the real scoop on henna?

[slyviolet]

Everyone else has already said all of the things I would want to add, except for one tip that has made my henna experience SO much more pleasant in the past: when I'm all ready to get that mud out of my hair, I GLOP on a whole bunch of conditioner and let that sit with it for a few minutes before I tip my head under the water. And I go slow with the rinsing, using nice warm water and gentle massaging motions mostly focused on my scalp at first, and keep adding conditioner as soon as it starts to feel tangled up and frustrating. I use Mane'n'Tail for this because it comes in a nice big bottle, but I don't know if you can get that where you are. Whatever conditioner has (or doesn't have!) the ingredients you have preferences about, that's affordable to use up in large quantities once in a while, should be okay.

[Shatam1]

For me henna was love at first try on all levels, the color goes so well with my completion, the shine and strength of my hair abd yes, the I had a total change in the texture as well..I was quite curly now I'm wavy but I do like it even that I do miss my curls sometimes. At first henna was drying but I learned how to use oils and conditioners to make it less drying and it works. I add lots of oils to it before applying and I also wash it out using lots of cheap conditioner, I don't shampoo for at least 2 days after henna. I use Shea butter as a leave in after every wash and my hair never felt better or softer. My hair is almost bra strap length now , before henna I could never get it to that length. I love everything about the process of henna including its smell which reminds me a lot of dragon well green tea and I fight the urge to do it too often as my hair gets too dark for my liking..one last thing..I love henna so much that I collect it from all over the world and have tried almost all types of henna that exist and my favorites are Yemeni and Rajasthani from India henna is a journey and it is different for everyone, I hope you enjoy it and have fun .

[ErinLeigh]

Awesome answers. And lol at beefy as cotton candy! That hit my funny bone.
I think I am going to give it a try. My hair in very fine. Sometimes I wonder if I just have a head full of splits that traveled all the way to root because it seems impossible a strand could be so transparent
I guess I will stick with the plan to start with the underside and see what I thinks of color and texture. It would be weird to feel anything but baby soft hair so I really needed to know the experiences upfront so I do not panic. I am a little afraid the rinse will be a nightmare of shedding so I will gloss with conditioner, oil and honey.

Thanks again, and more stories if anyone has them! I am getting greedy and want I can read.

[Bagginslover]

Can I recommend that instead you experiment on drain/brush hair? Much easier to throw that away than it is to grow it out on your head

Maybe also start out with cassia/senna. The effects are said to be the same as henna, but temporary, and without the colour.

[ErinLeigh]

Thanks Baggins. I have Nightbloomings Strawberry Blond. I am going to order the Colorless Deva and then make a mix of that with just tsp or tbsp of the strawberry. I think if I don't cut the mix with lots of cassia I will turn out Bozo red with my bleached hair The underside part of my hair is a few shades darker (blondette) so I think if I mix it right I shouldn't notice a drastic color, but it will be noticeable I am sure.

I really appreciate you looking out for me. Henna is a big deal, i mean it is a commitment so really appreciating all the input. As a matter of fact, I think I will take you advice on the strand. It would be stupid not to test "off" the head for first time anything. The only thing is hairballs make me gag. No clue why. I love the feel of hair and will run my hands thru it any chance I get. Something about drain hair just gets my gag reflex going and I don;t have any workable brush hair.
I think I may take the loss and snip a strand. That way I can experiment with mix and have a smooth strands to work with so I can lay them side my side and compare. Thank you for the common sense knock. I needed that.

edit: I am wondering if I could achieve the color in the right side of the avatar? it looks golden red in that photo and that I would be good with. My hair color looks different in every light so I am used to always seeing myself with different colors. Just not ready for pure orange or red. Golden strawberry is the goal if possible.

[MandyBeth]

My trials at henna. I start with 7N or 7NA color, some banding lighter due to medication. I'm extremely protein sensitive. I'm a full on cool winter coloring.

Henna color - it stays very very bright orange on me, no matter the dye content. I can maybe darken to a darker orange, but it stays a hot color. Not just warm, it's hot. Two step indigo doesn't get me to 1N or blue black, I get to 2NR. The red ALWAYS shows up strongly.

Protein - it's actually worse than a protein treatment on my hair. It takes a LOT of time with SMTs and deep conditioning to get back to dry normal hair. My ends really never improved. I had crispy, crunchy ends that would snap no matter what. I also got a lot of feathering/Christmas tree splitting.

Texture - Well, dry and split central. I'm in the 2 family somewhere, I can carefully brush my hair to 1B, but I can scrunch to a 3B also. With henna, my hair was mostly straight, but OMG frizzy! Nothing I could do helped the frizz.

So I got crispy straw that was Kool-Aid orange. So, it's not always some miracle.

[MonaMayfair]

ErinLeigh, try to do several strand tests with different amounts of henna. It doesn't have to be drain hair I know it will take longer to collect, and you probably want to dye it as soon as possible now you've got excited about it (I'm always like that too!) but if you can save as much hair as possible from your comb or brush, test on that.
I never used ready mixed henna, only Jamila henna and cassia (to get to a light coppery red) But your plan of using lots of cassia sounds good, it's easier to add more red tones later than to remove them.
I'm sure you know this, but the more times you henna (apart from just doing your roots I mean) the darker the color will get. As you have light hair, the roots might be as much of a nuisance for you as they were for me. Although my natural color isn't ashy (I always thought of it as warm) it DID look ashy next to the red of the henna, so the roots looked horrible after 2 weeks (they were annoying me after one week, but I wasn't about to henna once a week!)
The other thing I don't know if you know - and this might be totally irrelevant to you - is that heat (as in straighteners) can darken henna. This happened to me, as during the time I was using henna I had my hair bobbed and had to straighten it. It went a lot darker. You probably don't use heat, but this was something I only found out about too late, so I thought I'd mention it!

[rach]

when i joined i had fried overly damaged coloured hair at BSL and i gave henna a try as i had nothing else to loose . I was frankly at a point shaving my hair off , i hated it, dry fluffy, dry! to a point coconut oil was hardly working anymore.
Result was first off "erm, this is a unusual way to colour hair" followed by "cripes this is orange" then "wow , my hair feels less fluffy dead feeling and lays down better"
I decided to add more henna to build up the darker henna shades before trying indigo which was my backup plan to turn it darker if i failed to find the right shade of orange. Turned out in the end turning into a cherry colour after 4 applications or so and allowed my roots to join my past damaged length (It is very forgiving and behaves like a filler. If it's bleach or if finer the more orange it looks (my temple hairs are always more orange) or is it's thicker or darker the darker the henna shade into the dark rich reds.

It's defiantly a different approach to colour but for me it works with my skin type and needs which is happy for it to be supper permanent. Also great for reseting any dandruff or itchy scalp for what ever reason or good plus is it kills head lice and head lice paranoia.

[niky45]

oh, two more tips:

-- about rinsing: I know I already said it, but believe me, it's important. whatever you do, don't let it get dry on your head!!! I'm not sure how can you do that once your hair is long enough (mine is between a pixie and a short bob right now), but it's important. My last application was much thicker than the previous ones. As a result, some of it got dry during the night. it was a pain to rinse!!!

-- rinsing and conditioning tip (also said it but also important): mix a bit of conditioner in henna, not actually diluting it, but thinning it a bit (I like it to be thin-yogurt-like). your hair will be WAY more conditioned afterwards, and since it is a thinner mix, it will be easyer to rinse

-- about smell: yes, it's strong. and it is even stronger if you pour some vinegar in the mix, and (the vinegar) will make your hair smell like vinegar-henna for a few days. I mean, on the first few times, avoid vinegar. Once you find you can tolerate henna's smell, feel free to add it, but keep in mind it smells different: I like non-vinegar henna's smell, but I still don't like it when there is vinegar in the mix...

[ErinLeigh]

My trials at henna. I start with 7N or 7NA color, some banding lighter due to medication. I'm extremely protein sensitive. I'm a full on cool winter coloring.

Henna color - it stays very very bright orange on me, no matter the dye content. I can maybe darken to a darker orange, but it stays a hot color. Not just warm, it's hot. Two step indigo doesn't get me to 1N or blue black, I get to 2NR. The red ALWAYS shows up strongly.

Protein - it's actually worse than a protein treatment on my hair. It takes a LOT of time with SMTs and deep conditioning to get back to dry normal hair. My ends really never improved. I had crispy, crunchy ends that would snap no matter what. I also got a lot of feathering/Christmas tree splitting.

Texture - Well, dry and split central. I'm in the 2 family somewhere, I can carefully brush my hair to 1B, but I can scrunch to a 3B also. With henna, my hair was mostly straight, but OMG frizzy! Nothing I could do helped the frizz.

So I got crispy straw that was Kool-Aid orange. So, it's not always some miracle.

Your hair sounds a lot like mine. Did you see my pics of what keratin did to my hair? Twice actually because I am stubborn.
I do worry about the protein-like effect. I just got it back into good condition. I was hoping some henna/cassia would give it that something extra but it is a gamble and I am really weighing this one out instead of leaping in as I usually do.

Are you stopping the henna?