair. The hair structure here is finer and often smoother, which is why it has different requirements. The composition is more refined and the powder is ground particularly finely so that the herbal hair color becomes particularly creamy and the pigments can penetrate deep into the outer structure of even very straight hair.

Of course, you can also achieve wonderful results with a thick and frizzy structure. Thanks to our patented 3HC technology, our color ensures particularly rich and long-lasting results.

Would you like to find out more about the effect of our colors? You can read everything again here: Article

We have a mission

Don't hold it against us if we expose products that were sold to you as natural as chemical. We don't want to annoy you with this. But it is of course our goal that our products can develop their optimal effect. And that's not possible if your hair and scalp are full of chemicals and microplastics.

The NOELIE team is excellently trained and will accompany you on your way to your perfect herbal hair color and care tailored to your needs.

You shouldn't settle for anything less than healthy, safe and plastic-free - there are alternatives. We know it because we live it.