An ink let recording method using an apparatus including plural aqueous inks, a recording head having a heat-generating portion to eject the inks, and ink storage portions therefor which are housings bonded to the recording head, the method including ejecting the inks from the recording head to record an image on a recording medium. The recording head has plural ejection orifice arrays corresponding to the inks and including a first and a second ejection orifice array at both sides and a third ejection orifice array at the other positions. A protective layer containing tantalum or tantalum oxide is formed on the heat-generating portion to contact with the inks. Dynamic surface tension and lightness of the ink corresponding to the third ejection orifice array are respectively smaller than maximum dynamic surface tension and larger than minimum lightness of the inks corresponding to the first and second ejection orifice arrays.