A question for those who henna!

[starlights]

Hi :)

I have jet black hair, but planning to henna my hair the first time this weekend... i am going to use red henna, adding lemon juice and using tea...
i was wondering how long do you advise i keep this henna in my hair for before i get this reddish tint in the sun? :)i just dont want my hair turning bright ginger, it wouldnt suit my complexion lol:D

any help would be much appreciated, thank you:)

[Nightshade]

Is your natural color black? Otherwise if you've dyed it black your roots will be much, much redder.

Otherwise, if black is your natural color, you don't need to worry at all about turning out ginger, henna can never, ever make your hair lighter, so you'll get your red/orange sheen in the sun and that's about it :)

Personally, I'd skip the lemon juice if I were you, it weaken the henna and will just dry out your hair. Henna and hot (steaming) tea will get you fast dye release. Blend it all up, put it someplace warm for a few hours (I do 4 with the bowl on a pan on top of the base of my food dehydrator, or since it's summer, set it outside in the sun for 4 hours or so). Take a shower and apply to clean, damp hair and leave on as long as you want.

I think you start to get diminishing returns on color and conditioning after 6 hours, so I wouldn't go much longer than that :)

ETA: If you just want a tint you could wash it out after an hour or two, but since your hair is so dark you may as well go for the longer duration for the conditioning benefits.

[starlights]

Thank you so much for your insight it helps alot.... my hair is naturally jet black...
also ive read that after i've hennaed i can wash it off then apply coconut oil to the hair then braid (this apparantly makes the henna penetrate further)
is this a good tip? should i do it, does it work?
Thanks

[Nightshade]

Yep, you should be just fine :) Many people like to do a post-henna oiling as it helps with some of the feelings of dryness!

[Gulbahar]

I know people with naturally black hair who can keep henna on their heads for a whole day AND night without showing much red at all. So be prepared not to see any change..... And it's impossible to turn bright ginger with henna if your hair is black. It just won't happen.

[hmmm]

I have black hair too, and my hair looks pretty red in the sun. I often get asked if I dye it, lol. This is after multiple applications of henna that I assume would have darkened my hair over time... I don't know how that works, maybe I have chameleon hair.