Gray hair and henna. Help my mom??

[alxardnax]

Hi,

I do weak henna and cassia glosses every once and a while and I really like the benefits. My mom has been looking into trying henna instead of the demi permanant hair dye at the salon. She hasn't had her hair dyed since March. Her hair used to be a dark brown with some auburnish undertones but with age her hair is medium brown with gray and you don't see the auburn anymore. I want to try a henna indigo mix on her but I don't want her gray hair coming out orange. I know she wants to keep all red and orange tones to a complete minimum and I realize indigo fades but if she keeps it up monthly I am hoping she won't have a problem with it fading noticably.

My question is what henna/indigo ratio should she use? Will a one step process prevent orange/red gray hair? She hasn't done henna since she was in her teens so becuase she doesn't have henna in her hair will the indigo stick to her hair with a one step process? Any suggestions, warnings, and comments would really help!!!

Oh and of course i will do a strand test on her but sometimes those aren't as helpful as I would like. Its hard to imagine the color result of a strand test on your whole head, if that makes sense.

Thanks!

[Alvrodul]

Hi,

I do weak henna and cassia glosses every once and a while and I really like the benefits. My mom has been looking into trying henna instead of the demi permanant hair dye at the salon. She hasn't had her hair dyed since March. Her hair used to be a dark brown with some auburnish undertones but with age her hair is medium brown with gray and you don't see the auburn anymore. I want to try a henna indigo mix on her but I don't want her gray hair coming out orange. I know she wants to keep all red and orange tones to a complete minimum and I realize indigo fades but if she keeps it up monthly I am hoping she won't have a problem with it fading noticably.

My question is what henna/indigo ratio should she use? Will a one step process prevent orange/red gray hair? She hasn't done henna since she was in her teens so becuase she doesn't have henna in her hair will the indigo stick to her hair with a one step process? Any suggestions, warnings, and comments would really help!!!

Oh and of course i will do a strand test on her but sometimes those aren't as helpful as I would like. Its hard to imagine the color result of a strand test on your whole head, if that makes sense.

Thanks!

The first thing she should do is start collecting shed hair for the necessary strand testing. She will need to do a certain amount of experimenting in order to get the right mix for her. A quicke guide to the sort of colors that are possible is here, but it is only a guide - the end result depend on the existing color of her hair.
Another thing to keep in mind, is that the color she has when she rinses the mud off, is not the final color - henna and indigo can take up to a week to oxidize - so when she has decided on a mixture, she won't be too shocked and run off to a salon before the color has settled.
Making a henna mix is more an art than a science - personally I use only henna (Purity henna from H4H), on hair that is originally dark blonde, so I can't really comment too much on the indigo/katam admixture aspect. and both the avatar pic and the siggy pic is my hair, from pics taken this spring/summer. A henndigo mix would give a darker and less red color.

Before your mother puts the henndigo mud on her hair, make sure that she has done her research, done her tests, and understands that if she runs to the salon to bleach out the henndigo color, that is likely to end in tears and disaster.

That said, I hope she will figure out a good mixture for her hair, and I also hope she will be happy with the result!

[alxardnax]

Thanks for the smart advice!

That brings me to another question though. Assuming I henna/indigo her hair with real henna without metalic salts/PPDs and god forbid I screw it up, will she be able to go to the salon to dye over it, not bleach it? Or would that be a major no-no?

[spidermom]

I've heard that henna red will always add a red-orange glow in bright light to whatever dye color goes over it.

Be really careful. Henna looks awful next to some aging skin tones, very harsh.

[Alvrodul]

Thanks for the smart advice!

That brings me to another question though. Assuming I henna/indigo her hair with real henna without metalic salts/PPDs and god forbid I screw it up, will she be able to go to the salon to dye over it, not bleach it? Or would that be a major no-no?

hard to say - you may still get some of the henna glow, I gather that fire is difficult to quench!

[ravenreed]

I had very good luck with burgundy demi-permanent dye over henna. It didn't leave it overly orange at all. YMMV, of course!

I've heard that henna red will always add a red-orange glow in bright light to whatever dye color goes over it.

Be really careful. Henna looks awful next to some aging skin tones, very harsh.

[alxardnax]

I had very good luck with burgundy demi-permanent dye over henna. It didn't leave it overly orange at all. YMMV, of course!

Thanks, I mean that would be worst case scenario but I just want to make sure that it wouldn't some disastrous result.