Questionable henna quality

[Dyefree]

Hi everyone

My mum just came back from a trip to the middle east and whilst out there bought two bags of henna from two different places. The stores were an open type market where powders, herbs and spices are bagged to order...

The two hennas are finely sifted ( no big leaves or twigs and have a lovely creamy feel), but the colours are different.... One is a typical khaki green, and the other an off beigey- greeny colour.

I thought I'd carry out a strand test of each, and so mixed them up with warm water.

The beige- green one gave an immediate dye release.... A bright orange stain on my hand.... The green one hasn't done anything yet, so I've left both to stand in a warm place overnight.

I have some previously bleached extension hair (real hair) lying around so I've wrapped one in each sample of henna and placed them on a radiator.

Now, my issue is this. My hair has previous dye and bleach on the ends, I hennaed with lush caca rouge and loved the result, but I feel the henna is washing out already, and I'd love a much more vivid bright colour.... So if these hennas turn out to be pure and safe I'll be very happy.... But I'm so worried about the dreaded metallic salts and compounds being in these henna powders.... And doing terrible things to my already fragile hair.

So..... Can henna have a beige- light green colour as opposed to a khaki green?
Will my testing method yield reliable results?

Any help would be much appreciated. :)

[RitaPG]

I'm not a henna expert but I've seen several LHC ladies doing strand tests on shed pieces of their own hair.

I'm not so sure that's what you were asking, I'm sorry if I misunderstood, my English has bad days, but I thought you'd like to know about the strand testing thing.

I'm sure someone will soon help you with that. :flowers:

[Dyefree]

Hi Rita


It probably is all confusingly written out. I guess my questions are;

If there is no labelling on the bag of henna, how do I know if the henna is 100% pure BAQ?

The sift feels good, but the colour of the two hennas vary.... Is that ok?

The beige- light green henna gave immediate dye release, whereas the khaki green one didn't- would that be an indication that one of them has something nasty added?

And finally, when doing a strand test on previously bleached hair, if something bad were to happen to the hair, would it show up immediately, or only with repeated applications?

I would hate to be using what I thought was pure henna, only to later realise my hair condition deteriorated from a bad batch of henna.
:o I'm probably thinking too much about this and should just not worry- but I would hate to undo all the progress of the last few months...

[RitaPG]

No, I think it's very smart of you to consider all the possibilities!
And I can't answer those questions for you, hopefully someone will, pretty soon :flower:

[kwaniesiam]

If you want to test for metallic salts in the henna, after you have completed the strand testing apply peroxide to the hair. If there is no reaction then the henna is pure, if something funky happens like smoke, a foul smell, turning green, or releasing excessive heat then it does contain metallic salts.

[Dyefree]

Thanks kwaniesiam....
Well I carried out a strand test last night, and the beige- green henna gave an intense red.... If this is pure henna then this is highly potent stuff.

The green henna gave a much more subdued orangey- red and was much patchier in the uptake....

I think I'll try the developer test, but if it passes then this power henna is on my head this weekend :cheese:

[CaityBear]

Different types of hennas also take different amounts of time to get dye release so that might be why one gave immediate dye release and the other didn't.

[caribou55313]

The colors of powder you describe sound normal. I agree that dye release times can vary.

One thing I would ask, though, is about the immediate dye release you got ... when you added the water, did you see *red* (not brownish orange) liquid immediately? If so, that is from another kind of dye besides henna. I have seen bright red liquid immediately upon adding water one time in a henna dye that isn't 100% henna ... something else in there makes the immediate red (blood red) dye.

Now, even if you did see this immediate red liquid, that doesn't necessarily mean the dye will harm your hair, only that it isn't 100% henna. I agree with kwaniesiam's advice about testing with peroxide after dyeing the strand tests. Or with peroxide and ammonia, if you can get it.

[Dyefree]

The peroxide and ammonia, is that what you would get in a regular permanent box dye? :o

I was going to get a box of cheap hair bleach, but if a permanent box dye which contains peroxide and ammonia do the same thing then I'll use that instead as I already have some at home :)

Regarding the immediate dye release.... It went a reddish chocolate colour.... And it would stain my hands immediately with an orange dye.....

[caribou55313]

Yes, peroxide and ammonia are in most boxed permanent haircolors. A boxed permanent hair dye kit that contains 2 bottles you have to mix together will tell you what you need to know :)

Your "reddish chocolate" ... I don't know, brown sounds kind of reassuring, but at least it wasn't bright red liquid which is what I would consider a warning sign that there is (possibly) a chemical dye in there.

[Dyefree]

Thank you so much caribou... I have so many boxes of dye in my bathroom cabinet :o so I will definitely give this a try tomorrow.

I will take photos of the henna with dye release and the strand tests results and post them on here tomorrow. :)

[Nightshade]

That's very normal! When I strand tested several types of henna, the BAQ powders that I got from several well-trusted vendors varied from intense green to that khaki color you describe. A lot of it depends on the crop/region/etc. So color doesn't seem out of line, but you may want to test just to make sure there's no other additives.

[Veer666]

Natural henna (as it is a product of nature) can vary in colour, so that in itself is nothing to worry about. I have used different kind of BAQ henna's and they alle turn out different in colour of the powder, colour of my hair and ofcourse also the dye release time.

Normally I make my henna mix with warm (not hot) tea, so dye release is immediate. I don't like to wait for the dye to release and it doesn't matter in colour intensity. Make sure not to use too hot water!