Staying Power of Indigo, Cassia and Amla when mixed with Henna.

[MeMyselfandI]

What hs the staying power of Indigo, Cassia and Amla when mixed with Henna?

Does it make a difference if more then one of them is mixed with henna?

Do they eventually leave and the henna stay behind?

What can make them last longer.

How long are they expected to last.

What if only roots are done, will the rest of the henna and mixture look like henna after a few weeks or months.

The staying power is my biggest fear for using a mixture of indigo, amla and/or cassia.

[iris]

Generally speaking, amla and cassia hardly give a stain (hardly noticeable compared to henna and indigo anyway), and for most people indigo will fade before henna does. There's a lot of individual variation though. For instance, indigo usually doesn't last longer than a week for me, but for lots of people it's permanent. Likewise, henna lasts forever on me (quite literally it seems) but it fades over time for some.

I'm afraid you'll just have to find out how well your own hair holds on to the various dyes :)

Iris

[tiny_teesha]

I put amla, henna and indigo all together at once and i got a golden orange colour...(on white hair) im not good at this obviously!!!
I've foudn the 2 step process is best. FIRST henna, then indigo. And less amla is more!

[Elfling]

I'm still waiting to find out how long henndigo lasts on my hair- I'll update when I know :D

[wintersun99]

for me:
Henna - lasts forever w/little/no fade
Henna'indigo - indigo eventually fades slightly
Henna first step, then indigo second step - tuned dark, almost black, with very little fading, if at all.
henna + amla made no noticeable difference on the color of the indigo already on my hair, but seemed to turn my henna roots a more subdued henna'reddish'brownish color.

p.s. I bought my henna and indigo from H4H.

[Lexie]

My personal experience:
Henna - Never fades.
Henndigo - Never fades.
Henna followed by indigo - Never fades.
Amla - Never fades (and the dye is very overpowering on my hair).
Cassia - No noticeable difference (but may have been a timing issue as I never waited for dye release).
Henna:cassia 1:1 - Same resulting color as pure henna, never fades.

I only ordered indigo from Catherine the very first time. I didn't like the grittiness of it but I had only used it once--on my mother's hair. Her grays are stubborn so it's hard to tell what happened but the henndigo ended up looking like a very dilute henndigo gloss. She turned out light to medium strawberry blond. Never allowed me to henna or indigo her hair ever again, so it's hard to come to any conclusions about it. The next time I ordered indigo from Castle Art and the resulting indigo soup was very smooth, so I kept buying there. It's what I used in my experiments and what I used to get jet black on my bleached blond hair. I used a 2 step and kept it on for 30 minutes, so I'm sure it was strong stuff.

[Mahars]

My experience after only two henndigo applications is that henna never fades but indigo slowly begins to fade after about 3 weeks and continues to fade until it is almost gone - about 2 months later.

[Elfling]

It's been a week and I'm noticing some indigo fade right around my hairline...bah. That's where I want dark, red doesn't go with my skin so well. Overall it seems a tad more auburn.

So I'm suspecting in about a month it'll be a deep red-brown, which is about par for the course even if I use a chemical dye that's dark brown. I'm betting it's going to come down to me either settling for monthly henndigos, or doing a henna/indigo two step and going really dark. I'm *hoping* for some slight buildup, as I've heard a few people say that multiple henndigos did seem to fade less.

[MeMyselfandI]

Thanks everyone.

I think I can live with Mahas fading after 3 weeks.

Elfling sorry to hear there is fading after a week.

Did you add salt to your indigo?

I am wondering about just a tad of alma to cut out the redness. Yet I still want a warm colour.

[Elfling]

I did add some salt to my indigo. I used about 3 T of Alma to 200 g Yemen henna and 100g indigo. Next time I might do 1:1 henna:indigo and see.

[Delilah]

Henna on my hair fades maybe about 30% in the first 2 weeks, the rest of it stays on my hair basically forever. I henna overnight with the lovely henna from Hennasooq. Her henna is so smooth... it mixes to a consistency like gel. no grittiness whatsoever.

I find I have to re-indigo every 3 weeks or so to keep my roots dark. I've found the addition of a tsp of baking soda makes indigo stain better, just make sure to correct the pH with a vinegar rinse at the end- the vinegar rinse also helps keep the indigo on your hair and off your towels and pillow.

Amla is acidic enough to cause indigo not to take effect. Nightshade has done many experiments on natural herbal coloring, I highly recommend searching her posts.

Henna and Amla stain better in an acid environment and are naturally acidic. Indigo likes a slightly basic environment. Mixing the two would lessen the effect of one. I double process to get my black hair, my hair is naturally deep ash brown.

What is your current color and the color you would like to be?

[Elfling]

Hey Delilah :) thanks for the info.

I'm dark brown right now, and that's what I like; I don't quite have the eyebrow coloring for all-black hair I don't think. I wonder, based on what you said about acid-loving henna and alkaline-loving indigo, if maybe I should do my next henndigo with no amla and see. I didn't think about the vinegar rinse afterwards either.

I do love dark, dark hair though; I may end up going to a two-step process if I can't tweak henndigo to my satisfaction.

[wintersun99]

if maybe I should do my next henndigo with no amla and see. I didn't think about the vinegar rinse afterwards either.I do love dark, dark hair though; I may end up going to a two-step process if I can't tweak henndigo to my satisfaction.

I believe this to be true as well. As much as I gripe about my indigo (it is growing out well, I must say) I did try the henna/amla mixed w/a bit of indigo last weekend and I must report that it didn't do much for the color at my roots. IF they were toned at all, it washed out right away and I was left with a more muted henna color (which I like) but not much sign of indigo. I think this is a great mix for those who are trying to mute/brown down their henna, but not for those who are going for dark brown.

For your next try, I would mix a 1to4 or 2to3 ratio of henna and indigo, leave out the amla. If this doesn't get you dark enough or stick around long enough at the roots, then transition to henna first then indigo second. I found that doing the two step process and leaving indigo on for approx 40 minutes got be dark dark brown, (not jet black) and it really hasn't faded much over the last 6 months although I must finally admit that I believe in the sun, it looks lighter (FINALLY)

[Delilah]

Here's the link:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=7

According to her research, if you'd like a 'mahogany' color you should mix 1/3 henna to 2/3 indigo.

[Lexie]

I used 1:1:1 henna:indigo:amla and got a medium to dark color on my bleached and multiple hennaed hair, so I wouldn't say that amla inhibits indigo. My color was very brown and only looked reddish in certain lighting. It was also a cool color which looks terrible on me. I had a year or more of henna buildup that it covered like that, so the indigo definitely wasn't muted in any way, but the henna was. Amla by itself strips my henna unless I let it sit for a while. Even if the last time I hennaed was a month ago and nothing short of cutting the hair will remove it, amla will give me a lot of orange run off and leave me with a very dingy, overwhelming beige overtone.

Some of those who had trouble getting indigo to stick at all to their grays and some of those who only got a light stain on H4H used amla and it finally took, and really well. It doesn't help everyone just like salt doesn't help everyone either. Dye uptake and staying power is definitely related to the actual hair in some way though I'm not sure how. But it shows especially with indigo.

So if you want indigo to fade, you want to avoid amla and hope that indigo doesn't just love your hair.