Salons that Apply Henna?

[Deemeeuh]

Hi, I was just looking over the henna post and while it looks very beneficial and the sort of thing I'd like done, it also looks very complicated and risky.

My question is, does anyone know if there are hair salons that specialize in henna/indigo application? I live in central Florida.

I really want to go back to my natural color so I never have to henna or color again. I used to be a blonde (brunette naturally) then I had a semi-permanent done in an attempt to reach this goal but now the color has faded and is 3 or 4 shades lighter than my natural color. My virgin roots are about 1.5 inches. But I am afraid to try the henna/indigo myself.

Any recommendations?

[Anywhere]

Hi, I was just looking over the henna post and while it looks very beneficial and the sort of thing I'd like done, it also looks very complicated and risky.

My question is, does anyone know if there are hair salons that specialize in henna/indigo application? I live in central Florida.

I really want to go back to my natural color so I never have to henna or color again. I used to be a blonde (brunette naturally) then I had a semi-permanent done in an attempt to reach this goal but now the color has faded and is 3 or 4 shades lighter than my natural color. My virgin roots are about 1.5 inches. But I am afraid to try the henna/indigo myself.

Any recommendations?


I don't know of any, but you say you want to go back to your natural color so you won't have to henna again, so why are you trying to do a henna/indigo?
I dont think many hair salons that would have hairdressers willing to risk getting henna stains on their hair.. sorry I'm not much of a help. Good luck with this though. ;)


ETA: I completely missed that you said you're a brunette, when you said "i used to be a blonde" I thought that was your natural color. Sorry about that.

[RocketDog]

I'm sure there are stylists who would apply it for you, but I can't begin to imagine how much it would cost! It's a pretty time-intensive process between the mixing, dye-release, application and 'stewing' time, and I'd imagine that they would charge dearly for their time...

IMO, henna isn't really all that difficult to apply at home, and for me it seems to be pretty forgiving of 'user error' when it comes to mixing/application. Your biggest issue is going to be the mess, but as long as you take your time during application (and keep some babywipes handy - they are invaluable for wiping off streaks/smears!) you can keep the mess pretty well-contained.

As an alternative, you could always try to enlist the help of a friend - I have done my friend's hair several times and with two sets of hands it's a piece of cake to do a headful of hair!

[Deemeeuh]

Hm yeah I didn't think about the time intensive part, good point. I think in my current situation though it would truly be worth a large bundle of money if a professional could give me a perfect henna/indigo color match to my natural color. I just want my virgin hair back!

See because with the doing it myself, what I am worried about is color matching. My natural hair color is a medium to dark brown (gets some subtle blonde and red highlights in the sun). I really want the henna/indigo to match that.
But I've heard a lot of people say that even if you mix the two, the indigo tends to fade to red? Which is the current problem with my roots- the length of my hair is a bit too light and warm to match them. My natural color is rather cool even with sun highlighting.

Should I just give in and do a second brown semi-permanent chemical dye...? My hair has been put through so much chemically and heat related in the past 3 years, I'd be afraid that would fry it. Plus then that coloring will fade from the porous length (which was originally blonde) so the roots will show again and I'll be back into the chemical cycle :sad

I just don't know what to do.. but it has to be something.. I can't stand these roots and I'm afraid I'll do something very bad like get fed up and go back to blonde which I loved being but was so bad for my hair and would probably make my hair dissolve to go back to again. *cries*

[RocketDog]

Well, no matter who applies it you will need to do swatch/strand tests to check how the color turns out. Henna/Indigo aren't the kinds of things you want to jump into without doing the right prep, since they don't work like chemical colors. Why not purchase sample size portions and do some experiments and find a mix that will get you the color you want?

[Deemeeuh]

You're right, I should definitely not jump into henna. Sample sizes sound like a good starting point!

By the way, your signature picture is so cute! It reminds me of the Mary Janice Davidson book cover, "Undead and Unworthy"

[Kuchen]

I think Wavelength had a friendly local Indian salon where a lady would apply henna to her hair, and she could then wrap her head up in a towel and go home to let it "set".

[Deemeeuh]

Ooooh thanks, I will ask her about that

[florenonite]

I don't think a salon would be any better a colour matching than you yourself would be, tbh. The colour that henndigo yields is reliant upon the starting colour, and it can't really be estimated very easily.

[Deemeeuh]

Nuts.
This seems like such an iffy thing to try.. even with doing strand tests first. Because even if I miraculously get the exact shade of my hair that's not accounting for fading of the indigo and reddening. And red is nowhere near my natural color.
It's looking like my best bet may be yet another dye job. Professionally done of course and semi-permanent but it still has some levels of peroxide which lead to even more breakage and lost length.

[sedonia]

Nuts.
This seems like such an iffy thing to try.. even with doing strand tests first. Because even if I miraculously get the exact shade of my hair that's not accounting for fading of the indigo and reddening. And red is nowhere near my natural color.
It's looking like my best bet may be yet another dye job. Professionally done of course and semi-permanent but it still has some levels of peroxide which lead to even more breakage and lost length.

Why don't you go to a good colorist and get him/her to blend your roots and ends using lowlights/highlights? Make it clear that you want to transition to eventually not coloring any more.

[Wavelength]

I think Wavelength had a friendly local Indian salon where a lady would apply henna to her hair, and she could then wrap her head up in a towel and go home to let it "set".

Yes I did, it was right here in town. The salon catered to Indian and Middle Eastern ladies. I called a few days in advance to book the appointment, and the day before I was to come in, the manager started the henna stewing overnight. She also did henna designs on skin so she knew how to work with henna.

Oddly, she didn't seem to know anything about how to push the henna toward different shades, nor did she know anything about mixing it with indigo or cassia. When I mentioned it to her she just looked a bit confused and said, "Why would you want to do that?"

Anyway, while I sat in the chair, she would section off my hair and paint the henna on with a wide brush. She was very thorough and got great coverage. She then wound each section around the crown of my head and pinned it down before starting on the next section. It took about 20 minutes or so. By the time she was done, it looked like I was wearing a brimless, muddy cap on my head.

After that she wrapped my head in plastic wrap, put me under the dryer for a few minutes until my head was very warm, and sent me home. I brought an old beach hat to wear that was wide and floppy enough to fit over my head and the henna. Then I'd drive home and let it sit for a few hours before I rinsed it off in the shower.

I switched to doing it myself after I got more used to the technique, and also because I was interested in pushing the colour a bit -- which she wasn't familiar with at all. Overall it was a great experience though, and I'm grateful that I found the salon when I did. Otherwise I'm not sure I would have tried henna on my own.

[Flaxen]

Boca Raton is probably too far, isn't it? According to Henna for Hair's list (http://www.hennaforhair.com/beauticians/index.html), there's someone there.

[Deemeeuh]

Why don't you go to a good colorist and get him/her to blend your roots and ends using lowlights/highlights? Make it clear that you want to transition to eventually not coloring any more.

Hmm, I didn't even think of lowlights/highlights! Background is- the woman I go to did a semi-permanent that I think actually would have matched my hair but it washed out a little after a few weeks. Two reasons- it was over very blonde hair and because I freaked out about it being so dark and used a lot of sulfate shampoos. But now it's too light lol. I think another semi-permanent might stick better since the hair is darker now to begin with.
So would you suggest doing the lowlight/highlight route over doing the another semi-permanent? Like which would be less damaging and which do you think would look better?
And for the lowlights/highlights... could you explain how that would work? (I always like to be really specific when telling hair stylists what I want or bad things result.) Would they be all over (not just top of the head)? How many? Width? And would the roots show when they grew out?

Sorry to ask so many questions! I'm clueless about coloring but I really hesitate to give a stylist free reign. I have too many horror stories where I did that. Still growing out one of them (&%$@!)

[Deemeeuh]

Thanks Flaxen!
4 hours... not too too bad. I will definitely call and see if they have experience with color matching roots and stuff. But I think I'll save that as my second resort. My normal stylist is like 4 minutes away lol