Henna question

[wahmof9]

I have used Henna in the past "light Mountain" I think the name was.

Anyway, I found that I liked the color BUT I think it dries my baby fine hair. Any advice???

[Nightshade]

Light Mountain tends to have a really crappy sift, meaning that its a lot harder to rinse.

If you don't get all the henna grit out it can be really drying. Perhaps either sifting it yourself before using it, or trying to rinse more?

Here's how I recommend rinsing henna (sniped from the henna article (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=7)):


Rinsing
Get some cheap cone-free conditioner (such as V05 White Tea Therapy). Get in the shower, blast off your hair a little, then keep your hair out of the water and work in handfuls of conditioner. I go through a full bottle if it's a little bottle, and half of one of the 33% MORE FREE! bottles. Just work the conditioner in. You'll need lots. As you work the conditioner in start gently detangling from the ends up, adding more conditioner. Only when you can get your fingers mostly through it should you rinse. This does a few things: 1) you get a CO cleansing treatment as this is going to take you at least 20 mins to work into your hair before rinsing. 2) detangling helps the cassia mud rinse free easier, diminishing rinsing time overall. I cut my rinsing time in half with this method. Just be patient.

Other people have good luck using what's called a "mermaid soak" where their hair is soaked in a bathtub or bucket of water to loosen the henna before rinsing.


Otherwise, did you add anything acidic, such as lemon juice to your mix? To much acid is another common culprit of dryness.

[Buggheart]

I used to use LUSH henna which is also very gritty and hard to rinse out. I used the mermaid method to loosen things up then just rinsed and rinsed like crazy under the shower faucet with tons of cheap conditioner like Nightshade mentioned.

[AcadieAnne]

I used Light Mountain Red last night that I got in bulk from my local hippy pharmacy near a college campus (good turn-over rate on henna). I found the batch of Light Mountain I got to be pretty fresh and a finer sift and richer color than the Rainbow Persian Red I used previously. I used less lemon juice than previous henna treatments, used Nightshade's conditioner rinsing method posted above (I used the mermaid method previously), and put a tiny amount of ev coconut oil on my ends afterwards, and my hair is the least dry it's ever been after a henna treatment.

[wahmof9]

Thanks for all the wonderful answers. I love this forum but still feels lost at time with all the new ideas and terminology.....But I am sooooooooo excited about all the tricks I am learning about and I have recandled my childhood desire to have long hair.

Now, I have been reading about Henna Gloss, can I do that with cassia as well?

The only henna I have ever done are premixed and I am leery about just buying henna.

Or can I do a henna gloss with the light moutain henna?

[wahmof9]

One more thing..how often do you do a henna treatment?

[jojo]

Glosses are great, Ive done them with cassia in the past and had great results.

I am thinking of trying henna but its the mess with it which puts me off, I found a cream henna already prepared which I am thinking of trying, in fact I have just posted a thread regarding this.

I have also done proper cassia treatments and found it easier to wash out by just using a whole lot of cheap conditioner than shampoo, this may help with the henna too.

[kdaniels8811]

How often you do a treatment depends upon the color desired. Once you get where you want color wise - assuming you are doing a whole head treatment, you would only do the roots as henna will continue to deposit and darken each time you use it. In case of a gloss, it is left on much less time - a half hour is almost too much for mine - and diluted with conditioner or yogurt or other. You can gloss as often as you like but the color could build if using henna. Cassia should give same results without color buildup. Did this answer your question? Smile!

[wahmof9]

Yes thank you!