Just sittin' here with the henna gloss on...

[Jeep Girl]

Well, I did it! I haven't made a henna gloss in a long long time. I mixed up the henna last night and when I got up this morning it hadn't dye released yet so I set the yogurt container on the furnace register in the living room. Checked it every time after the furnace came on and nothing. So when the sun finally came up, I set it in the kitchen window. About an hour ago - success! So I cleaned the kitchen sink and went into the basement to get my big jug of Cure Care conditioner. I guess that I mixed up way too much henna because I ended up with about 28 oz of goop. So I wet my head, towel dried it, and bent over the sink and applied about 1/2 of the gloppy mix. Wow what a mess. I had gloss on the counter, the window above the sink and even on the fridge behind me. (I did manage to apply some to my head). Now I am sitting here in the living room with my hair clipped up and rolled up paper towels tucked under the edges of 2 plastic bag cap thingies they sell at Sally's for hair coloring. DH, after the initial scare, is just shaking his head in wonder (probably a "now WHAT is she doing" moment.) At least it doesn't smell too badly like when I did this a couple of years ago. I am thinking of putting the left over gloss in the freezer to use again. If it goes curdly on me - oh well. I did make up a shikakai and amla tea to use in the shower when I rinse this off, so we'll see what happens. I'll hold out as long as I can take it before I rinse this off. (Oh, I think that I mixed up about 6 TB of henna, 1 TB of lemon juice and enough water to make it muddy)

[Kirin]

i love henna glosses, just not the mess! I am so due, my white roots are an inch long LOL

[Jeep Girl]

Me again! I just got out of the shower. I know, I know, I didn't leave it on that long... a hour and half-ish. I was traumatised when I changed some of the paper towels I had stuffed in the back - they were a tiny tiny bit more orange than I expected soooo. My hair is still wrapped up in a towel and now I am afraid to look at it. I don't mind goldish-reddish tones, but I wasn't looking for "wow! what happened to your hair" comments either.

[Buggheart]

What exactly is a henna gloss? I'm sitting here with a glob of just henna and water on my head and am wondering if I'm missing out on something I should be doing :)

[ratgirldjh]

jeep girl - pictures PLEASE!!!
i know it looks wonderfull ;)

[Themyst]

What exactly is a henna gloss? I'm sitting here with a glob of just henna and water on my head and am wondering if I'm missing out on something I should be doing :)

Henna heavily diluted with conditioner. That's what I was doing before - gives you a bit of henna color but not too dramatic. I just did a full henna treatment with only water, as you do, the day before yesterday.

[Buggheart]

Thanks! So just throw a little henna powder in with conditioner? Is that the idea? Or do you mix the henna with water and then mix it into the conditioner? Sounds like a great idea that I definitely need to try.

[Themyst]

If I remember correctly, the first time I tried it, I put in about 50g with maybe 5 cups of conditioner. Then I saturated my hair with it (didn't use the entire 5 cups, of course). I actually froze the rest and got it out to thaw now and then. Over time, I added some indigo to it to get a darker color and also more henna now and then - perhaps a few other ingredients and now it's just a big surprise how my hair might turn out when I use it. :D

But, as I said, I just took the full-henna plunge and am happy about it - I might just keep doing that for a while to see how dark I can get it.

I don't think there is really a standard 'gloss' recipe, although I'm sure others have recipes they stand by.

[Buggheart]

Thanks for the advice and the lightning fast reply! I've been using henna for a few years but it's such a pain and so time consuming that I only do it every 6 weeks or so. I'm thinking doing a gloss here and there between full hennas would be a good thing. So I think I'll try 10 or 15g in a cup of conditioner and see how that works out.

[misskita]

Bugghear, I love your color. So vibrant.

[cocolover]

I was wondering how effective you all have found henna glosses to cover grey roots? Does it take a few glosses to cover them, or just the first one? I'm going to do a henna gloss as soon as my henna arrives from mehendi :)

[icydove]

I usually dilute my henna in a 1:3 ratio (usually 1/4 cup henna paste to 3/4 cup conditioner).

[Dorothy]

Themyst, you make your henna sound like Amish Friendship Bread or Stone Soup, somehow. Do you share starters in ziplock bags with your friends? Your hair is lovely, so there must be some magic in the freezer. I did my first Henna two weeks ago, on my chemically dyed since I was 25 now I'm 40 brown hair plus an inch and a half of salt and pepper roots. I didn't order QUITE enough Yemen Henna from Mehandi, I made a mistake, so my partner who was putting it in ran out before she got to the top length (i.e. got the roots, got the underlying length, got to the top length...oops) so Nightshade says I need to Henna gloss the rest when I do my roots in another two, three weeks. So I appreciate your recipe. There's got to be a blues song in here....

Just sittin' on my couch with my henna gloss on
Baby done left me, I don't know what's going on
Oh, these Henna Gloss Blues.....
I don't know what's going on!
I just know that I'll be redder
come that mornin' Sun.....

[Themyst]

Themyst, you make your henna sound like Amish Friendship Bread or Stone Soup, somehow. Do you share starters in ziplock bags with your friends? Your hair is lovely, so there must be some magic in the freezer. I did my first Henna two weeks ago, on my chemically dyed since I was 25 now I'm 40 brown hair plus an inch and a half of salt and pepper roots. I didn't order QUITE enough Yemen Henna from Mehandi, I made a mistake, so my partner who was putting it in ran out before she got to the top length (i.e. got the roots, got the underlying length, got to the top length...oops) so Nightshade says I need to Henna gloss the rest when I do my roots in another two, three weeks. So I appreciate your recipe. There's got to be a blues song in here....

Just sittin' on my couch with my henna gloss on
Baby done left me, I don't know what's going on
Oh, these Henna Gloss Blues.....
I don't know what's going on!
I just know that I'll be redder
come that mornin' Sun.....

Ha ha - you just had to write that little ditty, eh? Just when I was listening to a Hello Kitty cartoon jingle in the background ...

I actually just did a full henna treatment, I posted pics here today: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?p=503224#post503224

My hair wasn't as dark as yours, but I am still quite surprised that mine didn't turn more red. I think I might do a watered-down indigo treatment to send it more to the brunette side. Thank you for the compliments.:)

[Buggheart]

Bugghear, I love your color. So vibrant.

Thanks so much! You're very kind. :) That pic was taken with the morning sun shining in the back window. I need to take some in full sun and different types of light still.

[Jeep Girl]

Me again!

1) for a henna gloss - you make a regular batch of henna (let it dye release and all that), then mix it with a lot of conditioner. The ratio is up to you - the more henna there is, the more of a color change you will get. I ended up with about a 1 part henna to 2 parts conditioner. You can add other stuff too - shikakai, amla, honey. Do a search here for henna gloss - many many good hints. Also check out the Henna for Hair website (all henna, all the time). I was surprised how conditioned and tangle free my hair was in the shower. I remember way back it ended up dry and tangly. That's why I haven't done one for so long. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact I am taking much better care of my hair now than I was then. (due to you-all's good advice).


2) My color didn't come out too badly - darker golden tones - I like it! As far as pictures... :couch: I'm too shy.

edited to add... 3) Buggheart, I love your color. I wish that I would look good with hair that color, but I don't think it would work for me. Much jealousy here.

[Themyst]

Me again!

1) for a henna gloss - you make a regular batch of henna (let it dye release and all that), then mix it with a lot of conditioner. The ratio is up to you - the more henna there is, the more of a color change you will get. I ended up with about a 1 part henna to 2 parts conditioner. You can add other stuff too - shikakai, amla, honey. Do a search here for henna gloss - many many good hints. Also check out the Henna for Hair website (all henna, all the time). I was surprised how conditioned and tangle free my hair was in the shower. I remember way back it ended up dry and tangly. That's why I haven't done one for so long. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact I am taking much better care of my hair now than I was then. (due to you-all's good advice).


2) My color didn't come out too badly - darker golden tones - I like it! As far as pictures... :couch: I'm too shy.

edited to add... 3) Buggheart, I love your color. I wish that I would look good with hair that color, but I don't think it would work for me. Much jealousy here.

Also fearing the wow factor, I started out with glosses, too, Jeep Girl. But then I did one big 2" swatch all the way down my length of pure henna - I had a big orangey-red stripe but then it turned auburn. It was so rich and conditioned - the strands were noticeably thicker and so I was tempted for some time to try it with all my hair.

Yours is much lighter than mine so I can appreciate all your hesitation and I'm sure glosses befit you just fine! Hey, you can post a pic of just a swatch of your hair (so we can see how you are faring with the color) don't be shy!:)

[icydove]

I was wondering how effective you all have found henna glosses to cover grey roots? Does it take a few glosses to cover them, or just the first one? I'm going to do a henna gloss as soon as my henna arrives from mehendi :)

I only apply a henna gloss for about 7 to 8 minutes in order to stain my white/gray hair gold. The rest of my mostly brown hair gets a reddish sheen to it. One gloss covers mine, but it will fade after 6 months to a year on my hair.

I cannot stress enough to strand test to see how it affects your hair, though!

[Treecrown]

Jeep Girl--pretty please with sugar on top, pictures? I'm wondering how you got "darker golden tones" since I've pretty much given up on henna glosses because I COULDN'T get those tones!

[Jeep Girl]

Hi Treecrown. I think it's because my hair is more of a golden brown based color to begin with (rather than an ash shade). My "winter" hair comes in medium to almost dark brown but my sunlightened ends are pretty blonde so this gloss blended everything together nicely. Well, I see that I can't just cut and paste a pic here so let me see what I can come up with for a picture.

[cocolover]

Thanks icydove....I am going to strand test this afternoon. I think I will try a lot shorter of a time than I was originally planning.