Лук, пиво, водка.

                                         Лук.

Не очень распространенная информация, но ее можно найти в Интернете: на Руси осветляли волосы луком, луковым соком. Вот мой отзыв http://irecommend.ru/content/osvetlenie-volos-lukom-i-ego-sokom Трудно сказать. Многие делают маски для укрепления волос с луком, но ни по их фотографиям, ни по их фото незаметно осветления, но если и есть, то незаметное. И запах от него очень сильный -- надо что-то делать!)) Еще пишут, что на Руси осветлялись кефиром и ромашкой.
                                       Пиво.

В пиве есть дрожжи. Предлагают использовать светлые сорта пива, и часто сидеть на солнце. Если использовать пиво без других ингредиентов, как-то не очень. Но многие в восторге от того, как хорошо пиво смывает краску при регулярном использовании.
                     
                             Водка.

Как-то встретила в Сети легенду, из англоязычного Интернета: в России знают, что водка осветляет волосы, парень какой-то девушки был русский, сказал ей, что водка осветляет волосы. А другое упоминание нашла, что у какой-то девушки подружка русые волосы водкой осветляла. И писали, что на солнце водка хорошо. Я считаю, что водка одна не осветляет волосы. Вот в рецептах, прекрасно. Также как и коньяк.
Вот мой отзыв о водке, и как я ее использовала для осветления волос http://irecommend.ru/content/naturalnyi-osvetlitel-dlya-volos-i-ob-etoi-vodke А это мой отзыв о коньяке http://irecommend.ru/content/probovala-etot-konyak-dlya-volos-osvetlyayushchee-volosy-opolaskivanie

Фото ДО и После. Before and After Pics.

Вот фотографии До. Разных лет. Here are Before Photos. Taken in different years.

Когда я делала много медовых масок, 2012 год. When I was applying honey masks, 2012.

Фото после. Март 2014. After. March 2014.

Май 2014. May 2014.

How to lighten hair naturally 5. Timing and a good mask.

  How long do you leave it in your hair?
For my hair 1-1,5 hours of the acidic mask with conditioner and some shampoo is enough. But you can leave lemon juice in your hair for up to 3 hours, or overnight. Last time I used it I left it for 1,5. It really depends on your hair strucrure. Experiment with different timings. Decide what is best for you.
 Mask, don't drip!
For a comfortable mask a thick conditioner is a good help, put a plastic bag on your hair, and put a towel on your head. You can use a claw pin to to fix and hold the towel.
 On damp or dry hair?
Definitely you'll need less liquid for damp or wet hair. I noticed when I started using conditioner-shampoo mask on damp hair it definitely worked better on overall lightening and especially on the most difficul areas, lowers layers of my hair, for example. Before that discovery I had been using citric acid masks before shampoo on dirty hair. It's really better to use everything on clean hair. Damp or wet hair is more sensitive to lightening. My hair is lowly porous, if you have curly hair it's highly porous, it probably won't need to be damp. But the benefit of applying lightening masks on dry hair is that more of the liquid is absorbed by the hair, and you can use shampoo enhancing, too. I put it on damp hair and on wet hair. I use conditioner mask on damp hair. Hair is different, on damp or on dry hair depends on your hair type, watch how you hair reacts and see, what is better.
 I will put pictures in the next post.)

How to lighten hair naturally 4. Less known lighteners.

    Advice: other sour juices and products can be used to lighten hair: cranberry juice, sour apples, cornel (cornelian cherries), etc. Anything that has a considrable sour taste can lighten hair to some extent. You can use these natural products when you have a chance.
  Here are some things that are not very famous and popular.
10) Ascorbic acid, or Vitamin C preferably in powder form. People like to use it to strip dye, but not many of them know that it gradually lightens natural hair colour. It can be used in many ways, in rinses, in combinations with shampoo and conditioner. You can keep it in your hair for 1-2 hours. In Russia 2,5 gramm packets are sold. It feels milder than the citric acid. (I don't recommend boiling because Vitamin C loses its properties in high temperatures.)
11) Citric acid.
You can use it instead of ascorbic acid. It's cheaper. It's the cheapest natural organic acid that can be used to lighten hair. You can warm and boil it, if you like. Citric acid doesn't lose its properties in high temperatures.
 Here is one of my recipes:
 On this website you can see the photos of this recipe with citric acid and my hair http://irecommend.ru/content/odin-iz-retseptov-dlya-osvetleniya-volos-s-limonnoi-kislotoi-foto
1. Squeeze the conditioner into a bowl.
2. Add 30-50 grams of ascorbic acid/citric acid. Mix it well.
3. Add some shampoo. Mix well.
You should mix well and maybe wait for some minutes in order to make sure the acid dissolved.
4. Put this mask on your clean damp hair. Leave it for 1-1,5 hours.
 You can also add essential oils if you like.
12) Sea salt, or table salt.
In search of information I found that sea salt brightens and lightens hair. Chlorides have some lightening properties. I added salt to my acid masks.
13) Salicylic acid, acetylsalicylic acid.
 It can be found easily: salicylic acid is the active ingredient in face washes. It is sold in low concertrations at the pharmacie, chemist's. Among these face washes I recommend Clearasil face washes, because it's got more salicylic acid than anything else. If you follow this link, it's my review, you can look at the ingredients. http://irecommend.ru/content/pomogaet-podsvetlit-volosy-i-podcherknut-tsvet-s-salitsilovoi-kislotoi
I used Salicylic acid facewash to wash my hair and I noticed that it cleans well and lightens a bit, brightens my hair. I don't use it every time, and I combine it with using shampoo.
 Acetylsalicylic acid in tablets, or aspirin can be used in hair masks, they can strip hair dye and they can lighten hair. Cheap tablet need to be crushed and dissolved, and Bayer's aspirin is not very cheap. You'll need to use 8-10 tablets or pills. Using these pills in not very convenient. And the remain like some powder in your hair. Some hair types will need conditioning afterwards.
14) Lactic acid. 
 I bought lactic acid at cheap prices at the veterinary pharmacie, it was a 40 % Lactic acid, 60 % alcohol. The pharmacie in my neighbourhood didn't sell any lactic acid. It is also sold in shops for handmade or homemade cosmetics, but it's quite pricey to buy there if you want to use it for lightening hair. It's a good deal to buy it at the veterinary pharmacy. It's not sold in conventional pharmacies in my country as far as I know.
 It's very nice to use it. I diluted it with water.
15) Essential oils.
 Many people know about lemon essential oil, but there are other essential oils that can lighten hair: rosemary oil, lemongrass oil, grapefruit and other citrus oils, neroli, lavender oil, fennel, even tea tree oil, eucalyptus oil. The list is not full. And you can mix these oils to lighten hair.

How to lighten hair naturally 3. Well-known natural lighteners.

   Here's my experience with tradional well-known hair lighteners.
1. Honey.
 I have used honey a lot and in many ways, combined int with conditoner, water, lemon juice or vinegar. I left it i my hair for 3-4 hours. I took a long period of 2 months to use honey lightening. But with my hair type all I could get was half a tone lift, 0,5 hair colour level. There was a golden shimmer. Now I use honey, but rarely, on combination with other lighteners.
2. Chamomile. 
 I haven't tried chamomile yet, the information was so contradictory and controversial. From what I read it's a mild lightener, it can lighten and it can give a yellow tint. Probably it won't give much to darker hair colors. Still, I haven't tried it myself and I don't know for sure.
3. Lemon juice.
 It really works and it works without the sun. It lightens very gradually. I used it a lot. People who say that it works only with the sun mean that it doesn't lighten as much as it does in the sun. It's very popular lightener with the sun, but keep in mind that it WILL work without the sun, the results will be milder and more gradual. I put it in my hair for 1-3 hours. I think even 1 hour will be enough. You can also leave in your hair for the night. Apply lemon juice on clean damp or dry hair. You can leave it for the night if you like. I used pure lemon juice, and I recommend squeezing juice from fresh lemons. It's one of the best natural hair lighteners.
I also used bottled juice in combinations with ascorbic acid and alcohol. But I recommend fresh juice, it;s much better. Its easy to squeeze it with your hands and fingers, it takes some minutes.
4. Cinnamon.
I added maybe about 1 or 2 tablespoons to my conditioner-honey concoction a couple of times, but it made no big difference for me. I kept it in my hair for about 3 hours. But I did reseach, there are a lot of "successful stories" of using cinnamon. And you need really a lot of it. So I think I'll give it a try for a change some day. Still, what I don't like about using cinnamon, is that you should leave it in your hair for so many hours to get maybe a very subtle result, and maybe repeat the treatment more and more times.
Still, there are as much subtle results or even weak, as there are succesful stories. If your hair is soft and susceptible, sentitive, maybe this works for you. If I try, I'll write about it.
5. Kefir, or yoghurt.
It won't work if you don't use it regularly. I combined these with essential oils, kept this in my hair for 3 hours. It's nice, you can ealily leave this in you hair overnight. I didn't use it much, but some people said it works and lightens natural hair. I'll say it does, but not as much as lemon juice or citric acid mask. Takes more tome took keep in your hair. Still, kefir and youghurt work to lighten your hair.
6. Vinegar.
Vinegar is a great thing to lighten hair, I used it a lot, used it pure, with essential oils, with salt, with lemon juice. It lightens hair as much as lemon juice does. But it's very smelly, some in you family may not like it...) The good thing about the smell is that it is aired out, and there's no smell when you rinse. And no matter what type you use, apple cider vinegar or white/red wine vinegar. Apple cider vinegar is cheaper.
7. Rhubarb.
Rhubarb is not sold in our stores in Russia, in Moscow. Sometimes it's grown in people's gardens. However, you can find it in a couple of Russian online shops. It's a rarity, I haven't tried it.
8. Mixture of all ingredients.
All the ingredients I mention here can be mixed with each other.
9. Lemon essential oil.
I added lemon essential oil a lot, a whole bottle to my acidic hair mask, or some drops in combination with other essential oils. Well, I had the impression it added some more shimmer in comparison to the mask without it, and yes it works. I tested it without very acidic concoction, in kefir and youghurt, it should dissolve well, and it lightens a bit. (I kept it in my hair for three hours.)