First henna experience and question

[iatemycat]

Hey there! So after reading so many rave reviews on here about henna, I decided I had to try it for myself. Went to one of those hippie health shop type things (brain's not working, can't think of the proper name for them at the moment :oops:) and bought some henna.

The day before I dyed with it, I mixed a little bit with vinegar (had no lemons) and tried it on a ball of hair. It looked ok, but smelt disgusting, so when I put it on the rest of my hair, I mixed it with wine (forgot to buy lemons...) and a few drops of tea tree oil.

Left it on my hair for about 3.5 hours, and then washed it off. It took me half a bottle of shampoo and about the same of conditioner to get it out, and it was sooo tangled. Lots hair fell out, but I'm not sure if that was the henna or the amount of rubbing and combing it took to get the henna and the tangles out.

I had about 2cm of virgin hair roots that were an ash blonde colour, and the rest was faded chemical dye red. My hair is now reddish orange, with fluorescent orange roots :laugh:. Can't wait to see the looks I get at Uni tomorrow :D. Anyway, I hope it will darken a bit over the next few days, but I don't actually hate the colour it is at the moment.

My question(s) is, when I mixed the henna, it immediately turned brown. Now this might be a silly question, but pretty much every photo I've seen of freshly mixed henna, or "How to apply henna" tutorials, it's been a greenish colour. I wondered if maybe this meant it had other stuff in with it?

At the moment, I'm not overly impressed with what the henna has done to my hair. However, I've read on LHC that it takes a while to "settle down", and I now know that would have been better to soak my hair to de-henna it, which hopefully would have reduced the rough treatment and therefore the hair loss, so I'm prepared to try it again, but I wanted to make sure the stuff I'm using is ok. The ingredient list only said Lawsonia Inermis. The brand I used was called Radhe Shyam, here's (http://www.elarboldelavida.net/henna-polvo-cobre-natural-pi-738.html) a picture of the box.

Well, thanks in advance, and hope that if nothing else, my experience might interest any other henna newbies out there! :o

[Fractalsofhair]

You might just have gotten really quick dye release. That happens to me at times.

[beastair]

I use henna from www.mehandi.com there is a free ebook you can read to get a wealth of info. Also, use a cheap conditioner before you rinse the henna out of your hair. Makes rinsing time faster. So...When your ready to rinse hair, apply a lot of conditioner through your hair then rinse. Hope this helps!!

[caribou55313]

To reduce the amount of shedding you can:

*Use a very finely sifted henna (not sure about the one you used, but a body art quality one will be finely sifted)

*Mix it on the thin side (pancake batter) so it's not such a thick mud putting traction on your roots

*Apply to towel-dried hair (still damp) again, to reduce traction on the hair

*Do a mermaid soak to loosen the mud initially, then apply a load of conditioner and shower out the remainder

[iatemycat]

Beastair, I have read that book, it's very useful! The reason I didn't buy henna from there is the price of the shipping, which only makes it worthwhile if you buy large quantities. I didn't want to buy a lot, because I wasn't sure if I was going to like it.

Fractalsofhair, thanks, that might have been the reason!

Caribou I'll keep that in mind for the next time I henna, thanks :)

Another question, has anyone with fine/thin (by fine I mean diameter, and by thin not a lot of hair) notice increased scalp show-through after using henna?

[CaliforniaAnne]

I've read many different takes on what people think about the smell of henna. One thing that definitely helps is using citrus instead of vinegar or wine, which lets you have a far more pleasant added scent. Some people even like to add a few drops of diluted essential oil, or you can add herbs to your mix. I personally enjoy the scent of henna, but some people claim they can't stand it.
As for the color, I've had henna that turned brown, and henna that turned green when mixed. Partly it has to do with the ingredients you are mixing it with, and partly it has to do with the age of the henna, the source, etc. I wouldn't be too worried about that one.
Better luck next time! Henna can be uber-rewarding, and if you aren't pleased with these results, then I hope you will be willing to try again to see just how neat it can be! :)

[little_cherry]

Hi.
I found I got a better dye from henna when I:
a) Use fresh, 100% pure BAQ quality henna.
b) Use only warm water or tea as the liquid. Using just lemon juice or vinegar is too harsh for the hair and scalp- can contribute to dry scalp/hair and shedding.

If your henna turned brown, it usually means quick dye release. I use my paste as soon as it goes brownish..check out my album for hair pics. Also mixing henna with wine is probably not a great idea because of the alcohol content- alcohol is very drying. Try boil the wine first to evaporate the alcohol. :)

Henna takes about a week to develop the true colour (oxidisation)...I used to get orange roots. The more you henna, the richer the colour gets. Always use 100% pure henna and strand test. :)


Edit: Any dates on the box?

[Pierre]

If the box says "Cobre Natural" (Natural Copper) and the ingredient list says only Lawsonia Inermis, I guess it's nothing but henna. However, it may have contained sand from the henna mill, or been sitting for months at room temperature. My first henna was a box of Light Mountain which had been sitting on the shelf, and it was nowhere near as dark as the stuff from CCJ. Since you're in Spain, I suggest you get some BAQ henna from Europe or Morocco; there's a list of suppliers on Catherine's site.