Henna (for hair)

[Rebecca]

Tell me about using henna products to dye hair!

 

I want to color my hair (to cover gray)....I am not keen on chemicals and I can't indulge in hair salon fees.

 

What is your favorite brand? How do you apply it? How do you protect the house???

 

I have dark brown hair.

 

Thank you!!

 

Rebecca

[sunflowerlady]

I used henna on my hair for a few years. It was a great experience and I liked the results. I have medium to dark brown hair with some grays. It gave my hair an auburn color and the grays were like red highlights. Make sure you get pure henna and nothing with added metallics. I read a lot first on the Henna for Hair site. Then I read about going to your local Indian grocer to buy it. So I did and it was much less expensive.

 

It is a time consuming process because it has to stay on your hair so long. Then it takes a long time to rinse it out of your hair. But it is worth it and it is good for your hair. Be prepared for your hair to smell sort of like hay or grass for a few days after until you wash it. Not stinky or unpleasant, just a light scent.

 

Good luck!

 

I just followed directions I found online to apply. I didn't do a anything special to protect the house. A couple of times I did rinse it out with a hose in the back yard because it takes so long and can clog the drain a bit.

[Happy2BaMom]

Well, I did henna for two years and last month just switched back to regular hair color (yes, you can do that, as long as you use ONLY pure plant materials on your hair while doing henna.....plus go darker in colo9r & do a strand test first).

 

Pros of Henna (for me):

* I liked using an "all natural" product. No nasty chemicals/suspected carcinogens.

 

Cons of Henna (for me):

* It was a pain - time consuming to put on, messy.

* It never lasted as long as hair dye (I had to henna my hair every three weeks at a minimum)...but I have >50% gray in my hair

* Because I have so much gray, I had a HORRIBLE time trying to get the brown color I wanted.

 

Henna sticks to gray hair and is the bright red color you've probably heard about. To get a truly brown color, you combine henna with indigo (so called 'hendigo'). The problem is that indigo (for most people) does not stick to gray the same way henna does. Depending on your hair structure, it may wash out much easier than henna. This was my problem. I have always had brown hair. With hendigo, I was a redhead - OK, more of an auburn-head, as there was brown color there, but it was WAY more red than I wanted. I tried EVERYTHING - spent hours online researching how to make my hair more of a true brown while using henna. I used salt (helps indigo to stick), ACV, coffee, amla powder, you name it. If someone somewhere said _____ would help produce more brown, I tried it. While doing this research, I found a number of other people online who were like me...having a lot of difficulty getting a consistently brown color. The common thread was usually the %age of gray hair. And I could never find a way to do a lighter brown shade. Indigo produces black hair. Mixed with henna, it does a dark brown (at least that's the idea). You don't have many color options besides that.

 

In the end I gave up. My analysis: if you have brown hair (of any shade) with some gray (<25%), I think henna or hendigo can work well for you and give a beautiful, healthy shine while covering grays and adding pretty highlights. If you have >25% gray (and certainly if >50% gray), you can hendigo if you want (at best) auburn hair.

 

HTH.

 

 

[Zydruna]

I have used Henna on my brown hair to cover some gray.  It worked well and I got lots of compliments on the slightly auburn shade.  It is a bit of a pain to apply because it is so messy and you have to leave it in for so long.  I recruited DH and DD to help with application and DD thought it was hilarious to be slapping what looks just like mud onto my head.  We did it in the kitchen and had some paper from the recycling bin on the floor for spills.  DH and DD both wore gloves.  I just purchased some from Amazon that was pure and packaged as hair color so it had good instructions for how to apply.

[Rebecca]

Thank you all so much.

 

My DH is not on board with red/auburn hair for me...although I might like...I have a bit of red in my hair now and in my genetics.

 

What are my other options if I want safe possibly organic hair color?

 

I am probably maybe 25 percent gray and going grayer rapidly....

[laundrycrisis]

I gave up once I hit 50% gray. The henna plant color blends were producing too many weird tones on the gray. It was also drying and the gray hair was already dry and coarse. I used Mountain Rose Herbs products. I am getting color at a natural salon now. It took most of a year to grow out the henna.

[Happy2BaMom]

I use Naturtint. I really like it. However, I should say that there is no truly natural or organic way to cover gray hair and get the shade of your choice (assuming that is not red or auburn). All hair colors out-of-a-box use chemicals of some kind.

[Negin]

I have been using Lush Henna (Caca Noir shade) for a few years. I love it, except for the fact that I need to grate the block every time and that's just exhausting. If you do decide on Lush, I can share some tips, but your best option is to read the reviews, since their tips are more color specific. It's funny, since my hair is covered in henna as I type this. :) It covers most of my grays, but not all. I love how it makes my hair feel. 

 

My sister's been using Surya Henna for a few years now. I'm considering moving on to that, since it's easier to use. They offer more colors, including a gorgeous Silver Fox, which I'd love to try when I'm a bit older. 

 

 

[Rebecca]

DH was completely overwhelmed by the smell of Henna and made it very apparent how unappealing it was to him!

I even colored it on a weekend when he was away with our sons on a Scout trip and so he didn't even experience the fresh application.

 

The smell was incredible to me as well-

 

but I did love the "salon" feeling I had and they way my hair felt after it was rinsed out. 

 

It covered my gray- strangely- to say the least and I have still had to wear the headbands I was wearing with my natural color.

 

I am pretty much back to square one.

 

Still figuring this out.

 

Thanks for the input and feedback!!

[TranquilMind]

There are also boxed hair colors that you can purchase at the health food store that don't have a lot of dangerous chemicals.  They don't smell bad.  You could try one of them. 

 

[SKL]

My Indian ex-boss used to color his hair with henna.  It would gradually go from dark to red to purple and back to dark again.  :P  That is all I know about henna hair coloring.  :)

[Negin]

DH was completely overwhelmed by the smell of Henna and made it very apparent how unappealing it was to him!

I even colored it on a weekend when he was away with our sons on a Scout trip and so he didn't even experience the fresh application.

 

The smell was incredible to me as well-

 

but I did love the "salon" feeling I had and they way my hair felt after it was rinsed out. 

Rebecca, what brand did you use? I use Lush. The smell is strong, but not the worst. My dh and ds don't mind it. Even our dog is okay with it. But my dd hates it and has to get away. I try to time most of my smelly and unappealing beauty treatments for when I'm able to have some spare time - early morning, etc. Not easy for all. This weekend was a henna weekend. It covered most of my greys, but the feel and texture is the best. I love how it makes my hair feel.