Magsi
April 29th, 2008, 09:06 PM
In case anyone is wondering, I used LUSH Henna on my hair last Sunday.
I waited a couple of days to post so I can really see how my hair behaves.
My hair is a little longer than shoulder length, medium to dark brown and colored with 30-day dye every 6 weeks for the past year. My hair has gone through a few trims because of damaged ends but recently it has been pretty healthy with a few split ends.
In the last month or so I stopped using my round brush to style and barely use heat any more. My hair is much softer and I can go longer without washing since this change. I decided on Henna because my hair was in need of some color and I didn't want to undo all the good I did by using chemical coloring.
I purchased one bar of Caca Brun for about $20 USD. I chipped off a small piece and poured a few tablespoons of boiling water over it to melt. I used the mixture on the hair I collected off of my hair brush. I washed and dried the collected hair before the strand test. I didn't wait the recommended three hours on the strand test because I figured if the hair would turn green, it would happen within an hour. I washed and dried the hair after one hour and looked closely in sunlight. The color was a reddish brown with no green. Since the strand test was successful I went ahead with hennaing my hair.
I grated about half the bar with a vegetable grater. The grater is metal so I got worried but decided to go ahead with the project. I put the grated Henna in a plastic salad bowl and poured about a cup of microwave boiled red wine. I mixed the Henna and wine with a wooden spoon and it melted beautifully. I added a little boiling water to make the mixture thinner. The smell was awful and made me gag a few times, but as the mixture cooled down just a little it was ok.
I brushed my hair and applied the mixture with my bare hands. I didnt section my hair or goof around with doing my roots first, I just covered my hair with the goop and rubbed my head until all of my hair was covered. I wrapped my hair with saran wrap and went on with my day. I think the Henna gave me a headache because of the smell, but other than that it wasn't too uncomfortable. It does leak a little though so you gotta be careful. My head stayed pretty hot.
After three hours I was a little worried because the Henna was very green and had not changed color at all and I was skeptical that it was going to color my hair. I also got worried that if it did color my hair, it would be green. After a nearly nervous breakdown I jumped in the shower and began making a mess of my bathroom. HOLY MOLY was this hard to rinse out! I tried hot water, cold water, shampooing... but finally used loads of conditioner and got it all out. My tub was a complete disaster. It wasn't too hard to wash off, just a pain in the butt to deal with cleaning it right away.
After dealing with the cleanup I was finally able to take a good look in the mirror and decide if I must shave my head or not. Thankfully not!
After my hair dried it was this pretty brown, not very different from my color before, but a little deeper and much more shiny. My hair looks healthy. The shine is gorgeous, and best of all, no damage! My split ends didn't increase, still just a few. The hair has a very slight reddish tint in the sun light, but not very visible indoors.
I am very happy with my Henna experience. Considering that I only needed half of the bar for my hair, the cost is the same as box color.
I am not sure if this is the right location for this thread, but I just wanted to share with everyone about my Henna experience.
Mags
I waited a couple of days to post so I can really see how my hair behaves.
My hair is a little longer than shoulder length, medium to dark brown and colored with 30-day dye every 6 weeks for the past year. My hair has gone through a few trims because of damaged ends but recently it has been pretty healthy with a few split ends.
In the last month or so I stopped using my round brush to style and barely use heat any more. My hair is much softer and I can go longer without washing since this change. I decided on Henna because my hair was in need of some color and I didn't want to undo all the good I did by using chemical coloring.
I purchased one bar of Caca Brun for about $20 USD. I chipped off a small piece and poured a few tablespoons of boiling water over it to melt. I used the mixture on the hair I collected off of my hair brush. I washed and dried the collected hair before the strand test. I didn't wait the recommended three hours on the strand test because I figured if the hair would turn green, it would happen within an hour. I washed and dried the hair after one hour and looked closely in sunlight. The color was a reddish brown with no green. Since the strand test was successful I went ahead with hennaing my hair.
I grated about half the bar with a vegetable grater. The grater is metal so I got worried but decided to go ahead with the project. I put the grated Henna in a plastic salad bowl and poured about a cup of microwave boiled red wine. I mixed the Henna and wine with a wooden spoon and it melted beautifully. I added a little boiling water to make the mixture thinner. The smell was awful and made me gag a few times, but as the mixture cooled down just a little it was ok.
I brushed my hair and applied the mixture with my bare hands. I didnt section my hair or goof around with doing my roots first, I just covered my hair with the goop and rubbed my head until all of my hair was covered. I wrapped my hair with saran wrap and went on with my day. I think the Henna gave me a headache because of the smell, but other than that it wasn't too uncomfortable. It does leak a little though so you gotta be careful. My head stayed pretty hot.
After three hours I was a little worried because the Henna was very green and had not changed color at all and I was skeptical that it was going to color my hair. I also got worried that if it did color my hair, it would be green. After a nearly nervous breakdown I jumped in the shower and began making a mess of my bathroom. HOLY MOLY was this hard to rinse out! I tried hot water, cold water, shampooing... but finally used loads of conditioner and got it all out. My tub was a complete disaster. It wasn't too hard to wash off, just a pain in the butt to deal with cleaning it right away.
After dealing with the cleanup I was finally able to take a good look in the mirror and decide if I must shave my head or not. Thankfully not!
After my hair dried it was this pretty brown, not very different from my color before, but a little deeper and much more shiny. My hair looks healthy. The shine is gorgeous, and best of all, no damage! My split ends didn't increase, still just a few. The hair has a very slight reddish tint in the sun light, but not very visible indoors.
I am very happy with my Henna experience. Considering that I only needed half of the bar for my hair, the cost is the same as box color.
I am not sure if this is the right location for this thread, but I just wanted to share with everyone about my Henna experience.
Mags