Please help me with Henna (Lush?)!

[Emme76]

I been a member of LHC a while now - and I am still coloring my hair light brown with cemical tint. I been reading alot about henna - and I think I might be ready for it. :cheese:
I read about all the great things it has done for many - so I should be brave and give it a go. I just don´t want a big color change. I would love any advice!

I live in Sweden so I can´t get a hold of many different products. I have a Lush store close by - and I been reading alot about Lush caca brun. A very soft brown shade. It might be nice for me. And also we have the brand "Herbique" here is sweden. They also have brown color.
I do wonder if I should add some red into the mix? Maybe Lush henna marron??? What you think if you look at my hair color?

Any advice?? I do understand that some love Lush and others don´t!
Should I mix something else into it - like lemon juice, olive oil? Or does that not go with the Lush henna bars?

As you might notice - I am very very new to this....
Sorry if there are so many odd questions :o!!!!

Thank you all!!!:cheese:
/Emme

[mooglewoo]

I've a veteran Lush user, but I go for black, and even Lush Caca Noir doesn't go dark enough for me LOLZ
This stuff is HEAVILY diluted with shea and cocoa butters, fragrances, etc; so you will not get as dark as the packaging suggests no matter what you do. You will also more than likely need to WASH it out with shampoo/soap nuts or whatever else you normally use to "wash" your hair. Otherwise, you will be a greasy sticky mess-and because of this, washing it out also fades the color a bit.

LUSH is a great introduction to henna, and it moisturizes as deeply as a mask while depositing color.

If you do a search on here for "LUSH", you will find many ways on how to use it. My favorite way is to take a large knife, like a butcher knife, and shave it off in chunks. Takes less than 2 minutes to do a whole block, while the grating method can take up to 20 minutes. Then I run the water in the sink until it's hot, and I add water until I get it the consistancy I want. Don't use boiling water with LUSH hennas.

I know this was kind of all over the place, but I hoped it helped somewhat!

ETA: No, don't add anything to these. They are already a menagerie of stuff, and some of it is quite useless. USUALLY any kind of mixed/pre-prepared henna is going to be weaker in color than fresh henna/indigo from a wholesaler, so keep that in mind when choosing your color. Also, LUSH has a forums section where you can ask other questions and see photos of before and after.

[IndigoInk]

I used Lush henna on my stepbrother's hair one time. We put the brick in a big ziploc bag, wrapped it in a towel and crushed it with a hammer! Fun, stress relieving, and effective LOL. Much easier than grating it.

When I do my hair I will use BAQ Henna b/c I want more colour and if I want things mixed in it I want to do it myself and control what goes in.

Lush was perfect for my stepbrother though.

[amaiaisabella]

I use the LUSH henna in Rouge. My hair is naturally medium brown, and henna gives me a red tone in the sunlight and a mahogany tone in natural light. I love it :)

I personally think the LUSH is a gradual way to introduce yourself to henna. For me, I don't want too drastic a red, since my base color is so dark (and roots are horrendous), and this works for me. Some find the red isn't red enough, and go for a more concentrated henna.

One tip: If you do go for LUSH, don't do a CO rinse after getting the henna out. I tried that the first time, and it wasn't enough to get the cocoa butter out (and I did 3 rinses!) My hair ended up clumping together, which was gross. Dilute some shampoo and do 2 rinses, and your hair will thank you for it :)

[Silverlox]

I don't know much about henna, as I've never used it. Some general advice, though..

1. Make sure it will work with the chemical dye already in your hair.

2. You also need to consider your natural colour. If you like the henna, you will in time be using it over your new growth and if that is a very different colour, the result could be different.

3. I live in Sweden too. Luckily almost all countries have mail service, so I order lots of stuff from abroad and have it sent here. You just need to check their price of shipping, so you're not paying more for the transportation than the actual item.
When it comes to some things, it's actually cheaper getting it from abroad, even when you add the shipping. Other things might look cheap, but once you add the cost of shipping, not to mention the exchange rate, it turns out to be more expensive than getting it here.
Of course, the current low exchange rate of the Swedish Krona is not helping much.. :(

[Fethenwen]

I tried lush henna a few times before, but I found it to have a bit too much coconut oil and stuff like that in it, it made my hair too oily, but very healthy also.
I don't think you need to mix it with anything but water because it has already a nice mix of things in it. I used caca maroon and then I changed to use caca rouge. Depends on what color you want really, I think that rouge should give you a nice deep red mahogany like color, and brun would give it a more colder brown reddish color I guess.
I stopped using lush mostly because it's expensive, and I henna my hair quite often.

[Isilme]

lush is very little henna for a lot of money! I have tried the herbique kopparröd and I have been happy with that for some years now. I don't know about the other shades but I think they are pure herbs. I'd say try herbique first. If it goes too red, go over it with the lush hennas.

[sycamoreboutiqu]

I recommend going straight to a supplier of body art henna. I found Hennaforhair.com on this forum and was happy from my first application on. Beautiful, rich red henna and fabulous conditioning and shine.

I think you will hinder the color absorption by adding anything to your henna (other than lemon juice and water) as any oils, butters, etc will get in the way. For maximum color apply to clean, dry hair - leave on for as long as you can ( I do 4 -5 hours ) and do not shampoo afterwards (rinse many times with lots of conditioner) for a day or two.

I love it so much I now carry it in my gift shop.

The previous poster mentioned good advice for henna use, consider your base color. True henna is merely a plant based stain. It adds a stain of color over your base color.

If your base is blonde you are going to be a bright, bright orange, if your base is dark brown, then more of an auburn highlight without a drastic color change, and everything inbetween.

Body art quality henna can be applied to color treated hair with good results. Beware of "compound" hennas or those that promise a "range" of colors from light brown to black. These quite likely have other things added, dye being one of them, and can have bad results on chemically treated hair.

[CrystalStar]

As Caca Brun is only a light shade of brown it proabbly couldn't hurt to try :p

I'm using that on my hair this friday over my hair that's been bleached blonde for 5 years, so I'm really nervous about it too :p

If you look on the internet you can find links to lush forums where they have an FAQ on it and it gives ya more than enough info! :)

[serious]

When I decided to try henna, I used Caca Brun and loved it.
After first application it wasn t a significant change but it gave me fuller tone of brown and colored my grays dark blond.It was nice, but I wanted more,so now I use BAQ henna. But I still use Brun occasionally, to tame down the orange on my grays.
Lush Cacas are full of cocoa butter, so practically, it is a kind of gloss and cocoa butter has great conditioning effect, at least for me.
And, BTW, you have grown a lot, and your hair looks beautiful:)

[Emme76]

Thank you all so much! :) All the replies really made my day...

I have decided to try Lush as my first henna - then I might move on to other brands....

Today I did go to the Lush store and talked to one of the girls who work there. Very nice and down to earth person who looked at my hair - gave me all the info. And after talking she also said that she would recommend Brun for me to start with. Then if I want to go more red I can do so later. I am not looking for a red tone - more of a richer brown color. So I think the Brun is a good start for me :).....
And since I only use tint on my hair before and it is several week´s ago, she said it woulden´t matter much for using henna...

I will take before and after pictures and let you know how it turns out...I will do a strand test first - cause I am not sure how long I should keep it in. It say´s 2 - 4 hours....
Not sure if I should go for 2 or more. And also for more red tones I should use cling wrap. Not sure about that eaither...hummmm....

Well - wish me luck :cheese:...I will do my first HENNA tomorrow....yea!!!!!!!

[melrose1985]

Good luck! i'll be keeping my eye because i'm thinking of doing this too!

[amaiaisabella]

I will take before and after pictures and let you know how it turns out...I will do a strand test first - cause I am not sure how long I should keep it in. It say´s 2 - 4 hours....
Not sure if I should go for 2 or more. And also for more red tones I should use cling wrap. Not sure about that eaither...hummmm....

You should always keep the henna moist, so a cover on your head is essential. It doesn't really affect the color, in regards to brown or red, but henna stops releasing color once it becomes dry (at least in my experience). Because you bought the Brun, which IIRC has little to no henna in it, you shouldn't run the risk of having any red beyond what's in your natural color. Should you decide you want a bit of red in there, you can always use a mix of Brun and Rouge, and for a more dramatic red, solely Rouge.

Enjoy your henna! :)

[mooglewoo]

I agree with bella: head covering is essential.
I would go for 3 hours. :}
Good luck!

[Emme76]

Today I will henna for the first time :)...Here is my teststrand...I will let it stay in for about 2 hours...then if it looks ok..I will do my whole har. SORRY the picture is so big...:o..
I will keep you updated my friends....:cheese:
http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/uu73/Emme76/hrslingacopy.jpg