Henna with amla to tone down the copper?

[tennies]

Hi all;

Henna on its own gives my hair a copper orange neon glow when viewed in the sun; will adding amla to my mix tone it down?

I love the color otherwise; it looks great until I step into the sun!

Thank you : -)

[mellie]

I don't have personal experience with henna and amla only; I have always added indigo as well. However, when I did an amla-only treatment, it didn't leave any color and pulled out some of the indigo I had previously applied.

One thing that might help is mixing your henna with coffee, that may give you a browner and less orange color. I do that with my Rainbow henna (although that's not just pure henna, so it might be different for you). It works great to give me brown rather than orange.

[Kirin]

I use henna with amla, and amla, at least for me tones down the orange-ness. For about 1/3 100 grm box of jamilla i added about 1/8 100 gram box of henna.

[iris]

I used to swear that amla made my henna less brassy, but I was comparing henna mixed with lemon juice (what I used before - h4h reader :wink:) to the amla mix, which I mixed with just water. In the end I found I got the darkest stain and least orangey stain with just water.

I did a controlled experiment on wool (http://archive.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=70625) to compare amla, lemon juice, various amounts of citric acid, and just water, and found there too, that simple water gave the darkest and least orangey stain (http://archive.longhaircommunity.com/showpost.php?p=1339322&postcount=7). Amla inhibited the dye somewhat. Not as badly as lemon juice, but still. You can use distilled water if your tap water doesn't work well (it doesn't for some people - Catherine from h4h is one).

Nightshade also found that amla inhibited henna on wool.

In the sun, my henna was always orange, no matter how dark I got it (and it was REALLY dark in the end). The same with adding indigo - I once put so much indigo over my henna that it was a very dark gray indoors, no red at all, and I'd go out into the sun and :magic:, the henna orange came peaking through again.

I think orange-in-the-sun comes with the henna territory - it's one of the reasons I quit henna.

Iris

[zift]

I think orange-in-the-sun comes with the henna territory - it's one of the reasons I quit henna.


I never got any kind of orange with henna. Just the opposite my deeper orangy kind of shine became a dark reddish one after I started using henndigo. But I never used henna only and my hair is dark brown to start with. What was your original color iris(have I asked before I honestly can't remember)?

ETA: I only used lemon juice on my first application than for the following 6 or 7 I used bottled spring water and I add boiling water to henna and immediately apply without waiting.

[Euphony]

I just tried amla in my henna - hmmm Monday night, my hair isn't quite done oxidizing yet but it does look a tad *richer* to me, though I haven't really looked at it in the sun.

I had been using henna from H4H, but I found a local Indian store in town that carries Jamila for $1.99 for 100g, I didn't have to do the math to figure that one out :grin: I noticed though a change in the color, the H4H henna gave me more of a chestnut color, the Jamila gives me a lighter, orangier color that I've been told glows in the sun. I've also noticed that *glow* and it's pretty nifty so I don't want to lose it, but I like the darker chestnut color. So I've decided to stay with the Jamila (they have other hennas there), but try to work with it to see if I can nix the orangeness of it.

I used 200g Jamila, 1 heaping tablespoon of amla, 10 ounces of clove tea, 1 teaspoon of anise eo and the rest of the liquid was cheap merlot. So far I do like the color a bit better, it might be my imagination that there is a color change - but hey it can't be all bad when your hair smells like licorice!

[iris]

I never got any kind of orange with henna. Just the opposite my deeper orangy kind of shine became a dark reddish one after I started using henndigo. But I never used henna only and my hair is dark brown to start with. What was your original color iris(have I asked before I honestly can't remember)?

Dark blonde. It could very well be that my lighter base color makes a difference.

I used to see the orange especially when the light was shining through the hair - so, light coming from behind, when looking into a mirror.

I'll admit that I was completely overly sensitive to the orange, too, - others would tell me it didn't look orange to them and in most lightings it didn't - only with very strong light shining through the hair.

Iris

[tiny_teesha]

Wow, here i was thinking lemon made the stain more redder!!!! Well then, that should cure my mothers fluro orange roots then! Next time NO LEMON!

[tennies]

I use henna with amla, and amla, at least for me tones down the orange-ness. For about 1/3 100 grm box of jamilla i added about 1/8 100 gram box of henna.

Hi Kirin; Thank you for your reply. Do you use an acid with your henna or just water?

My hair is dark brown, and the orange just looks weird in the sun, it in no way looks natural. In every other light other than sun the henna looks great on my grays, they blend in.

[Velouria]

Not Kirin, but amla is quite acidic....if you use it there's no reason to add additional acid.

[Euphony]

Adding a bit more to this a few days later :smile:

My husband and I have been at odds as to whether my hair is darker - I was looking at it just this morning thinking yeah - it is darker. But I don't know for sure. My hair is down right now, one of my coworkers just walked by my desk and asked if I recently colored my hair. I explained what it is I do, but that I've been doing it for a while. He said he knew I've been using henna for a while, but it looks like I recently did it again - he couldn't peg what was different. Than I asked him if it looked darker, a light bulb lit up on his face and he said yeah, it looks really good. Okay - I'm pretty well convinced now that yes it is darker! The experiment worked and I'm a happy camper. Now if my experiment with the chunk of amber essence in the jojoba oil works I'll be VERY happy (but that one doesn't look like it's going as well).

[tennies]

Thank you all; before I resort to hendigo, I will try henna and amla, with water, holding out the lemon.