This time 10 years ago, I was sitting poolside, fake aviators on, Teen Vogue in hand, and hair soaked in lemon juice. I grew up blonde. My hair was bleached by the sun thanks to summers running around barefoot and carefree. And I used the classic lemon juice trick to enhance my naturally light hair color. That all changed as I got older and little by little my days moved from outdoors to inside at a desk. School and a career became the priority (#adulting). And soon my once natural, sun-kissed highlights transition to a much more costly chemical lightening.
So when my editor asked me to try using lemon juice to lighten my hair, I was pumped. I'd get to live that summer lifestyle I had grown up on. Only this time there was no pool, the sunglasses were 100 percent real, and my SPF number was double. But would the lemon juice have that same brightening effect I remembered?
I reached out to Joe J. Cincotta, PhD from Federici Brands to find out the science behind this lemony hair hack. He explained that the fruit does, in fact, have a lightening effect. “Lemon juice contains 5 percent citric acid, which is a very weak oxidizing agent that absorbs into the hair cortex.” The acid works in tandem with sunlight’s UV rays to activate and accelerate the brightening process. The oxidizing process chemically attacks and reduces the melanin (a.k.a. your hair’s color pigment). Therefore, the color visibly lightens. Once this happens and the hair is lightened, the results are permanent. Hair will not fade or darken unless it's color treated, or in my case, naturally darker roots grow out.
Of course it can’t all be sunshine and rainbows. There are a few downsides to highlighting your hair with lemon juice. This experiment works mainly on natural blondes or ashy, light brown hair. “Darker brown hair tends to go orange,” says Cincotta. He also explains that the acid combined with the sun can degrade hair’s natural lipid layer, which can lessen the hair’s ability to hold essential moisture. Or, put simply, it can dry out the strands, especially after repeated uses.
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For those who color their hair, lemon juice can have a completely different effect. “Artificial colors behave differently than natural melanin,” says Cincotta. It’s hard to say exactly how hair dye and lemon juice will react. The tone could look off and the virgin roots may not end up matching the colored hair sections. On the bright side, unless you have an allergy to citrus fruit, there aren’t any specific allergies you need to be wary of while doing this.
Sun In was my go-to when I was a teenager. I used to toss the bottle in my beach bag next to my SPF 15. Because WOAH! did it lighten my hair. And quick. However, once I got older and heard whispers about how it was bad for your hair, I stuck with lemon juice instead. So I asked Cincotta, what's the deal with Sun In, and why did it work so well? “It’s a hydrogen peroxide spray, a much stronger oxidizing agent than lemon juice.” Therefore, it really lifts a lot of color. And in addition to sunlight and UV rays, heat can activate the color lifting process with Sun In.
However, since hydrogen peroxide is so potent, it can do some serious damage to the hair—more than just dry it out. “It will damage the hair’s protein and sulfur bonds causing them to become weaker and more susceptible to breakage.” My sisters, who have the same hair color as mine, experienced this unfortunate side effect. Especially my middle sibling. The hair around her hairline started to break mid-shaft. So while I stopped my Sun In habit early enough to avoid this, I have seen firsthand its damaging effects.
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Back in the day, I used to just pour the undiluted lemon juice directly on my chlorine-soaked hair. But since my version of Manhattan lacks a pool, Cincotta recommended mixing two parts freshly squeezed lemon juice with one part warm water in a spray bottle. If you have really dry hair already, he suggests mixing three parts lemon juice with one part leave-in conditioner. I just stuck to the water blend.
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I poured my concoction in a spray bottle and focused it mostly on my roots. Since my ends are all chemically highlighted, I was a little hesitant about soaking them, but of course they did get somewhat wet. The juice made my hair very crunchy and sticky. But if I ran my fingers through it and mussed it up, it wasn't really a huge deal. I was even able to achieve "messy beach hair," and that rarely happens with my stick-straight, thin hair. So while it felt kind of gross, I was kinda into how it looked.
Cincotta suggested sitting out in the sun for 1-2 hours on four different occasions. I don’t necessarily live a luxurious lifestyle where I can commit to eight hours lounging outside. And, of course, the weekend I set aside to test this DIY turned out to be cloudy and rainy. So I sat out for a total of four hours on three separate occasions, one being a lunch break.
I was actually surprised at how much my hair lightened after such a short amount of time in the sun. I definitely felt like it was brighter and blonder, especially halfway down my strands. Going in to this, I was nervous the juice was going to make my chemically colored hair yellow. And my hope was that since it was a natural process it would deliver natural results... and it did!
Here's my hair color before.
And here's the after shot.
The change was slight and minimal. But I imagine if I had spent more time out in the sun, over a longer period of time, I would have seen much lighter hair. It did end up feeling drier than usual after day two. So, I just put a little pre-styling cream in, and my hair was smooth and soft again.
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Although I’m no longer a Jonas Brothers-loving preteen, it was good to flashback to the '90s—even just for a short amount of time. And just like Nick and Joe Jonas are making a comeback, it's nice to know that lemon juice will always be here to bring back the nostalgia with bright, blonde summer hair.
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