How to Use
Powder. Water. And Time.
There's no developer to measure, no timer beeping at ten minutes, no stinging scalp. Plant colour asks for something different instead: it asks you to wait. Get the timing right and the rest of this is genuinely simple.
If you've only ever used a bottle
It starts as a powder,
and you make the paste.
There's no cream and no developer bottle. What's in the pouch is ground herbs and nothing else — you add warm water yourself and stir it into a paste, roughly the thickness of yogurt.
Then it goes onto damp hair like a mask, root to tip. It doesn't run, it doesn't sting, and there are no fumes — so you can leave it on comfortably while the colour does its work.
Wash & towel-dry
Clean hair, no conditioner. Blot until damp, not dripping.
10–20 minMix into a paste
Add warm water until it's as thick as yogurt — thick enough not to drip.
5–10 minApply & leave on
Cover with a cap and keep the paste warm and moist. How long depends on your shade — browns finish fastest.
60–180 minRinse & let it set
Water only, no shampoo. The colour keeps developing after you rinse.
48–72 hrsFour ways our herbs work
Not every shade behaves the same way
All 24 shades are made from the same small group of herbs — but whether yours contains henna, indigo, or both changes how long it takes and how you dry your hair afterwards.
Henna + Indigo
Our deepest, longest-lasting shades. Henna bonds quickly; indigo keeps developing for up to three days afterwards.
60–90 minCassia-Softened
The same two herbs, diluted with colourless henna. Lighter results, and a little longer to develop.
90–120 minHenna, No Indigo
Warm shades with nothing to cool them. No green stage, no three-day wait — and you can dry your hair however you like.
90–120 minIndigo, No Henna
Our ash tones. Without henna's fast bond they take the longest of any shade — this is the group where rushing shows most.
120–180 minSun Blonde sits outside all four. It contains neither henna nor indigo — it brightens and cleanses rather than colouring, so the steps on this page work differently for it.
The one rule: give it the full time for your shade
Chemical dye forces pigment in fast. Plant pigment moves at its own pace and can't be hurried — henna starts bonding firmly at around 45 minutes, and the herbs without it take longer still. Rinsing early is the single most common reason a result comes out weak, patchy, or barely there. Whatever your shade needs, give it all of it.
A few details change depending on your shade. How long to leave it on, whether to add anything to the paste, and how to dry your hair afterwards — these differ between our herbal blends.
Choose your shade below and this page will show you what applies to it.
↓Step Zero
Which shade are you using?
Our 24 shades are built from different herbs, and a few of them behave differently. Pick yours and this page will show the timings and cautions that apply to it.
Browns & Black
Blondes
Reds & Violet
Lightening Treatment
Nothing selected? The steps below show the standard method — safe for every shade.
Steps 1 & 2
Prepare, Then Mix
Neither step takes long, but both decide how well the colour takes. Clean hair lets the pigment reach the strand, and the right paste keeps it there.
Wash and towel-dry
10–20 min
Plant pigment is carried by water, so anything water-repellent on the hair will block it. Wash thoroughly and skip conditioner entirely — then blot with a towel until hair is damp rather than wet.
- ✓Use a clarifying shampoo if you regularly use oils, silicones or styling products. Buildup is one of the most common reasons colour comes out patchy.
- ×No conditioner, mask, oil or leave-in beforehand. These coat the strand and repel the water-based paste.
- ×Nothing creamy in the bowl either. Radico is mixed with water alone — not yogurt, milk or conditioner, whatever you may have read elsewhere.
- ✓Towel-dry to damp, not dripping. Damp hair helps the paste spread and lets you use noticeably less of it.
Too wet dilutes the colour
Water still sitting in and on the hair thins the paste on contact, and a thinner paste gives a weaker result. Blot until it stops dripping.
For your shade: rinse with diluted vinegar first
Ash tones take more readily on hair that's slightly acidic. After shampooing, rinse with diluted apple cider vinegar, then towel-dry and apply. This helps the colour grip — and unlike vinegar in the paste, it doesn't hold the indigo back.
Mix into a paste
5–10 min
Measure out the powder for your hair length, then add warm water gradually and stir until completely smooth.
Short hair
20–30 g
0.7–1.1 oz
Shoulder length
40–60 g
1.4–2.1 oz
Waist length
70–100 g
2.5–3.5 oz
- ✓Warm water — comfortably warm, not boiling. Water that's too hot can dull the result, especially in shades containing indigo.
- ✓Judge by texture, not by ratio. Around 1 part powder to 3 parts water is a starting point, but keep adding water slowly until the paste is as thick as yogurt — thick enough that it won't drip.
- ✓Stir until completely smooth. Dry lumps are pigment that never reaches your hair.
A runny paste gives a weak result
If the paste drips, it's too thin — add a little more powder. Thin paste slides off the hair instead of staying in contact with it for the full two hours.
For your shade: add cider vinegar and let it rest
Your shade has no indigo, so you can take advantage of henna's preference for mild acidity. Replace some of the water with a splash of apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice), then cover the bowl and let the paste rest for one to two hours before applying. The acid draws the colour out first, so more of it transfers to your hair and the result lasts longer.
For your shade: plain water, and mix fresh
You may have read that vinegar improves henna — it does, but your shade also contains indigo, and acid works against it. Use plain warm water, and apply the paste soon after mixing rather than letting it rest overnight.
For your shade: plain water, and mix fresh
You may have read that vinegar improves henna — it does, but your shade also contains indigo, and acid works against it. Use plain warm water, and apply the paste soon after mixing rather than letting it rest overnight.
For your shade: no vinegar in the paste
Acid helps henna, but your shade works on indigo, which acid holds back. Mix with plain warm water only, and apply soon after mixing — don't let it rest overnight.
About adding vinegar
Cider vinegar helps some of our shades and hinders others — it depends on whether yours contains indigo. Select your shade above and we'll tell you which applies. If you'd rather not choose, plain warm water is safe for every shade.
Steps 3 & 4
Apply, Then Let It Work
Applying takes about twenty minutes. After that, the paste does the work on its own. How long it needs depends on your shade — and on how readily your hair takes water.
Apply from the roots down
10–20 min
Once the paste is ready, work reasonably quickly. Wear gloves, part the hair into sections, and start at the roots — that's where regrowth and grey show first.
- ✓Work it in, don't just brush it on. Knead the paste into each section so it surrounds the strand rather than sitting on the surface.
- ✓Grey needs more paste. Grey strands have no pigment of their own, so give those areas a heavier, more generous layer.
- ✓Cover with the enclosed shower cap as soon as the hair is evenly coated. Plastic wrap works too. This is what keeps the paste from drying out.
A trick from our customers
Transfer the mixed paste into an empty applicator or squeeze bottle using a funnel. It makes reaching the roots far easier than working from a bowl, especially at the back of the head.
Leave it on
60–120
60–90
90–120
90–120
120
—
minutes
Times vary by shade — browns need the least, ash tones the most. Select your shade above for the exact time.
Henna bonds quickly, so browns and blacks are the fastest shades we make. Leave it up to 3 hours if you want a deeper result — longer is always safe.
Colourless henna dilutes the mix, so your shade needs a little longer than the deeper browns. Ninety minutes works; two hours makes it certain. Up to 3 hours for a richer result.
Your shade tones rather than covers, and tone builds gradually. Ninety minutes works; two hours makes it certain.
Ash tones carry no henna, and henna is the pigment that bonds fastest. Yours is the one group that genuinely needs two hours — and three on resistant hair.
Sun Blonde works differently from our colours — see its product page for timing. The rest of this page is written for our herbal hair colours.
Does your hair drink water easily?
This is the one thing that changes the timing more than anything else. Ask yourself:
- ?In the shower, does water bead on your hair before it soaks in?
- ?Does your hair take a while to get properly wet, then dry quickly?
- ?Do masks and treatments seem to do very little for you?
If that sounds like your hair, it resists water — and plant colour travels in water. Add 30 to 60 minutes to the time above. If none of it sounds familiar, the standard time is enough.
Henna's pigment begins bonding firmly to the hair from around 45 minutes in, which is why our browns can finish in an hour. Shades built on other herbs take longer to reach the same point — but none of them can be rushed past it.
- ✓Keep it warm. Wrap a warm towel over the cap, or pull on a fabric cap to trap body heat. A microwavable heat cap works well too.
- ✓Keep it moist. The paste has to stay damp to keep transferring colour. If it starts to dry, mist lightly with water through the cap.
- ✓Longer is safe. Up to three hours is fine and gives a deeper result. There's no penalty for leaving it on.
Warm the paste — never dry it
Gentle warmth speeds the colour along, but a hairdryer aimed at the cap dries the paste out, and dry paste stops transferring colour altogether. Use a warm towel or a heat cap instead. If you do use a dryer for warmth, keep it on the lowest setting, at a distance, and make sure the paste stays damp underneath.
It isn't the same hour as a chemical dye
There's no burning, no fumes, and no reason to stand in the bathroom waiting. Cover it and carry on with your evening — the paste conditions your hair the entire time it's colouring. Chemical dye gives you thirty minutes because thirty minutes is about all a scalp can take.
Steps 5 & 6
Rinse, Then Let It Dry
Rinsing is straightforward — water only, no shampoo. How you dry your hair afterwards matters more than most people expect, and for some shades it decides the final colour.
Rinse with water only
10–20 min
Rinse with warm water until the water runs clear. This takes longer than you'd think — the paste is ground plant material, and it needs to be worked out thoroughly.
- ×No shampoo in this first rinse. Shampoo at this stage lifts pigment straight back out of hair that has only just taken it.
- ✓Work it out with your fingers under running water, section by section, until you can no longer feel grit.
- ✓A little conditioner is fine here if the last of the paste won't shift. It helps the grit slide out and won't disturb colour that has already bonded.
Rinse thoroughly — but don't keep rinsing
Once the water runs clear and you can't feel grit, stop. Hair that takes water easily also gives pigment up easily — if yours is porous, every extra wash in these first days carries a little colour away with it.
The herbal smell isn't paste left behind
For a day or two afterwards your hair will smell faintly of hay or fresh grass, and the smell often returns when hair gets wet. This isn't residue sitting in your scalp or roots. It's plant material that has worked into the hair itself — and while it's there, the colour is still setting.
Washing again and again to chase the smell away is the quickest way to wash the colour out along with it. Leave it alone and it fades on its own within a couple of days.
Let your hair dry
Air-dry, or cool air
Let hair dry on its own — and wrapping it in a towel to slow the drying is better still. The longer hair stays lightly damp, the more completely the colour finishes. If you're in a hurry, a dryer on its coolest setting is fine.
Not hot air, not right away
Blasting hair dry with heat straight after rinsing can stop the colour developing partway — and in deeper shades it can leave a purple or khaki cast instead of the tone you wanted.
Why this matters for your shade
Your shade contains indigo, and indigo isn't finished when you rinse. It needs air and a little moisture to complete its reaction over the next day or two. Forcing the hair dry removes the moisture before that happens — which is the most common cause of a purple cast where copper or brown was expected.
Why this matters for your shade
Your shade contains indigo, and indigo isn't finished when you rinse. It needs air and a little moisture to complete its reaction over the next day or two. Forcing the hair dry removes the moisture before that happens, and the tone can settle cooler or duller than intended.
Why this matters for your shade
Ash tones are built entirely on indigo, and indigo keeps reacting after you rinse. It needs air and a little moisture to finish. Drying with heat cuts that short — and since your shade has no henna underneath to fall back on, an interrupted result can look like almost no colour at all.
Why drying matters
Most of our shades contain indigo, which is still reacting when you rinse. It needs air and a little moisture to finish over the following day or two, so forcing hair dry can stop the colour partway. Select your shade above to see whether this applies to yours.
Good news for your shade: dry it however you like
Your shade contains no indigo, so there's no second reaction waiting to finish and nothing to interrupt. Blow-dry, style, do as you normally would — the colour is already where it's going to be.
If you must use a dryer
Use the cool setting only, and leave hair slightly damp rather than bone dry. The colour is still working for the first 24 hours — hot styling is best saved for the following day.
After the rinse
The Colour Isn't Finished Yet
Chemical dye is done the moment you rinse. Plant colour keeps working for another day or two — which is why the shade you see in the mirror tonight is not the one you'll be wearing.
The first days
No shampoo for
48–72
72
72
48
48
—
hours
Judge your colour on
Day 2–3
Day 3
Day 3
Day 1–2
Day 2
Same day
not tonight
Timings differ by shade — indigo-rich colours take the longest to settle. Select your shade above for yours.
Your shade contains indigo, which keeps oxidizing for two to three days after rinsing. The tone will shift noticeably in that time — wait for day three before deciding what you think of it.
Your shade contains indigo, which keeps oxidizing for two to three days after rinsing. The tone will shift in that time — wait for day three before deciding what you think of it.
With no indigo in your shade there's no slow second reaction, so it settles quickly. What you see after the first day is close to what you keep.
Your shade is built on indigo, which finishes oxidizing over the following day or two. Ash tones in particular look weak at first and deepen as they settle — don't judge them on the first evening.
Sun Blonde has no pigment to develop, so its effect is immediate. The rest of this section applies to our herbal hair colours.
- ✓Water-only rinses are fine. If your hair needs freshening before the window is up, rinse with plain water rather than reaching for shampoo.
- ✓Skip heat styling on day one. Straighteners and hot dryers are best left until the colour has settled.
- ✓Expect the herbal smell to linger and to return when hair gets wet. It fades on its own within a couple of days.
Making it last
Plant colour doesn't grow out in a hard line — it softens gradually, so there's no sharp regrowth edge. How long it holds depends almost entirely on what you wash it with.
- ✓Use a gentle, sulfate-free shampoo. The milder the detergent, the longer the colour stays.
- ×Avoid clarifying and anti-dandruff shampoos between colourings. They're designed to strip what's on the hair, and that includes your colour.
- ×Avoid alkaline soap bars. Soap sits around pH 9–10, far above hair's natural range, and lifts plant pigment quickly.
- ✓Porous hair fades faster. If your hair takes water readily, it lets colour go readily too — wash less often and keep the water cooler.
Why alkaline shampoo strips henna colour
Henna's pigment, lawsone, bonds to the keratin in your hair — but that bond is happiest at a mildly acidic pH. Alkaline lather works in the opposite direction, loosening lawsone from the fibre and carrying it away. A soap-based bar around pH 9–10 can undo weeks of colour in a few washes, and often leaves hair feeling tangled and waxy besides.
Why your shade needs gentler washing than most
Your shade carries no henna, and henna is the pigment that bonds most firmly to hair. Ash tones sit more lightly on the fibre, which is what makes them soft — and also what makes them easier to wash away. Strong detergents and alkaline soap bars around pH 9–10 will lift the tone noticeably faster than they would from a henna-based shade.
When it does soften, just colour again
There's no waiting period between applications and no build-up damage to worry about — each round conditions the hair as it colours. Many people refresh the roots every four to six weeks and do the lengths less often.
If it didn't work
Something Went Wrong. Here's Why.
Almost every disappointing result comes down to one of six things — and most of them are fixable next time. Find what happened to you.
Nothing happened at all — my hair looks exactly the same+
Most likely cause
The paste was rinsed off too early, or something was in the way. Plant pigment needs real contact time, and it can't reach hair that's coated in silicone, oil or product buildup. Hair that resists water takes longer still.
What to do next time
- 1Give it the full time for your shade — and add 30 to 60 minutes if your hair is slow to take water.
- 2Wash with a clarifying shampoo first and skip conditioner entirely. Buildup is invisible but blocks the colour completely.
- 3Check the paste wasn't too thin. Runny paste slides off instead of staying in contact.
- 4Keep it warm and damp throughout. Paste that dries out stops transferring colour.
Your shade is the slowest we make. Ash tones carry no henna, so they need the full two hours — and three on resistant or heavily grey hair. This is the most common reason ash shades appear not to work.
My greys didn't take the colour+
Most likely cause
Grey hair needs more paste and more time than pigmented hair. It's often coarser and less porous, so colour takes longer to work in — and because it has no pigment of its own, any shortfall shows immediately.
What to do next time
- 1Apply generously to grey areas — a noticeably heavier layer than elsewhere, worked right into the roots.
- 2Add 30 to 60 minutes to your usual time.
- 3Colour twice in a week. Plant colour layers safely, and a second round a few days later builds noticeably more coverage on stubborn grey.
Your shade tones rather than covers. On grey it lays a soft tint over the strand instead of hiding it — you'll get a gentle, blended result rather than solid coverage. For fuller coverage, a deeper shade is the better choice.
Ash shades sit lightly on grey. They blend and soften rather than covering solidly, and they need the longest development time of any shade we make.
It came out orange or red — not the shade I chose+
Most likely cause
Henna shows first; indigo arrives late. In any shade containing both, the warm henna tone appears immediately while the indigo takes two to three days to oxidize and cool it down. Orange on day one is normal — orange on day four means the indigo never finished.
What to do
- 1Wait three full days before judging. Most "it came out orange" reports are from the first evening.
- 2Don't blow it dry in the meantime. Indigo needs air and moisture to finish; heat cuts it short and locks the warmth in.
- 3If it's still orange after three days, apply again and let it air-dry this time. The second round settles it.
There's a purple, khaki or greenish cast+
Most likely cause
The indigo was stopped partway. It has to oxidize in air, with a little moisture, over a day or two. Drying hair hard with hot air right after rinsing removes that moisture and freezes the reaction where it stands — leaving the cool half of the colour showing without the warm half to balance it.
What to do
- 1Give it another two days before acting. A partly stalled cast often continues to correct itself as hair is exposed to air.
- 2Leave hair to air-dry in the meantime, and wrap it in a towel rather than drying it out.
- 3Next time, never blast it dry after rinsing. Air-dry, or use cool air only.
It came out patchy or uneven+
Most likely cause
The paste didn't reach every strand equally. This happens when there isn't enough paste, when it's too thin to stay put, or when parts of the hair were more porous than others — previously coloured lengths take differently from virgin roots.
What to do next time
- 1Mix more than you think you need and work in small sections, kneading it in rather than brushing it on.
- 2Use a squeeze bottle to get paste right to the roots, especially at the back.
- 3Colour again to even it out. A second application fills the gaps — plant colour builds rather than clashing.
The colour faded within a couple of weeks+
Most likely cause
It's usually the shampoo. Clarifying, anti-dandruff and soap-based bars are designed to strip what's on the hair, and plant colour goes with it. Porous hair loses colour faster than most, and hot water speeds it up further.
What to do
- 1Switch to a gentle, sulfate-free shampoo and keep clarifying shampoos for the wash before colouring, not after.
- 2Avoid soap bars around pH 9–10. They lift plant pigment quickly.
- 3Wash less often, and cooler. If your hair takes water readily, it lets colour go readily too.
- 4Refresh the roots every four to six weeks. There's no waiting period and no build-up damage — each round conditions as it colours.
Still not right?
Before a full application, test on a small hidden section and give it the full three days. Three days on a strand costs a great deal less than three days on a whole head — and it tells you exactly how your hair takes this shade.
One shade works differently
Sun Blonde Isn't a Hair Colour
Every other shade in the range is built on henna, indigo, or both. Sun Blonde contains neither — so the steps on this page don't all apply to it. Here's what it actually does.
What's inside, and what it does
The colour
Turmeric root
Its pigment, curcumin, is a clear yellow. On pale hair it lends a soft golden warmth — the only colouring ingredient in the blend. Curcuma longa
The cleansing
Reetha & shikakai
Both are rich in saponins, the plant compounds that foam gently in water. They lift away buildup that dulls the hair. Sapindus mukorossi, Acacia concinna
The conditioning
Colourless henna
Cassia obovata smooths and strengthens the strand without adding colour of its own. Cassia obovata
The care
Amla, bhringraj & brahmi
No pigment between them. These are the scalp and fibre herbs that appear across our range. Phyllanthus emblica, Eclipta alba, Bacopa monnieri
No henna. No indigo. These are the two herbs that bond pigment firmly to hair — and neither is in this blend. That's the whole reason Sun Blonde behaves differently from everything else we make.
So it brightens rather than colours. The saponins clear away the residue and buildup that make hair look dull and darker than it is, while turmeric leaves a faint golden warmth behind. The result is hair that looks lighter and cleaner — not hair that has been dyed.
How to use it
Step 1
Wash
Clean, damp hair. No conditioner beforehand.
Step 2
Mix
Warm water into powder, as thick as yogurt.
Step 3
Leave on
30 to 60 minutes under a cap — shorter than our colours.
Step 4
Rinse
Water only. Nothing left to develop afterwards.
- ✓No waiting period afterwards. There's no indigo to oxidize, so what you see when hair dries is the result. Dry and style however you like.
- ✓Use it as often as you like. It's closer to a treatment than a colour, and the effect builds gently with repeated use.
- ✓Strand test first if your hair is very pale. Turmeric is a strong yellow, and porous blonde hair can take more of it than you expect.
Who is it for? Blonde, grey or lightened hair that looks dull and would benefit from brightening and a hint of gold. It will not lighten dark hair — nothing in it removes pigment, and there's no henna or indigo to deposit any. If you're after an actual change of colour, one of our herbal shades is what you want. See how to choose your shade →
Questions
Everything You're
Wondering About
Switching to plant-based color raises questions. Here are the ones we hear most.
Tap a question to see the answer