Need some advice... (henna)

[korinstuff]

A couple of weeks ago, I did my first henna. I used the BAQ henna (100g) and mixed it with lemon juice and a bit of coffee. My results came out a lot oranger than I would like.

I know that the more times you do henna, the darker it will get. I was just wondering - if I do another treatment, will it get darker orange? Or will it be more red? I really don't like the color I have right now. I would prefer a dark red, not this rusty color. :(

Any suggestions?

[Aisha25]

First how long did you leave the henna on your hair?? With henna its, the longer you leave it on the deeper color it gets. Also you can try tea and add lemon juice and clove powder this will bring to a very nice color.

[wh!terose]

also hibisucs can do great try it

[Heidi_234]

It will become redder, not darker orange. I also second the time suggestion, leave it for longer (few hours).
btw, coffee doesn't do anything much to the henna, I'm not sure you need it in your mix.

[korinstuff]

I didn't actually put the coffee in the mix, but I used a little splash of coffee the next morning after dye release to moisten the mixture up again. I guess I will just do another treatment and just try to leave it on longer I guess. I think I did 4 hours last time. Maybe I'll do 8, hehe.

Thank you for your replies.

[HairColoredHair]

You could also try prepping and then freezing the henna. It seems to dye darker after it's thawed than fresh. :)

[Aisha25]

Yup I got great results with previously frozen henna dyes stronger for some reason:)

[CopperHead]

You can henna quite often too. I have done weekly applications to get things darkened up. I have some LH BAQ on my hair right now. I had to use water and added some alma and a splash of grape juice. It will be more orange than I want, but I will just keep doing applications until I get it where I want it. :)

[Shermie Girl]

The longer you keep henna on your head and the longer you are a henna head, the less and less you will see orange. Along toward the end of my time with henna, I rarely saw any orange after a fresh application. My mix was simply BAQ henna powder (Rajastani) and hot tap water, left to stew for an hour or two then slopped in and left on for six hours or so.

Frozen then thawed henna paste always gave me even darker, more intense stain and I seemed to get less orange with it, too. (My own experiences with the stuff... YMMV. :) )

[Nightshade]

I agree on the hibiscus- cut the lemon and the coffee and use that, let it dye release for awhile then pop it in the freezer.

Iris did several henna experiments that showed that despite common perception, lemon juice actually reduces the ability of henna to dye.

[IndigoInk]

I agree on the hibiscus- cut the lemon and the coffee and use that, let it dye release for awhile then pop it in the freezer.

Iris did several henna experiments that showed that despite common perception, lemon juice actually reduces the ability of henna to dye.

Really? I had no idea I thought you needed something acidic in your henna mix. I have never henna-ed but I was planning on doing it in a couple weeks for the first time.

[HairColoredHair]

Really? I had no idea I thought you needed something acidic in your henna mix. I have never henna-ed but I was planning on doing it in a couple weeks for the first time.

I think some acid is helpful, but most people's tap water, tea, juice, etc, is more than acidic enough. :) (I think in school we figured our tap water to be 6.7 or so... just barely acidic.

[rach]

im about to do mine for first time and was thinking about having lemon tea in mine - thought it might give a nice smell. also going to be generous with the timing as i would like to minimize orange. i realize it will be bright at first and will see if i need to redo it in a weeks time to deepen the colour.
im nervous and excited too, such a lovely colour and i will look fab with my wavy hair .

i there truth in alma calms the brightness? just out of curiosity

[Nightshade]

Really? I had no idea I thought you needed something acidic in your henna mix. I have never henna-ed but I was planning on doing it in a couple weeks for the first time.

Nope :) Check out these experiments. Some girls at HennaTribe did something similar on skin and found that lemon juice weakened the staining power of the henna and made if fade faster, but that link isn't working. (http://archive.longhaircommunity.com/showpost.php?p=1301259&postcount=5686)Iris actually found that adding citric acid after dye release turned the brown paste green again and killed its ability to stain :bigeyes:

I don't think a bit of acid hurts, but you don't need more than a splash of lemon juice tops, and I'd honestly recommend an acidic herbal tea, such as chamomile instead- it's a natural hair conditioner and won't dry your hair like lemon juice.

[Nightshade]

im about to do mine for first time and was thinking about having lemon tea in mine - thought it might give a nice smell. also going to be generous with the timing as i would like to minimize orange. i realize it will be bright at first and will see if i need to redo it in a weeks time to deepen the colour.
im nervous and excited too, such a lovely colour and i will look fab with my wavy hair .

i there truth in alma calms the brightness? just out of curiosity

If I'm understanding right, you're using lemon-flavored black tea, right? The tannins in tea and the lemon juice may both prove drying.

Amla does calm the brightness, but won't undo that orange sheen in the sun- nothing will.

You may find this helpful:

http://i9.tinypic.com/4vsj444.jpg

In the top row, check out the two rightmost samples. The brighter red one was cassia + henna (which is always quite bright) and the second was cassia + henna + alma. Although this mix has cassia in it (effectively diluting the mix and producing a lighter color) it does show the cooling effect nicely :)

Here's the full test (http://archive.longhaircommunity.com/showpost.php?p=1223782&postcount=133)if you're interested. :flowers:
Also, some people, myself among them, find henna kills waves, (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=1871)so just be aware that that's a possibility. :flower:

[IndigoInk]

Seriously Nightshade I just want to crawl inside your brain sometimes! (I hope that didn't sound weird...)

That's very good info to know.

[rach]

thats very useful thanks.
cassia sounds like a good investment future add-in when i've got my colour i want, and need to get the condition back in my hair . might do a stand alone cassa treatments till then :)
i'll see if i can raid my sister-in-law chamomile stash.
i'll keep away from tannin and lemon things , thank you.
i'll hopefully be able to do it tomorrow night if mr postman turns up :)
i'll post before and after pics and week after pics (and when its settled in) for people who are interested in the idea. (i'll make a separate tread when i get to the 25 posts mark )
did abit of research on alma and it sounds like it undo's the waves the henna unravels slightly which if using henna i'll happly take that as a side effect till my hair weights its self down by it's self.
btw "Nightshade" your signature pic really lovely, very inspiring for people who are looking for there goal of having long hair :p (ie me!)

[Nightshade]

Seriously Nightshade I just want to crawl inside your brain sometimes! (I hope that didn't sound weird...)

That's very good info to know.

:lol: I take it as the highest compliment, though I do promise that the inside of my head is a very bizarre place at times :p

If you have more questions ask away!



thats very useful thanks.
cassia sounds like a good investment future add-in when i've got my colour i want, and need to get the condition back in my hair . might do a stand alone cassa treatments till then :)
i'll see if i can raid my sister-in-law chamomile stash.
i'll keep away from tannin and lemon things , thank you.
i'll hopefully be able to do it tomorrow night if mr postman turns up :)
i'll post before and after pics and week after pics (and when its settled in) for people who are interested in the idea. (i'll make a separate tread when i get to the 25 posts mark )
did abit of research on alma and it sounds like it undo's the waves the henna unravels slightly which if using henna i'll happly take that as a side effect till my hair weights its self down by it's self.
btw "Nightshade" your signature pic really lovely, very inspiring for people who are looking for there goal of having long hair :p (ie me!)

Awesome! I can't wait to see the pictures!

For the wave effect with the amla, its wave-boosting effect is temporary, which the wave relaxing effect of henna is permanent. Alma didn't help me get my wave back at all, but it does for some people, though you have to do it often to keep the effect up.

Thank you for the compliment! The picture was taken just after I had the trial style for my wedding hair done :) You can see all the pics in this thread, starting somewhere around post 60-something (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=10985%5C).

[rach]

:cheese:chamomile tea raided :cheese:

[Nightshade]

:cheese:chamomile tea raided :cheese:


Woo! :cheer: Good to hear!

[Dorothy]

I did my first Henna about two weeks ago w/yemen henna from mehandi, chamomile tea, and powdered cloves. I left it on for 4 hours, over a combo of brown hair dye and grey roots. I am pretty happy with the color, you can look in my album if you like. The cloves added the most wonderful scent that lasted more than a week after the job. I could smell the hay-like henna with the cloves, I wish I could make my hair smell like that all the time.

I have a few questions, Nightshade - so most of my hair is brown hair dye with henna highlights, now. I didn't get quite enough Henna, so some of it is browner than the rest. I'm planning on root shooting for the next little while.

Will the Henna fade at all? Should I redo the whole thing once in a while? I think I might leave it in for just 3 hours next time I do my roots to get a little lighter color.

There's a lot of talk elsewhere on lhc about how scary and PERMANENT Henna is, and I'm wondering what are folks comparing it to? This brown dye all over most of my hair seems pretty darned permanent to me. What's that fear about, because I've heard people describing doing some very scary things to their hair - dye, highlights over dye, dye over highlights over dye on top of perms, while at the same time expressing reluctance to do henna because of the permanence issue. Do you understand this?

[Nightshade]

Although henna routinely fades on a very very small segment of people, for the most part it's as scary-permanent as we make it out to be.

For many, though, myself included, henna will fade after the first application, but is bulletproof after the second. When I do my roots they always fade a bit until the next touchup, at which point they don't fade at all :)

The thing with henna that makes it so hard to get out is that it not only coats the hair, it also goes into the hair shaft itself, which is why it lends so much strength... it's just not possible to get it out without blasting the hair to literal pieces

Perhaps you could do your root shooter for the next touchup and do a gloss on the length? That way you should get a "fix" on the color with minimal darkening :)

I hope that made sense!

[Dorothy]

I so appreciate your wisdom, that made sense, but what is a gloss? Do I mix it w/conditioner, is that it?

[punkgirl89]

I know that this has probably been covered, but make absolutely sure that you haven't exposed the henna to any metal. This mistake turned my hair bright carrot orange a few years ago, and I have olive skin so it was pretty bad. lol

[Shermie Girl]

I know that this has probably been covered, but make absolutely sure that you haven't exposed the henna to any metal. This mistake turned my hair bright carrot orange a few years ago, and I have olive skin so it was pretty bad. lol


Are you sure that you were using pure, body art quality henna? In all the time I used henna, I never, ever had it react with metal of any kind. In fact, I routinely wrapped my head in aluminum foil to keep my head nice and warm, the henna came in contact with it and it didn't react or change the colour of my hair in any way. I also used a metal cake decorating tip and piping bag as a root shooter, no reaction. Nor did I have a problem when I used a metal spoon or put my henna into a steel bowl. :)

[Nightshade]

I so appreciate your wisdom, that made sense, but what is a gloss? Do I mix it w/conditioner, is that it?

Yep! A henna gloss is usually some dye released henna diluted into some conditioner :) Keep asking, I don't mind :flowers:



I know that this has probably been covered, but make absolutely sure that you haven't exposed the henna to any metal. This mistake turned my hair bright carrot orange a few years ago, and I have olive skin so it was pretty bad. lol

In all the years I've been screwing around with henna I have always always used a metal whisk on a hand mixer to blend mine. The idea that henna is effected by metal is, for the most part, false. I've heard that if you leave henna in an unfinished iron pot THAT can affect the color, but I've never seen it personally, only heard rumor, which really means jack all to me in the world of henna :o

I think that idea comes for the metallic salts in poor quality henna compounds and so the idea carried over that metal shouldn't touch henna at all.

I'd more question your henna, your mix, and your methodology :) If you wanted to tell us what you used and what you did we'd be happy to help you troubleshoot!

[burns_erin]

Yep, metal does not affect it at all, if you are using PURE henna. When I do large batches, like for multiple people or to freeze, I use my stand mixer. It has a metal bowl and wisk part, never had a problem.

[rach]

ok just done mine yesterday and it's lovely red but it glows orange
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=21746

[dulce-de-leche]

Ok so I found a tea in my cabinet that has Rooibos(what ever that is)hibiscus,lemon verbena,orange peels,rosemary,lemon balm,citric acid.Would this be a good tea to mix with henna.I've already read about using citic acid but what if it's in a tea and the last ingredient?I
already know that I won't get much color change on my black hair but would ok to use?

[twilight]

i just wanted to second (or third) that bit about the metal... i use metal whisks/spoons most of the time when i make henna and have never noticed anything scary happening. i've even used steel bowls before.

there is so much urban legend involved with henna, it's ridiculous. :p