some questions about henna

[jojo]

Hi All,
I have been getting a red hue from the soapnuts I have been using for washing my hair and I really like them. I used to always dye my hair red years ago but haven't touched a dye other than rhubarb and a couple of henna glosses. The reason I don't want to use a chemical dye is due to the damage it will cause.

I have some natural coppers in my hair and my hair was strawberry blond when I was little.

What worries me is as we age our skin tone changes, is my skin tone still able to carry off red? Also my hair is now just passing BSL and is splitting no matter how many s&d's I do, will henna prevent splits? I understand it is very good for the hair but will it help my fine, splitty hair?

Also what kind of red do you all think would suit my present skin tone? and which henna makes are the better ones?

My only concern is how do you just do the roots? i don't want to end up with burgundy hair, just red hair which looks natural for me and how often would i need to do my roots.

I have no problem with it being permanant either.

I understand this is a lot of questions and I really appreciate anybody taking the time to answer them for me.

Heres a picture (sorry I cant get it any smaller) of my hair and skin tone colour.
TIA XX
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l283/joanna_eglin/CIMG2719.jpg

ETA- eeek sorry i have food in my tooth! gross eh?!

[Tangles]

While I think you have a neutral skin tone that could take on a wide range of colors, I really like the color you have right now--your natural color only enhanced w/ soapnuts. I wouldn't do henna just because what you have now is soooo pretty. Just my 2 cents...

[jojo]

Thank you Tangles for your honest opinion. xx

[kdaniels8811]

Your color is beautiful. You could try cassia for the henna-like benifits or if you want your hair redder, research henna, hendigo, or henna/cassia mixes. Strand test first, please! Everyones hair reacts differently to henna as far as color uptake. Once you have the color you like, root applications alone will prevent the length of your hair from getting burgandy.

[Isilme]

if you would like redder hair, start out with henna glosses! I see you are already familiar with them, so why not just make them stronger and slowly increasing the red? I think some red glints would look good, and maybe a more strawberry/coppery red. How often you have to touch up the red really depends on how much henna you add.

[jojo]

This is what I have decided to do, I have mixed some cassia 3 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons of henna which is cooking as I speak and I am going to do a gloss tonight. I think overtime I would find a full henna too time consuming but I did like the glosses and they are easy enough to do.
Will post some pictures when its done.

Thank you xx

[cocolover]

Just wanted to add that my first reaction when I saw your pic was also that you have a really pretty color already :) It is so shiny and glossy, very pretty!

[LutraLutra]

IMO, I think pale copper/gold red tones would suit you better than anything too pink or burgandy. The colour you got from the rhubard looked really lovely on you, did you find it faded too fast, or faded to a weird colour, because that looked great.

[jojo]

I loved the result from the rhubarb but it does wash out quite quick plus I have none at the moment! My siggi picture is the red I like but in real life it looks nothing like that, more like the front facing one. I would love the red in my siggi though, maybe glosses are the answer?

[CopperHead]

Cassia and henna should give you a nice copper red. I think you look stunning with red hair and it makes your beautiful eyes stand out even more. You are doing the right thing by starting slow. You can always go darker if you want, but lighter would be more of a problem. I also think you will see a decrease in your splits too. Henna is great for making hair stronger. :)

[tabitie]

It's hard to tell from pix but you look like an "autumn" coloring on the Carol Jackson color me beautiful system. The green eyes, gold/red/tan skin tones, and gold/red/warm hair tone would suggest that red hair or reddish-blond/gold hair would both work on you.

Not to sound like a kiss-up, but I think if you went cautiously at first and didn't leave the henna on too long, you could "step into" a redder color and perhaps keep it touched up with acidic rhubarb (strawberry blonde) rhubarb mix...?

My henna was surprisingly powerful after just 20-25 minutes in a 1:4 dilution so I would go slow and build up to a redder hue over several weekends...

[tabitie]

I can picture the coppery strawberry blond color Nightshade has going now, on you. I think she uses a 1:5 mix of henna:cassia... ?

[Nightshade]

I can picture the coppery strawberry blond color Nightshade has going now, on you. I think she uses a 1:5 mix of henna:cassia... ?

Close :) 35% henna 65% cassia, anything lighter wasn't doing much to my brunette hair.

[jojo]

thank you guys, heres hoping to great colour and good bye splits! (they really are beginning to annoy me!!)

[Autumnberry]

thank you guys, heres hoping to great colour and good bye splits! (they really are beginning to annoy me!!)

I hesitate to speak too much on this subject, since my splits are not gone :). Henna did fend off splits for months with me, but eventually I saw splits again (on extra fine hair). During that time, I wasn't trimming at all, which could have contributed to the problem! Perhaps a couple of microtrims would have helped. I don't do full head hennas often because I don't want to go too dark/burgundy. I've considered doing more glosses, but I don't know what effect it would have on the color.

Best of luck to you, jojo, and since you are starting off carefully with the henna proportions, I'm sure you'll be delighted with the color!

[Canarygirl]

Close :) 35% henna 65% cassia, anything lighter wasn't doing much to my brunette hair.

What do you think would happen to white hairs that have this mixture put on them? I am ~85% med-dark brown with ~15% white, especially at my temples. Worry about temple-hair turning bright orange...also I get headaches from Indigo. I have some Buxus in the freezer though...I do love the strawberry blonde look as a way to ease into grayness. I envision hair gradually turning lighter and lighter as more hair turned white (?)