Recipes for Dyeing Hair.—(Dark water colour.)—Take a pint of strong ale, half a pound of soot, a small quantity of the juice of walnut leaves, and an equal quantity of alum powdered fine; mix them well, and boil them in a pipkin half an hour; when the mixture is cold, put in the hair, and let it remain ten or twelve hours.
Some boil a quarter of a pound of soot in a pint of strong alum water, with a little juice of walnut leaves, for half an hour, and steep the hair in it when nearly cold.
For a brown, take some powdered alum, boil it well until dissolved; then add a pound of walnut-tree bark, from the branches when the sap is up, or the buds or green nuts; boil it in an hour, and let it stand. When after skimming it for ten minutes, put in the gut or hair for about a minute (stirring it round), or until you like the colour. If it continues too long, it will become quite dark and injure the hair. The lighter it is tinged with this colour, the better. Salt and ale will also give hair a brownish cast that is steeped in it.
For a blueish water colour, proceed as above; only add logwood instead of the walnut, and be careful not to colour it too much.
Yellow.—The inner bark of a crab-tree boiled in water with some alum, makes a fine yellow, which is excellent when the weeds rot, the line appearing of the same hue. Another dye may be obtained from two quarts of small ale, and three handfuls of walnut leaves bruised therein; the hair to remain in it until tinged to your wish.