Excessive Shedding After Henna?

[shadowclaw]

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I can't seem to find a thread on it. I need better search skills :p Anyway, I have been using henna every week for about a month (and once I did it twice in one week). I think I've done six applications so far, and I'm almost where I want to be color-wise.

The first two applications went by smoothly, but after the third one, my hair felt really really dry afterwards and I started shedding a lot more. I blame the dryness on the lemon juice and have made all henna batches since with a combination of tea and lemon juice. However, I am still shedding more than normal. Could it be that I am stressing out my hair with frequent henna applications?

Has anyone else experience an increase in shedding, and did it go away after a while? I'm sure some of what I'm seeing is the same shed hairs as before, but now they are red instead of blonde so I notice them. However, the drain was half-clogged with the hair the other day, and that hasn't happened in several years.

[fragolina]

Every week!? No wonder they're dry. :-S

You should henna every 4-6 weeks. Rather 6. I've no scientific explanation yet, but I'm searching.

I understand you ... I can't wait either, but every week is too frequently.

Edit: It could be the lemon, too! I once did a spray with 1/3 lemon juice 2/3 water and had super-dry hair afterwards. What if you use just the juice of one lemon (and another fluid, black tea, for instance) in your mix? Or vinegar instead?

[sonng]

I tried henna just two days ago and I also shed so much hair after using it but it stopped now. Oh it was really dry too but now it's so soft and smooth. Perhaps you should just wait it out I'm sure it'll go away after a while.:o

[CopperHead]

I henna every two weeks and I have no problems at all. If you rub the henna into your roots and are not too gentle, it can cause your hair to shed just from the rubbing. I use warm water with a splash of lemon juice to dye release my henna and my hair doesn't get dry. Also, if you are doing a henna every week, you probably don't have a chance to wash out all of the "henna dust". That will make your hair feel dry when it is just coated. Try going longer between henna treatments and just do your roots if you need to. :)

[rach]

try chamomile tea instead of the lemon juice, might help with the dryness (chamomile tea alone is a good conditioner which is slightly acidic too) also rinsing and rinsing and rinsing with help of cheap conditioner (yep loads of rinsing- i usually end up with a crooked neck after) to rinse out the resin which is a bummer to get out but is very drying if your not thorough. mermaid soak followed with showing the rest makes it quicker?

hope that helps :)
i too was very regular to build up my colour but following the above. i had no problems.....

[Shermie Girl]

Frequent henna applications shouldn't harm your hair. It certainly didn't hurt mine. If your hair is dry, try skipping the acid in your mix. It isn't necessary and can cause dryness. Plain old hot water does the trick. :D

I used to shed a small wookie, every time I did henna. I think it was the extra manipulation of my hair and scalp. It didn't last long and it didn't have any adverse effect on my overall thickness.

[burns_erin]

Definitely sounds to me like your mix is too acidic, I use distilled or filtered water with some powdered cloves.

Also, the manipulation could be a problme. Maybe start with damp hair, make your mix thinner, or add some honey to the mix. All these things have made the handling side of things easier to me.

[RocketDog]

I didn't notice increased shedding after either of my applications. If anything, my shedding is down slightly because my hair doesn't seem to want to tangle like it used to!

[Heidi_234]

Every week!? No wonder they're dry. :-S

You should henna every 4-6 weeks. Rather 6. I've no scientific explanation yet, but I'm searching.

I understand you ... I can't wait either, but every week is too frequently.

No such thing. You can do henna as often as you wish, it's not a chemical dye that messes with your hair and scalp.

The dryness could also be some resin build up, make sure you wash your hair throughoutfully after hennaing, and even if you don't use shmapoo, use it anyway. The drying effect of SLS is nothing cmpared to henna dryness, and even I shampoo it out.

[shadowclaw]

Thanks for all the responses!

For all but my last henna, I applied it on damp, freshly washed hair. I found it rather cumbersome to apply, so the last time I tried it on dry hair with a thinner mix, which was a lot easier. Either way, I don't think I was too rough with my hair, so I don't think the shedding is a handling problem, burns_erin.

I do think the dryness is a combo of lemon juice and not rinsing all of the henna out. My water runs orange for a few days, no matter how much I CO or rinse. This last time, I think I must have COed for 45 minutes and I still had orange water the next time I showered. I did shampoo yesterday using SLS, Heidi_234, and the water ran super-orange and I was kind of afraid that I was somehow washing out the henna. It's good to know that it's probably just henna dust, which makes sense, because I used the Yemen henna, and it's very gritty and I had a hard time rinsing it out.

Shermie Girl, that is too funny about the wookie. Hopefully it won't affect my thickness, either, because I really don't need thinner hair!

Rach, I will definitely try chamomile tea. I was actually planning on using it, but I discovered that someone used all my teabags :p I used pomegranate tea and lemon juice instead. CopperHead's method also sounds promising.

[Heidi_234]

Yeah, CO doesn't cut it for me either. Despite the fact that my hair can't stand shampoo usually, it's much better with shampooing henna out. You can't really unbind henna that already bound to your hair, so you run in no risk of "rinsing it out too well" or anything.

You might have made it little bit too acidic, I agree. Strongly brewed tea gives enough acidity to the mix. But there's no need to avoid lemon juice like a plague either, I usually mix it (or ACV) into a cup of bottled water before adding to henna, as I tend to forget to brew tea.