Henna and Buxus 2 step??

[diverbel]

Ok, I am sure there is a thread somewhere on this forum relating to my question, but I suck at the search function here... :rolleyes:

So I have naturally dark brown hair, now with a lot of gray and my temples are stark white. I have used henna oh maybe six times by now. Started with henna/indigo, oh no more of indigo it is scary! So I have been going with 100grams of buxus(katam), 50 grams of henna and 25 grams of amla....then I just got tired of how gritty and a pain buxus is and went with just henna for the past couple times. This very last time I went back to henna/buxus/amla and well didn't get the usual results. I actually had green, yes green roots for a few days, now I couldn't even begin to describe what color they are...brown, dark blonde, red, brown????:confused:

My question, yes I am finally getting to it LOL, is this......
Is it possible to do a 2 step with henna and buxus? Or would that result in black hair? I am to old to be sporting black hair, and the roots would be and are already just sooo stark!! I have 1/8th of an inch worth of roots after 10 to 12 days of hennaing... so in between root touch ups with henna and buxus I could do a gloss of henna and buxus, right? I don't want burgundy hair with henna, I wouldn't mind deep red though, but really want just nice chocolate brown hair !

I haven't figured out how to do just roots yet, I attempt it, but it fails and I end up smushing it all over my hair which is really frizzy curly so that doesn't help with anything...I am scared I am going to hit saturation and end up with purlple(burgundy) hair...

Any info or advice would be greatly appreciated on the 2 step henna buxus...thanks everyone!!:D

[Melisande]

I started a thread yesterday about my experiences. http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=81450

I used a commercial henna mix and then katam/cassia first as two-step-procedure, but found I get the same results in one step.

Is it really so difficult to find???

Sorry for the self pity but sometimes I feel most members on the boards have put me on "ignore"... :-(

[Plume]

Hi there,
Sure you can do a 2 steps with henna and boxus! that's what I sometimes use for the roots (and sometimes I mix a little bit of indigo), you won't get black hair, to my opinion you'd get it only with strong percentage of indigo in your mixture!
To get chocolate brown: not an easy task, since you 'll get slight red shine anyway but it's still possible to minimize it.
1st it depends on the proportion of henna and boxus you use.
2dly, make sure you prepare the henna so that the colors won't stand out too much (= avoid using acidic in it for instance), use amla too to inhibit henna colors to be too bright.
You can also add to the mixture such powders like walnut stain (is it correct English, oups?), it's not a strong stain taken alone but can help avoiding too reddish a color when mixed with other powders.
To make the boxus stay a little linger after the shampoo, don't forget 1tbs of baking soda or salt in the boxus mixture!
Hope it can help! :)

[diverbel]

Melisande, I know how you feel hon! Now what are you referring to as so hard to find? Maybe I can help with it??

Plume, thank you so much for the advice! I will try it and see what happens, I know I can't avoid red showing up somewhere, but no biggie. I just hate being dayglo orange! And hate being green even more! I was thinking of getting away from amla. My hair is curly enough as it is and I was hoping the henna would loosen the curl pattern! But I may not be able to escape amla since it towns down the orange/red in henna so well... Now I tired adding a tsp of salt to the buxus mix this last time and I was wondering if that is what contributed to the green roots?? Also I washed my hair with dandruff shampoo right before applying and I am thinking that may have played a role! I washed, rinsed, put in a towel, then applied the henna/amal to towel damp hair.. wondering if the ingredients in the shampoo played a role in the green??

Anyways, thanks for the replies both of you!!

[diverbel]

Melisande,
I read your thread. Now what exactly is your starting color? It looked like a dark blonde. My starting color is dark brown with gray and white thrown in. Your color is amazing and that is basically the color I am going for. But I think I may be to dark to acheive it.

Plume, I have seen the walnut powder on herb sites, I will look into that. And I usually use black tea to mix my henna. It seems to help also with the red reduction...

Ok, need more coffee.... I hope yall have a wonderful day!

[Plume]

HI Diverbel!
"ohlala", never heard that salt in amla could contributes to green roots ! otherwise,you can try 1 tbs of baking soda!

[diverbel]

I used salt in the buxus hon, and I am wondering if that is what contributed to the green roots or if it was the dandruff shampoo I used right before applying... I can't use baking soda it causing severe itching on my scalp and makes my hair like a disstressed SOS pad LOL

[Melisande]

My color was a wide mixture of colors - brown, blonde, reddish... it changed much from season to season, and I had a blonde streak in summers that disappeared in winter.

Now, my hair is grey nearly all over, so it's more difficult to get the darker color.

Unfortunately, I don't know exactly the ingredients in the commercial dye I use (Sante Terra). they only give general ingredient lists for their whole line, and henna, cassia, indigo, coffee, walnut shells etc are listed.

For me, the red (henna) and green (yellow cassia + blueish katam) work together very well. The result is really natural looking.

[tabertooths]

Wow, this is great. I have just ordered some buxus and I'm thinking of doing this.
I think I'm going to do a 4:1 henna to buxus ratio.

[cheetahfast]

Hi, did not read all repiles.

Buxus will NEVER give you black.
I slept with full strength, dye release overnight and only got a chocolate brown.
Also it ALWAYS fades. Even if you add tons of salt, I always did, it would fade.

Btw, was the green before it oxidized? I found the first few days may hair always looked a bit grey... also I only even henna'ed once and buxus'ed at least 7 times after. Roots were always fine, I did cassia on them too, to prevent too much buxus from discoloring them, since the henna grew out a bit.

I hope I typed okay, rushing out the door.
Friend me, and later I'll link you to my blog posts and pics, for color reference!!! :)
Or are we already friends??
I'll also actually read the responses later too, I hope I was helpful!

[diverbel]

I gave up all the add ins with henna. No more buxus or amla or anything. I stripped my hair with effasol and started all over with just henna. I have alteast 6 full head henna applications now and it is getting dark. No problem with it. It is alot easier than trying to stay brown! I am trying to avoid burgundy hair, but at this point, I am beyond caring anymore! LOL I still can't do just roots only, hence all the full head applications!

[browneyedsusan]

I haven't read all the posts in this thread, but I do my roots like this:

Take a bunch of little elastics and make loose ponytails all over your head. (I have to make a lot of them, because my hair is still pretty short) If your hair is long enough, braid each ponytail and fasten it off with another elastic.

Put your mud in a deli ketchup bottle, or something similiar.
Stick the snout of the bottle under the elastics of the ponytails, give a squirt, and moosh it around good. Run a bead of mud between all of the ponytails and moosh it around if you need to.

The ponytails (braids) should keep your most of your length out of it. Put a grocery bag on your head, (I put another one on top of the first one, because I seem to get holes in mine!) Wrap a towel over it and relax until it's time to rinse.

Good luck!

[diverbel]

I have tried every method out there for roots only, never ends being that LOL! I don't mind, if it gets to dark, I will use a pack of effasol and lighten it, then start over agian!