Tired of spending salon money just to nudge your hair a shade lighter? These homemade hair highlight rinses give brunettes and blondes a simple, old-school way to brighten their color at home without turning your bathroom into a chemistry lab (always nice).
A box of highlighting products or a salon touch-up usually costs far more than a pantry-based rinse, and this version lets you control exactly what goes on your hair, including the strength, scent, and whether you use potato water or chamomile tea. That matters if you want a very simple formula instead of a long ingredient list.
You only need 1 ingredient for each version of this project. The brunette method uses one unpeeled potato, and the blonde method uses 1/2 cup chamomile tea with 1 quart boiling water. Grab a pot, a strainer for the tea, and a pastry brush for the brunette method before you start.
- 🧰 Materials You'll Need
- 🔧 Tools & Equipment
- 🛠️ How to Make Homemade Hair Highlights
- 🎨 Customization Ideas
- 🛠️ How to Use Hair Highlights
- 🛡️ Safety Information
- 💸 Cost Breakdown
- 🛍️ Need Help Finding Everything?
- ❓ Frequently Asked Questions about Homemade Hair Highlights for Brunettes and Blondes
- 📌 Love this Homemade Hair Highlights for Brunettes and Blondes? Pin it!
- 🖨️ Print-Friendly How-To: Homemade Hair Highlights for Brunettes and Blondes
Materials You’ll Need
- For brunettes: 1 potato, unpeeled
- For blondes: 1/2 cup chamomile tea
- For blondes: 1 quart boiling water
Tools & Equipment
- Pot
- Pastry brush
- Strainer
How to Make Homemade Hair Highlights
- For brunettes: Cook an unpeeled potato in boiling water.
- Cool the potato water slightly.
- Dip a pastry brush in the water, then cover and saturate the hair, being careful not to get any on your skin.
- Leave it on the hair for 20 minutes, then rinse it out.
- For blondes: Steep 1/2 cup chamomile tea in 1 quart of boiling water.
- Strain the tea and cool it slightly.
- Shampoo your hair until oil free, then rinse with the chamomile tea infusion.
Customization Ideas
Choose the version that matches your hair color rather than trying to combine both methods in one batch. If you want to keep the process simple, make a single batch and test it on a small hidden section first so you can judge the effect before applying it more broadly.
How to Use Hair Highlights
Use the brunette potato-water method as a temporary highlighting rinse by brushing it through the sections you want to saturate. Use the blonde chamomile rinse after shampooing, when the hair is oil free, so the infusion contacts the hair more evenly.
If you’re looking for other at-home hair fixes, you might also like Homemade Hair Highlights, MYO Hot Oil Hair Treatment, or Pool Turned your Hair Green?.
Safety Information
Keep these mixtures off your skin as directed, especially with the brunette method where the potato water is brushed directly onto the hair. If you color your hair with commercial products between treatments, it also makes sense to patch test those products first and follow label directions, since the American Academy of Dermatology advises testing store-bought hair color before use and notes that lightening hair can increase dryness and brittleness. See their hair coloring tips here.
Cost Breakdown
Estimated project cost varies by which version you make and local grocery prices, but a single potato rinse or a chamomile tea rinse typically costs far less than salon highlights or most boxed highlighting kits. This is still a simple estimate, not a promise, because tea and produce prices vary by store and season.
- Brunette version: approximately the cost of 1 potato
- Blonde version: approximately the cost of 1/2 cup chamomile tea
🛍️ Need Help Finding Everything?
- Russet potatoes at Walmart
- Chamomile tea at Walmart
- Pastry brush on Amazon
- Fine mesh strainer on Amazon
Frequently Asked Questions about Homemade Hair Highlights for Brunettes and Blondes
You can, but there is no real reason to layer the brunette potato rinse and the blonde chamomile rinse in one session. Pick the method that matches your hair color so you can judge the result more clearly.
No. The directions specifically call for 1 unpeeled potato, so leave the skin on when you cook it in boiling water.
Leave the potato-water rinse on for 20 minutes, then rinse it out.
That step helps the chamomile tea infusion contact the hair more evenly instead of sitting over oil or product buildup.
Yes. The directions say to strain the tea after steeping and before rinsing your hair with it.
A pastry brush works best because the directions tell you to dip it in the potato water and brush the liquid through the hair where you want coverage.
You could, but the original method specifically uses a pastry brush and warns you to avoid getting the mixture on your skin. A brush gives you better control and less mess.
No. Let it cool slightly first. You want it warm enough to use comfortably, not hot enough to annoy your scalp.
The directions do not include storage guidance, so the most practical approach is to make only what you plan to use right away.
📌 Love this Homemade Hair Highlights for Brunettes and Blondes? Pin it!
Did you try one of these homemade highlight methods? Tell us which version you used and what you changed to make it work for your hair.
🖨️ Print-Friendly How-To: Homemade Hair Highlights for Brunettes and Blondes
Homemade Hair Highlights for Brunettes and Blondes
Equipment
Materials
- 1 potato unpeeled
- ½ cup chamomile tea
- 1 quart boiling water
Instructions
- Cook an unpeeled potato in boiling water.
- Cool slightly.
- Dip a pastry brush in the water, cover and saturate hair, being careful not to get any on skin.
- Leave on hair for 20 minutes then rinse out.
- Steep chamomile tea in one quart of boiling water.
- Strain and cool slightly.
- Shampoo hair until oil free, then rinse with the tea infusion.
no kidding? i never knew you could highlight hair with potatoes!
does this really work? do you just put streaks like in a highlighting kit or does it lighten all of your hair?
How long does it last?