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EvilPigeon
March 17th, 2008, 03:51 PM
Has anyone ever totally ruined their hair with henna? I know it's an extremely rare occurance...but I was wondering if that was even possible to do with BAQ. I'm extremely excited to try henna,but at the same time I want to be sure I'm not going to regret it. The color is something that isn't going to bug me,but I don't want my hair's condition to be questionable and unruly to the point where I would have to cut it off and grow it out all over again.

Euphony
March 17th, 2008, 04:05 PM
From what I've read there's an overwhelming majority that find henna does great things to their hair. They report that it strengthens it, softens it, makes it thicker, makes it shine - the list goes on. There are a few people here and there that say it was awful for their hair, making it dry, course etc. Considering it is so few people that say that it made their hair worse has made me wonder if they used the proper henna. If henna that is mixed with metalic salts or any number of other things is used on the hair then the result very well could be disasterous, and it would almost definately make for very dry hair.

I use henna, not only do I adore the color I get from it, but I've come to the conclusion that my hair shines like satin (snork, I originally typed satan), and feels like silk.

Absolutely do a strand test. I did mine originally by gooping some henna on some shed hairs, sticking it in a plastic baggy and putting the baggy in my pocket for the day.

basak
March 17th, 2008, 04:11 PM
It feels somewhat dry and tangly for a few days after you henna, but it goes away as it oxidises. I love my henna :D

Nightshade
March 17th, 2008, 04:25 PM
Your hair type is nearly identical to mine before I started to henna.

I get the tangly/dryness for a few days as well, but it's gone by day 3. The only other thing is that you might start to lose some of your wave/curl. It doesn't happen to everyone, but it did happen to me and now I'm a 1c/2a. Not a major thing, but meh, it is what it is. There was a poll on the old LHC that showed what percentage, and I think it was about 33% of wavies/curlies experienced a reduction in waves/curls.

Definitely strand test, or even test a small patch that's on your head but easily hidden, like towards the back of your head near the nape of the neck :)

Islandgrrl
March 17th, 2008, 04:43 PM
My hair has a tendency to be on the dry side and I have some canopy damage from old conventional hair colour.

Henna has hugely improved the condition of the damaged hair, and really all of my hair. It's much more shiny than it ever was and the colour is, well, for me about the same as without the henna. The first time I hennaed I did experience a little more dryness and tangliness, but I started following up the henna with a henna gloss made from whatever was left over mixed with a really rich & moisturizing conditioner and poof!!! No more problems.

Elfling
March 17th, 2008, 04:46 PM
My only disaster ever was using henna once before I knew to buy body-art quality, pure henna. I bought black henna (which as we all know isn't really henna) and turned my hair blue-green. Looking back, it was probably a henna/indigo mix, but I freaked out and bought a box of Feria right after it :D

Henna has done nothing but good stuff for my hair, honestly; just two treatments now and my hair's condition is far better. I do want to throw in a word of caution about what you mix the henna with: a lot of us have found that pure lemon juice, which is recommended because henna gets better dye release with some acid, was overkill for our hair. I had really crunchy hair after my first recent henna where I used henna and lemon juice only. It took several deep treatments to get it better, but I still had some left. After a second henna/indigo treatment that I mixed with chamomile tea, it was finally all gone and my hair feels fantastic.

GlassEyes
March 17th, 2008, 04:47 PM
Henna is heaven.

Seriously, it makes my tri-bleached hair feel glorious. <3

Kirin
March 17th, 2008, 05:08 PM
I am a henna addict! Granted it took a few months of henna use to not only get a mix down right that combatted the tangly/dryness on my fine hair (eghads no lemon for me!), but to tone down the orange to a red.

khyricat
March 17th, 2008, 05:15 PM
the biggest complaints I've seen/heard are either people who didn't use pure BAQ henna, or people who dislike the red color when they get there... thus be SURE and do test strands before jumping in.

Mom used BAQ but didn't like the red color she got- too orangey on her whites, my whites seem a bit more porous, and thus get a bit more color saturation, which I prefer. On the other hand, I do plan to eventually stop hennaing and just go the grey route naturally.. but not yet.. right now I just have great red highlights in my dark hair.

For me- I have noticed more curl, but that could be other changes in my routine, and stronger, thicker hair, and I love the feel of it even more now than before.. and my super slippy hair isn't quite as slippy, so I can put it up easier.. also.. the damaged parts of my lengths from commercial dye and definitely much better now than they were before.

Amie

wintersun99
March 17th, 2008, 06:01 PM
not because of the henna/indigo but because I tried to bleach out the henna/indigo and ended up with a disaster - just make sure you buy BAQ, as everyone has mentioned.

MeMyselfandI
March 17th, 2008, 06:31 PM
I am a henna addict! Granted it took a few months of henna use to not only get a mix down right that combatted the tangly/dryness on my fine hair (eghads no lemon for me!), but to tone down the orange to a red.

Krin,

May you share your mix with us.

Beesweet
March 17th, 2008, 08:25 PM
My only disaster is that I am in love with my hair -- so much so that I can imagine using it forever....but my husband doesn't like it!!
He does not like the color at all, although others dig it. I have blue eyes and pale skin, so I can pull off the red, but I don't like knowing that he doesn't like it.

He does say that it feels amazing since I have been using it.

BAQ only. I use lemon juice, and it is only dry for a few days. I also do coconut oil overnight soaks, and use no commercial shampoos........

Anje
March 17th, 2008, 08:48 PM
I find it to be a little harsh and drying, and I get itchy skin bumps on my scalp, ears, and wherever else it got smudged onto. (It doesn't look like an allergic reaction, and I get it when I do anything really drying to my skin.) Goes away in a few days, though, and I like the color and thickness henna gives me, so I've used it repeatedly for quite a while. I tend to get henna from the local international market, so it's not necessarily BAQ but seems pretty good to me.

If you're not sure, and have used chemical colors in the past, probably the best thing you can do is test the henna on some shed hair from your brush. That way, you'll know if it's going to turn frogbutt green on you. Stick the hair you're testing in a little baggy in your pocket so it gets body heat.

quidscribis
March 18th, 2008, 06:49 AM
My hair has a tendency to be on the dry side and I have some canopy damage from old conventional hair colour.

Henna has hugely improved the condition of the damaged hair, and really all of my hair. It's much more shiny than it ever was and the colour is, well, for me about the same as without the henna. The first time I hennaed I did experience a little more dryness and tangliness,

That's completely true for me as well, including the damage from old conventional hair colour. I followed up a henna with a deep condition, and the dryness was completely gone. My hair is, however, now permanently stronger and healthier than it was pre-henna. My hair is back to slippery again. Which sucks for trying to put it up, but is, for my hair, a sign of good health. :)

Nightshade
March 18th, 2008, 07:54 AM
Add me to the list of people whose damaged hair was saved by henna. Without that to add some strength my hair would be a lot shorter at this point :o

khyricat
March 18th, 2008, 09:19 AM
good point nightshade, my hair is capable of getting much more length now than I've ever had in recent years and a lot of that is Henna.. I used Henna in college the first go round too and had more length then as well..

Elfling
March 18th, 2008, 01:19 PM
good point nightshade, my hair is capable of getting much more length now than I've ever had in recent years and a lot of that is Henna.. I used Henna in college the first go round too and had more length then as well..

Offtopic just to squeeee! at your gliders :) I have three of my own.

meliora
March 18th, 2008, 06:39 PM
Alright... sorry to break the positive atmosphere, but I am one of the people whose hair absolutely did not like henna. The results were not good, and the dryness did not go away after a few days; it persisted for weeks, and it took many deep oilings to fix it. This one application made my hair even more damaged than before.

Originally I really liked the idea of hennaing, since my mother and grandmother have used it in the past with good results.

A friend of mine from Uzbekistan brought me some BAQ henna (according to her, and I have no reason to not believe her, unless she was mislead by whoever sold her the henna in the first place). She used the same henna on herlong hair, and it was fine. We decided to do a henna party, and another friend of mine joined as well. Her hair was also chemically treated by dyes, and her henna came out beautiful. The girl from Uzbekistan also had very good results.

My hair was fried. This was the beginning of my LHC exploration, and I was upset, so I didn't write about it much in my journal. My hair was also previously chemically treated, and maybe the henna reacted badly with that, also it was perfectly fine for my other friend's chemically treated hair.

My hair was very dry and not shiny at all, so I did deep oilings with coconut oil every few days. Thankfully, my hair is resilient and it recovered about a month later.

Maybe the bad result was a combination of different circumstances, so I am not inclined to blame henna in general, but I would not want to experience that again.

I fixed the color with semi-permanent Clairol dye closest to my natural color and let it grow ever since :grin:

tiny_teesha
March 18th, 2008, 06:56 PM
i use BAQ henna, but i think because my hair has been overprocessed and i keep useing it is doing worse then good....It made my hair a lot thicker coarser and stronger, but as it is coarse it is also unsoft, the first henna i loved, then i kept going and it feels quite dry now, not sure if it is my routine or the henna. I may soon stop....still debating that now.

EvilPigeon
March 19th, 2008, 02:04 PM
i use BAQ henna, but i think because my hair has been overprocessed and i keep useing it is doing worse then good....It made my hair a lot thicker coarser and stronger, but as it is coarse it is also unsoft, the first henna i loved, then i kept going and it feels quite dry now, not sure if it is my routine or the henna. I may soon stop....still debating that now.


What do you mix with your henna?

EvilPigeon
March 19th, 2008, 02:06 PM
Alright... sorry to break the positive atmosphere, but I am one of the people whose hair absolutely did not like henna. The results were not good, and the dryness did not go away after a few days; it persisted for weeks, and it took many deep oilings to fix it. This one application made my hair even more damaged than before.

Originally I really liked the idea of hennaing, since my mother and grandmother have used it in the past with good results.

A friend of mine from Uzbekistan brought me some BAQ henna (according to her, and I have no reason to not believe her, unless she was mislead by whoever sold her the henna in the first place). She used the same henna on herlong hair, and it was fine. We decided to do a henna party, and another friend of mine joined as well. Her hair was also chemically treated by dyes, and her henna came out beautiful. The girl from Uzbekistan also had very good results.

My hair was fried. This was the beginning of my LHC exploration, and I was upset, so I didn't write about it much in my journal. My hair was also previously chemically treated, and maybe the henna reacted badly with that, also it was perfectly fine for my other friend's chemically treated hair.

My hair was very dry and not shiny at all, so I did deep oilings with coconut oil every few days. Thankfully, my hair is resilient and it recovered about a month later.

Maybe the bad result was a combination of different circumstances, so I am not inclined to blame henna in general, but I would not want to experience that again.

I fixed the color with semi-permanent Clairol dye closest to my natural color and let it grow ever since :grin:

The only negative things I have heard from people have been people with coarse hairs...so perhaps henna just doesn't play well with coarse hair? *shrugs* Not to make any generalizations or anything. Just thought.

khyricat
March 20th, 2008, 07:44 AM
meliora- the other question is did you use lemon in it? when I used to use lemon juice in it (or other acids) it would dry my hair out and I'd have to follow iwht a heavy oiling, now that I've switched to just mixing with water, I never have that issue.

vindo
March 20th, 2008, 07:54 AM
My hair used to feel dry and tangly after when I used too much lemon juice in it.

These days I only use it with water and its barely drying at all. BAQ Henna gives me less tangles and is easier to rinse out. Also important since you can get a lot of tangles if your not experienced with Henna.

Mishka_84
March 20th, 2008, 04:44 PM
I've always had good results from henna. My hair is thicker and stronger now than it was when I began. I've never used lemon in my hair henna, instead I make a chamomile tea and add a tablespoon or two of ACV for my liquid. Works great, and I've never had any excessive dryness after. :)

Elfling
March 21st, 2008, 07:19 AM
I have to say for me as well, using lemon juice is a disaster. It makes my hair incredibly dry and crunchy. Chamomile tea works just fine, and really made a huge difference in the condition of my hair post-henna.

Nightshade
March 21st, 2008, 07:34 AM
I have to say for me as well, using lemon juice is a disaster. It makes my hair incredibly dry and crunchy. Chamomile tea works just fine, and really made a huge difference in the condition of my hair post-henna.

Amen to that. I use very strong chamomile tea and it's fantastic stuff.

Shell
March 25th, 2008, 06:21 PM
I did a very light gloss, so I don't know if my results count, but I had little dryness (conditioner maybe?) and my curl stayed and seemed a bit less frizzy.

When I did cassia, it increased the frizz, and decreased the curl--but that may have been the frizz. I guess I'll know more next time I do this.

Kirin
March 25th, 2008, 07:24 PM
I find a lot of the "dry/ruined hay hair/frizz/yuck" from henna is usually from way too much acid in the mix. I use one single drop of acv in my mix, thats it, into a sleepytime steeped tea and then four drops of carrot oil...... whoa what a difference.

The first time, i read all the info thoroughly, and mixed my henna with ALL lemon juice, eghads! what a disaster!

Lexie
March 27th, 2008, 09:27 AM
I was always too afraid to use LJ, so I used 1:1 ACV:filtered water initially. That was drying, so I gradually decreased the ACV until I was using only a tablespoon or so. Still drying. My hair hates amla too unless I mix it solely with oil. So I think it just hates acid in general. That's why I was even afraid of the chamomile initially because it is slightly acidic. But my hair adores it. Yay!

lilla
March 27th, 2008, 10:41 PM
When I hennaed I used just water. It made my hair so strong and almost reflectively glossy. However... when it washed out afer a few months it seemed so dull and orangey that I just decided I could not keep up with it. So, IMO the worst thing about henna is that there is no going back. Henna doesn't fade very well past a certain point, so I had to go several shades darker than my natural color to head toward the natural hair color again.

nienna42
March 27th, 2008, 11:36 PM
Henna has done awesome things for my hair, not to mention that I'm happier with my hair simply because I'm so much happier with the color. Like many of the other people who have posted on here, the only time I had serious problems with it was when I added too much lemon juice to my mix. I use chamomile tea to add a little acidity to my mix now.

EvilPigeon
March 28th, 2008, 11:10 AM
How much chamomille tea do you CT lovers recommend? I've done rinses after henna,but I have yet to mix it into the henna itself...I'd love to try it,as it sounds amazing!

MeMyselfandI
March 28th, 2008, 11:22 AM
Hi EP,

I use one chamomile and one SleepyTime tea bag for each 1 1/2 cup water.

I put the tea bags in a container with filtered tap water let it boil and simmer for a while. Take off the heat. When cooled enough to squeeze the tea bags, I take out the bags and remeasure. I top off any evaporated water with more tap water.

I have thrown in a vit C tablet once or twice. Just to be on the safe side, when the dye was taking what I thought was to long with the Jamila. Especially compared to the Yemen.

cosmogonic
March 28th, 2008, 11:55 AM
Henna took the little bit of wave I had right out and now my hair won't hold any at all. Not like I wasn't already straw-straight unless I scrunched or bunned while drying, but now those don't even hold! I'm not that upset about it and definitely not sorry about henna-ing at all, but just something to keep in mind. Other than that I would say henna hasn't had any ill effects on my hair and has definitely improved its strength and tendency to stretch and break.

Edit: It is worth noting that I never had drying effects as I add a good amount of conditioner to my henna mix to ease washing it out in the shower. I don't even want to contemplate getting out straight henna mud under a lo-flo eco friendly shower head.

squiggyflop
March 28th, 2008, 01:20 PM
i found my first few henna treatments to leave me with dry tangly hair but i hennaed my hair less than a week ago (i think) i only did the roots and i used a different mix... my hair wasnt very dry at all and i had none of the tangles of full head hennaing...
i mixed 100grams of henna with hot hot water and some ACV... i let it sit in the furnice closit for 3 hours then i mixed it with a small amount of conditioner.. not enough for it to be a gloss it was only one or 2 squirts of conditioner.. i mixed it up and used a squirt bottle i bought at sallys to apply it to the roots... i CWC'ed my hair then i conditioned it 2 more times... (i condition 3 times normally...once with cone free then once with a thick cone conditioner then diluted cone conditioner)
my hair is very happy and i do beleive that ive found the way that works best for me

Venus
March 28th, 2008, 01:31 PM
I can't remember. It's safe to use cassia over chemically dyed hair for extra shine, isn't it? I mean, without changing color or texture?

Amanda
March 28th, 2008, 02:24 PM
I recently used red henna to dye my hair and it's turned out terribly!
I don't know how to fix it, and it almost makes me want to cry.
Does anybody have any suggestions aside from just going over it with a darker colour?

cosmogonic
March 28th, 2008, 03:35 PM
I recently used red henna to dye my hair and it's turned out terribly!
I don't know how to fix it, and it almost makes me want to cry.
Does anybody have any suggestions aside from just going over it with a darker colour?
Amanda, can you elaborate on what it is you're trying to fix?

Amanda
March 28th, 2008, 03:55 PM
Well, the top half looks great, it's a natural, although a little more orangey than I was going after, colour, however the bottom half of it went almost black-brown. I have naturally blonde hair and can't figure out why exactly this happened!
I want to get it lighter, and even it out. It looks pretty scary.

Nightshade
March 28th, 2008, 03:57 PM
Well, the top half looks great, it's a natural, although a little more orangey than I was going after, colour, however the bottom half of it went almost black-brown. I have naturally blonde hair and can't figure out why exactly this happened!
I want to get it lighter, and even it out. It looks pretty scary.

Can you elaborate on what you did, exactly :)

As a first step to lighten the length, try honey and baby shampoo, then condition the crap out of your hair.

squiggyflop
March 28th, 2008, 04:00 PM
Well, the top half looks great, it's a natural, although a little more orangey than I was going after, colour, however the bottom half of it went almost black-brown. I have naturally blonde hair and can't figure out why exactly this happened!
I want to get it lighter, and even it out. It looks pretty scary.
you didnt let it sit in an iron vessle did you?? what kind of henna was it??
use baby shampoo on the lower half a few times and then please report back... was your hair chemically altered?? how long did you leave the henna on?

Amanda
March 28th, 2008, 04:00 PM
I bought a Henna block from Lush, followed all of the directions to a tee and left it in for almost 3 hours. Which is how long I was instructed to leave it in by the employees. I tried the mineral oil approach, and it did absolutely nothing.
I will try that though! Hopefully SOMETHING works, and soooon.
Thanks :)

squiggyflop
March 28th, 2008, 04:04 PM
I bought a Henna block from Lush, followed all of the directions to a tee and left it in for almost 3 hours. Which is how long I was instructed to leave it in by the employees. I tried the mineral oil approach, and it did absolutely nothing.
I will try that though! Hopefully SOMETHING works, and soooon.
Thanks :)
oh ive never trusted lush henna... they add other stuff to the henna. infact ive never really trusted any of the lush items... their shampoo bars have sulfates too... i would never use block henna on my head... if im not the one doing the mixing then i dont trust it

Isilme
March 28th, 2008, 07:04 PM
Amanda, have you read about henna at www.hennaforhair.com? Or read the henna articles in the article's section? Start there. If you want a darker red, re henna.

tiny_teesha
April 7th, 2008, 04:45 AM
henna made my hair a lot better ( it was fried to pieces) but it can only do so much. I've found that the more i do it now the worse it is so ive stopped for now. I may try again later in future see if i get a good shine and softeness.
On my mothers chemically treated hair it makes it soooooooooooooooooooooo soft and thick and lushious, despite she is shedding like a cat at the moment.

Rain
April 7th, 2008, 10:31 AM
I had dry, tangly hair after mixing henna with lemon juice too. I wonder why this is still so commonly recommended if so many of us have had the same bad result with it? :rolleyes:

I'm allergic to chamomile. What other kinds of tea will work as an acid? I've gotten good results with coffee. I just feel like trying tea.

Euphony
April 7th, 2008, 10:35 AM
I had dry, tangly hair after mixing henna with lemon juice too. I wonder why this is still so commonly recommended if so many of us have had the same bad result with it? :rolleyes:

I'm allergic to chamomile. What other kinds of tea will work as an acid? I've gotten good results with coffee. I just feel like trying tea.
From what I understand an acid isn't necessary. I do however use super cheap red wine. But you could use water as well. Sometimes I also boil cloves and allow them to steap for about 10 minutes before straining, then I let it cool to room temperature and add that with the red wine...hmmmm you know I haven't done that in a while and have noticed my hair is a bit lighter...I wonder if it's a correlation. I'll have to use the clove tea next time to find out <wanders off down the hall muttering>

Rain
April 7th, 2008, 10:41 AM
From what I understand an acid isn't necessary. I do however use super cheap red wine. But you could use water as well. Sometimes I also boil cloves and allow them to steap for about 10 minutes before straining, then I let it cool to room temperature and add that with the red wine...hmmmm you know I haven't done that in a while and have noticed my hair is a bit lighter...I wonder if it's a correlation. I'll have to use the clove tea next time to find out <wanders off down the hall muttering>

I know you can just use water. I want to try tea though. :) I used Two-Buck Chuck merlot the first time I used henna and it was soooo gross. The stench of henna hay and merlot about made me sick. I am now certain that used way too much but it was so very nauseating that I can't bring myself to try it again with less. I like the idea of trying cloves because that is one of my favorite smells ever. I think my skin would get irritated so I am scared of it. The closest I have come was when I used the little bit of clove in Trader Joe's Wintry Blend last weekend.

Euphony
April 7th, 2008, 11:41 AM
I know you can just use water. I want to try tea though. :) I used Two-Buck Chuck merlot the first time I used henna and it was soooo gross. The stench of henna hay and merlot about made me sick. I am now certain that used way too much but it was so very nauseating that I can't bring myself to try it again with less. I like the idea of trying cloves because that is one of my favorite smells ever. I think my skin would get irritated so I am scared of it. The closest I have come was when I used the little bit of clove in Trader Joe's Wintry Blend last weekend.
Since we got Trader Joe's in the area I've been using the 2 buck chuck...are you telling me it's SUPPOSED to smell better!?! Ohhhhh myyyyyyyy - okay that's it, I've gotta try it without the cheap wine. I always get embarrassed going to the store and having super cheap red wine in my basket...I always wanna scream "I don't drink wine, it's for my hair!!!"...but then people might think I'm really off my rocker then :p

khyricat
April 7th, 2008, 12:41 PM
well lets see: hibiscus actually reduced the dye uptake, so I DON'T recommend using that.. maybe lavender?

CopperHead
April 7th, 2008, 02:28 PM
I never had any problems with dry hair after henna and I use nothing but lemon juice to mix it with. My hair must like it for some reason. The only complaints I had was with the color. I had dyed over the henna to even it out an used a way too dark color. My white roots never even began to blend in when I hennaed again. I now have my hair back to where I first started, color wise, so the henna should work much better. It took awhile, but I'm satisfied it will work. It's never perfect, but neither is life. I will live with it. I love the softness and shine and my scalp always felt so soothed after.

I would build a statue to anyone who could come up with odorless henna. ;)

Michiru
April 13th, 2008, 04:37 PM
The worst thing for me was the bright shine it had for over a month when I first did it and how I could never seem to get all of it out. Even after a month when I would shower I would still get some red down the drain.
Oh, and the stink associated with it. I had to try to hold my breath with showering.

meliora
April 14th, 2008, 05:33 AM
I am sorry I am that late with a reply (I just moved to another country for study abroad and didn't have internet for a while), but here is a little more info about what happened: my hair was straw-dry for about a week and gradually improved within a month with oilings and deep conditionings.

EvilPigeon, that also could be it. I have very very coarse hair that doesn't really feel soft, ever, even when it is healthy like now.

khyricat, I did not use lemon, but I used hot water. It still fried my hair :(

Treecrown
April 14th, 2008, 08:12 AM
I can never seem to remember that I should only use a few TEASPOONS of henna in my cassia mix...so this morning I woke up to lovely orange hair again...does that count as a "woe and disaster"? :-)