The same natural dye responsible for Lucille Ball 's signature red hair has pigments that might one day be used to treat serious liver disease. Lawsonia inermis is a broadleaf evergreen best known for making henna, a dye used to change the color of hair, skin and clothes. Writing in the October issue of the journal Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy , a team from Osaka Metropolitan University in Japan said pigments extracted from the dye could be used for liver fibrosis , a hard-to-treat disease