Henna glaze for blondes?

[maskedrose]

I'm going to try cassia first, but I was wondering if anyone has tried doing a henna glaze on blonde hair? My virgin hair is medium blonde with some red tints, so I was thinking that a very light glaze might actually look good (strawberry blondish). I'm so afraid of doing something that I will regret color-wise, but I would really like to benefit from the strengthening properties of henna!

[Nightshade]

Shell does :)

If you click on the article links in my siggy, there's a recipe for "Blonde boost and condition" that may be worth taking a look at :)

[lynnala]

Shell does :)

If you click on the article links in my siggy, there's a recipe for "Blonde boost and condition" that may be worth taking a look at :)Great articles Nightshade! Thank you for taking the time to post them, I'll be trying many of them soon!

[Jeni]

I have been thinking about this too. I want the benefits of henna without going red. Strawberry blond would be OK though. I was wondering about doing a Color-enhancing SMT with just a pinch of henna. My question is, with that small amount of henna used, would it give me the benefits of henna, or just give me some color? I was also thinking of doing a cassia treatment with a tiny bit of henna mixed in. I figure that would give me the benefits of the cassia and a slight reddish color....

Of course I have to work up the nerve. I'm a little scared that I will add too much henna and go way past strawberry blond into red.

If you do a glaze let us know how it goes, and the amount you used!

Jeni

[Nightshade]

Great articles Nightshade! Thank you for taking the time to post them, I'll be trying many of them soon!

Woot! Let us know how things pan out :)


I have been thinking about this too. I want the benefits of henna without going red. Strawberry blond would be OK though. I was wondering about doing a Color-enhancing SMT with just a pinch of henna. My question is, with that small amount of henna used, would it give me the benefits of henna, or just give me some color? I was also thinking of doing a cassia treatment with a tiny bit of henna mixed in. I figure that would give me the benefits of the cassia and a slight reddish color....

Of course I have to work up the nerve. I'm a little scared that I will add too much henna and go way past strawberry blond into red.

If you do a glaze let us know how it goes, and the amount you used!

Jeni

You'll get some of the long-term conditioning benefits. :) Fwiw, this is what I got on white mohair with 100g cassia, 2TB henna, and 4TB honey, mixed up, applied right away and left on for 2 hours. (http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f80/SaliceMalkin/Cassia.jpg)

ETA: And ALWAYS strand test! Mix up a test batch of whatever you want to use, put it on some shed hair in a baggie and put the baggie on your pocket to simulate your body heat with an actual treatment, leave it there for whatever your hypothetical timeline is, rinse, and let it sit for 3 days to oxidize :)

[Flaxen]

Ooh, ooh, I have a link! :waving: Henna for blonde hair at HFH (http://www.hennaforhair.com/forum/index.php?module=phpwsbb&PHPWSBB_MAN_OP=view&PHPWS_MAN_ITEMS=1890).

(No, I haven't tried it.)

[Jeni]

Nightshade- Thanks for the link. I'm a fan of strand tests, I just need hair....shedding less then normal has a down side (who knew?). I'm wondering, if I did a blond boost and added some alma, would that add a brown color to hair or just tone down the red?

Flaxen- thanks for the link, it was helpful!

Jeni

[prosperina]

I know you all will be careful, but let me just say it again. Be very careful. Especially you maskedrose since your hair is so light--lighter than Shell's was/is. I got into henna and have the color I do today, because I thought oh, I want to amp up the strawberry blond! Needless to say, it was not done right, and I had orange-ish hair for a while.

And I do like my hair right now, so it's not an issue, but.... strand test. play around with the colors. I really think that on medium blond hair (which is my color) a really pretty strawberry blond could be achieved. Or even a more golden blond, because I see it on my roots in places where the mix has less henna in it and where it has faded a bit. Cassia plus henna on my hair tends to start at golden blond then to strawberry, then to copper, and then darker copper depending upon how much henna is in the mix and how long it is left on. I hope that helps, and I know you all will be a little more careful than I was. :)

Also, if your hair is chemically lightened sometimes it gets....funny with henna since colored hair is more porous and will suck up the color faster hence making it harder to get the right shade. But your hair may be different.

[Shell]

Before:

http://www.gossamerstrands.com/Hair/100_2432.JPG

After:

http://www.gossamerstrands.com/Hair/goodhennapic.jpg

I am very happy with how it turned out, and the color is very subtle. My hair is soft and wonderful.

Recipe:

3 tsp henna
1/2 cup chamomile tea (warm)
1/2 cup of conditioner (added after the henna mix cools a bit)

I only waited for about half an hour for dye release (total of both steps above), then applied to my hair and let it sit for 30 minutes, then rinsed and washed and conditioned.

I love it!

[Flaxen]

Oh Shell, that does look lovely! :grin:

[Shell]

Oh Shell, that does look lovely! :grin:

Thanks! The brightness has faded a bit (I have mixed feelings about this :)) but it's still soft, shiny, and just a bit red. I'm so glad I was brave enough to do it. I expect I'll do it again sometime--it was so worth it, and really not even much bother.

[Celebrian]

How strange. I was looking at my husband today and wondering if anyone would benefit from an update on his hair since we started using henna and indigo on it.

What we did:

Put one teaspoon henna (Yemen 2006) and one teaspoon indigo straight into a cup od cone free condish. Applied and left 30 minutes. Result? A lovely burnished bronze effect on his naturally dark blonde 'salt and pepper' (greying!) hair.

We've done it every 6 weeks or so for the last six months.

It can build to being slightly orange if you overdo it, and I counteract that effect by doing a quick indigo gloss (20 minutes max) every so often.

At the moment, he has about an inch of roots showing, and the indigo has more-or-less faded (it's never clung very well to his hair - I don't know why) but the hair is still quite a rich soft honey red (ginger really) and is a very pretty color.

There is a slight 'yellow' cast to it, which I blame on a cassia mix we did several months back (cassia released with lemon juice over 12 hours). I won't do that again, because it was particularly 'yellowish' on his hair at the time.

In future I'll just be using the henna, and some indigo to 'cool' things back a bit if neccessary. However when I do it this week, I think I may just try the one teaspoon henna on its own in his roots - and leave it for only 20 minutes. See how that looks.

BTW I'm also considering another recipe from H4H which has equal amounts of henna and indigo mixed with hand hot water - left to steep for one hour, added to conditioner, and put on hair for 30 mins. max. This, I understand, can give a 'gold' effect to light/greying hair, with little or no red.

[maskedrose]

Thanks for all the advice and links (Nightshade and Flaxen :flower:)!

I was interested in Flaxen's link about cancelling out the henna red with indigo and adding cassia... I want to try that but I don't want to order henna, indigo and cassia only to do a strand test and find that it won't work. Have any of you blondies tried this?

By the way Shell, your glaze turned out great! Mines a bit lighter than yours, so I'm still a bit worried about how it would turn out. I guess I should at least get enough henna to do a strand test, and if it works great, if not I can get a little bit of indigo to see if that works. Experiment, experiment...

[Shell]

T
By the way Shell, your glaze turned out great! Mines a bit lighter than yours, so I'm still a bit worried about how it would turn out. I guess I should at least get enough henna to do a strand test, and if it works great, if not I can get a little bit of indigo to see if that works. Experiment, experiment...

Thanks. I have some hair your color (I think I have hair every color really!), and it just got a little haze of red. Only the roots (darkest) and ends (lightest) got red. Go figure. Now, they've both faded a bit, and it just looks red in the sun--perfect really. And the shine....

[Jeni]

maskedrose H4H has $1 samples of henna, indigo and cassia, no shipping charge. They give you enough for a strand test or 2 (depending on how much you mix up). That's what I did, now I just need enough hair to test...

Jeni

[maskedrose]

Thanks Jeni! I love cheap samples, being a starving student and all :)

[Jeni]

maskedrose- No problem, I feel ya. I'm a poor student too, hence the living with the parents, which was of course what I always dreamed I would be doing at the age of 25....sign. Sad thing is I'm only a sophomore, had too much fun after HS....
Jeni