Dark brown with henna?

[peachrose]

Hi everyone,
I've been a member for about a month now and am loving LHC! My hair is almost BSL now and it is in much better shape since switching to CO, no brushes and shea as a leave in.

I really like to darken my hair to a more chocolate brown and am curious if this could be done with henna or indigo or something... Right now my hair is a medium brown and I would like to go dark, dark brown.

Any advice? I live in Canada so a company recs that ship here would be great! Thanks! :)

[wintersun99]

Yes, getting dark brown can be acheived by mixing a greater percentage of indigo to your henna and leaving the application on the hair for under 2 hours... or so.

[Anje]

You may be better off doing a two-step process -- henna first, then indigo over the top. As I understand it (having not worked with indigo myself), henna tends to be acidic and works best with acidic pHs, while indigo is a bit basic/alkali. Neither is quite as effective when the two are combined. Then again, you might get less dark results if the two are combined, since a henna followed by a long indigo application is used to get a strong black.

[mellie]

I've used henna and indigo for quite a while to cover my grays to match my chocolately brown natural color. It gets really really dark (think black) over repeated applications, though, so be aware. Once you're at the color you like, just do roots-only to maintain.

I don't know if you can find Rainbow henna at your local health food store, but I used that for a long time. It is very easy (pre-mixed henna and indigo) and affordable. I used the Persian Dark Brown color.

ETA: Canadians can get it online from Amazon apparently, there is a review here from a customer in Alberta, Canada:
http://www.amazon.com/Rainbow-Research-Henna-Persian-Brown/dp/B000F8K7GY

Also, I have gotten henna and indigo from hennaforhair.com as well, and I know they can ship to Canada.

[CopperHead]

If you want to buy the henna and indigo seperately and use BAQ, then our own Henna Sooq sells these products in Canada. I have bought from her and she is great to work with and sells wonderful henna. :)

[peachrose]

Thanks for the suggestions, I think I will check my local health food stores for now... :)

[WritingPrincess]

Remember, indigo fades faster than henna, and you will probably end up with some shade of red in the end. Here are a few articles (written by Henna Seeress Nightshade) on henna and herbal coloring.
Expressions with Henna- Coloring Hair Naturally (http://http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=7)

Hair Coloring with Herbs, Plants & Other Natural Ingredients
(http://http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=2)

[wintersun99]

The degree to which indigo fades is dependent on many factors... I certainly would not state that it fades, as fact.

It depends on how and what you use. If you use a brand from the store that is already premixed without having any idea how long it has been on the shelf, or what quality of herbs it is mixed with, the likelihood is that the indigo may fade... If, however, you use a product from H4H or Henna Sooq, (as an example) the indigo is of very high quality and will likely be more permanent than anything you can imagine... it also makes a difference in your application (1-step vs 2-step process, timing, the condition of your own hair, how many applications, etc.) just take a read from all those here and on H4H forum who have had their indigo go way too dark and are faced with very little/no guaranteed recourse... strand test

[Fourleafclover]

This is a great thread! I am so excited to start trying Henna. I also have light-medium brown hair and want it darker.

[chotee]

I add cloves powder, coffee powder, tea leaf decoction to get the shade of brown i want!

[mellie]

Oh - please note that if you are ever considering bleaching your hair in the future, you may not want to use indigo. Apparently if you bleach it to very light, you may get green hair that just will not go away. I think this is more an issue for folks with lighter natural hair color.

I did some bleaching on test strands with a highlighter kit, and this did not happen to me. I wanted to see if I could get to blond. I kept checking it every 10 minutes or so, and even went beyond the time on the package. My hair never did get any lighter than copper color, but there was no green. BTW, the hair was really, really brittle and broke off easily in my hand, too! Needless to say, I chose not to do the highlighting! :-)

[mellie]

Just wanted to post a pic for the original poster, that shows my gray hair before and after using Rainbow Dark Brown:

Natural gray hairs:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=423&pictureid=9737

After Rainbow Dark Brown:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=423&pictureid=9738

I was very happy with the color, it was a natural dark brown that didn't get orange-y or red.

Now there is another option instead of indigo, called Katam (or Buxus Dioica). It is a lot like indigo, but the color is lighter. I have been using that lately since my hair got so dark with the indigo. Another nice thing about the katam is that it smells better than the indigo, and doesn't make my ears itchy or give me a headache like indigo either. :-)

Here's a fresh pic of my grays with henna and katam:

http://www.guitarindiana.com/mcg/DSCN1469.jpg

As you can see, my grays (left) are a little redder than my natural color (right), but it's still a very nice and natural-looking color. I did about a 45/55 henna/katam ratio this time, next time I might do 40/60 to try to get just a bit darker and cover that red.

I don't know if anyone has experimented on bleaching katam, if it turns green like indigo.

[annarose]

Hi peachrose :waving:

I live in Canada and buy my henna from Henna Sooq (http://www.hennasooq.com/ca-store/). I'm not sure if she has buxus (katam) yet but that's what I've used this time to get brown.

I have used indigo before and when I did some highlights in the summer they did go green unfortunately. The verdict is still out on the buxus regarding highlights but I really like the warmer color I got from it instead of indigo.

Check out my journal if you want to see what colors I've acheived with it. :grin:

[GlassEyes]

Actually, I think there's a newish her that just stocked on mehandi that can be mixed with henna for a darker brown... I think. D: Might want to ask the henna thread.

Edit: It's been mentioned. xD Buxus/Katam.