I have no idea what to do for a mix... lemon juice or not? Chamomile tea?

I guess I need to do 2 strand tests, one at 50/50 (cassia and henna) and one at 25/75... but even then, what mix and how long to I leave it on?

Too many variables in this- it confuses my brain... :)

Looks like it is henna weekend- whee!

I have no idea what to do for a mix... lemon juice or not? Chamomile tea?

I guess I need to do 2 strand tests, one at 50/50 (cassia and henna) and one at 25/75... but even then, what mix and how long to I leave it on?

Too many variables in this- it confuses my brain... :)

Looks like it is henna weekend- whee!

Me too! Me too! Mine will be here this week! I have chamomile tea. I'm ready! I need a recipe to keep my med dark brown sort of auburn to brown red highlights without purpleness. I wish you good luck with your experience. :flower:

I hope y'all are gonna love it!

I vote for either water, water + a teeny tiny bit of lemon juice, or the tea. I have never tried the tea myself, but I understand it is supposed to provide the acidity that the henna supposedly wants. I tried all lemon juice the first couple times and hated it, so now I use only my tapwater and it works fine. I might have what Catherine refers to as "lucky water" though.

The lighter orange you are trying to keep it, the less long I would leave it on. I want mine as auburn/mahogany as possible, so I leave it on for ridiculously long periods of time, with great results for what I want. To keep it lighter, something like 2-3 hours, I'd imagine. Strand tests will reveal all, though.

I just hennad my hair with straight henna and chamomile tea...It's only the second day after, but my hair does not look purple at all...I slept with the mud in my hair.

I hope y'all are gonna love it!

I vote for either water, water + a teeny tiny bit of lemon juice, or the tea. I have never tried the tea myself, but I understand it is supposed to provide the acidity that the henna supposedly wants. I tried all lemon juice the first couple times and hated it, so now I use only my tapwater and it works fine. I might have what Catherine refers to as "lucky water" though.

The lighter orange you are trying to keep it, the less long I would leave it on. I want mine as auburn/mahogany as possible, so I leave it on for ridiculously long periods of time, with great results for what I want. To keep it lighter, something like 2-3 hours, I'd imagine. Strand tests will reveal all, though.


I am thinking I will use tea. I highly doubt my hair will have any love for all that lemon juice, though I do have 3 lemons in my fridge should I change my mind. I only have rosehip tea though, not chamomile (hope that works ok!).

I am thinking I want to thin it out so it isn't too thick. Will it still be okay if I do that? I am just sure I will have a ton of breakage if I try to use it as a thick muddy paste! I already have a bad halo due to hair loss a while ago when my iron levels dropped again and I lost a ton of hair. i don't want any more little broken hairs!

So 2-3 hours is about right? That is the part I wasn't that sure of. I really want to do it this weekend, so I won't have time to see the full oxidation take place before I go ahead with it. I don't have the patience to wait until the following weekend though!

I am not sure how to go about this strand test mixing. It is doing my head in. What do I do? mix like 1/4 teaspoon henna with 3/4 teaspoon cassia (for the 24/75) and then just 1/2 tsp to 1/2 tsp for the 50/50? I am worried I will need every last bit of what I ordered so as to cover my hair... and hate to use it up on strand testing.

Sorry for the questions! :)

I just ordered more henna for more test strands. I agree, there are way too many variables to make this an easy decision. I'm getting eager to jump on in but knowing the perfectionist I am I need to keep experimenting as I would NOT be happy with surprise results. I'm sure I'm going to use chamomile for the liquid, I've read so many good things about how it helps the rinse and is less drying than lemon juice. I'm also trying to figure out the whole henna or henna/cassia issue.

I am thinking I want to thin it out so it isn't too thick. Will it still be okay if I do that?

It will be fine, but it might drip more. I try to go for the least liquid possible that will still allow it to spread through my hair.

I am not sure how to go about this strand test mixing. It is doing my head in. What do I do? mix like 1/4 teaspoon henna with 3/4 teaspoon cassia (for the 24/75) and then just 1/2 tsp to 1/2 tsp for the 50/50?

Totally, as long as you know what the ratios are. Could even be 1tsp total if the strand is small enough.

There is something very satisfying about henna. I'm kind of at a loss to explain what it is, but I will try. It is going to sound very hippy-like though, and I am not that much of a hippy in that many ways :)

With chemical dye, you just go "OK, I add 3.054665 oz of peroxide to .00454 oz of fragrance, and add it to the 4.456456 oz of dying agent, leave it on for exactly 25 minutes, and it results in a perfect Sunset Red #56454635."

With henna, that is not even a concept anymore. People have been putting this ground up plant on their head for 6000 years, and they didn't have stopwatches or measuring cups. They knew it just made their hair more red and beautiful. And it does to mine too.

Henna can be difficult to control to exact fine tuning, but can also tend not to need it. I had to adjust my own attitude more than anything. And I did, and I am extremely happy with my hair, and get more happy with it every time I henna.

rose hip tea- def do a strand test. I was doing some henna, cassia and 50/50 strand tests. I used organic black chai tea....why?? Well we didnt have any chamomile tea, we had every other kind you could imagine though. I figured if the chai added any color it would be more brown then anything. I was wrong it turned red, in fact all 3 samples turned the same "henna red" (pretty color btw). I don't know anything about tea (I don't even drink it), so that is my excuses for my ignorance. Anyway just wanted to send a warning just in case you are a tea-dummy too. :)

Jeni

Oh and good luck. I did a successful cassia the other day, my hair feels and looks great!