Henna Heads, tell me why

[Euphony]

So I'm curious, why did you start using henna. Why do you still use henna?

I heard about dying hair with henna when I was pretty little. My aunt was studying to be a hair dresser and told my mom one day that you can color hair with henna. I don't know why that stuck with me, that's the only part of the conversation I remember.

Starting at LHC and reading about all the henna usage got me to reading and studying about it.

My natural color is a pretty color, I like it...on someone else. My natural color is milk chocolate brown with gold highlights. My skin tone is a light Native American red tone, my eyes are very dark brown, my eyebrows are almost black. Sadly my natural color looks like I bleach it. I started coloring my hair dark brown and auburn starting in my late teens, went through my 20's then at 31 I decided enough was enough.

Then on LHC I found all the wonderful benefits that henna imparts, strength, softness, shine etc and OMG it has the side effect of giving me that auburn I kept using chemical colorants to get for so long!

So for me my henna use is for the benefits, the color is an added bonus.

Tell me about your henna'd head :D

[Nightshade]

Heh, I feel obligated to keep this really short because I think everyone and their sister has heard my story by now :rolleyes:

For those that want the full story you can read it here (http://www.hennaforhair.com/mixes/anya/). (For the record that is my old OLD mix. My current mix is 65%cassa, 35% henna and chamomile tea as a liquid).

I love henna because I get the red that I so dearly love (and more recently how to get the copper I so dearly love) without trashing my hair. I love the natural process, the mixing, the steeping of herbs and the feel of the mud.

Also, the time that's spent on me makes me feel just as pretty as the red hair. It's a beauty ritual that I enjoy, color aside.

[neenerbabe]

I've always had a sort of mild strawberry blonde color, some people would call my hair red, and some would call it 'brond' (brown-blonde). But I always wanted it redder. Anne of Green Gables was my hero, I would have loved Gilbert for calling me carrots, lol. I've never used commercial dyes because I suffer from eczema and didn't want to even try them because I was worried I would react badly. I first heard about henna from the Just For Redheads catalog, and thought, hm, that's interesting. I thought it just gave your hair a red tint. Then a few years down the road I stumbled upon hennaforhair.com and saw all the before and after photos and was floored, these people were getting such an awesome color from a plant?! So I tried it soon after and have never loved my hair more. It makes it soft, and calms my frizz, and
my hubby loves it too, he says 'it's really a wild red, almost metallic!' Henna is one of those things that really delivers, in my opinion. I'll be red till I'm dead. :cheese:

[Kirin]

I started going gray, in STRIPES, when i turned fourteen years old. My hair had been black, a dull black, but it was going paler, to this non-descript mouse color with white (and we're talking stark white) stripes.

Considering with this white stripe effect I get confused as my husbands MOTHER........ well I color, have been doing so for years.

Henna was my alternative when my scalp started becoming super sensitive to chemicals in dye.

[Rain]

I started because I was dyeing my hair black and the dye was making my scalp itch. I switched to the two-step henna/indigo thing. That was a bit much for me. Now I just use straight henna because I like how it gives my fine hair strength. I haven't even done an S&D in close to 18 months now but my ends are not trashed at all. My natural color is the kind of dark that is sometimes nearly black inside but very red outside. Henna gives me that, just more.

[Toof]

I love all things red. :inlove: :lol: It's my favorite color, hair and otherwise, and my natural color is very boring--extremely ashy light brown. I henna for the color, because it's something I can do myself at home and it doesn't make me nervous about what I'm putting on my head; the strength/softness/shine and everything else is wonderful, but secondary.

Plus I love the smell. :thumbsup:

[Islandgrrl]

I henna to cover grey.

I was blessed with medium-ish auburn hair anyway, but the grey is such a contrast to my natural color! I'm not crazy about it.

What I am crazy about his the conditioning, the strength, the shine and the deepening of my own red to something it's never naturally been. I don't like the burgundy tones, though, so I have lately been experimenting with honey lightening. This is taking me back to the natural color and making my hair a little more coppery, which I like very much.

[Sceleste]

The biggest reason I started hennaing was that I hate my original hair colour. It's mousy. I love red, and as a person I'm far more fiery than what my own hair colour is so henna suits me just fine.

I used to dye my hair with box colours but dyeing and not taking care of my hair made it break to pieces so I stopped.

[Blueglass]

I don't recall when I first heard about it. I wasn't sure it would really be for me, because I'm a very dark blonde,and don't look good in orange. I came to the LHC, and noticed that someone used Avigal brown wanted to check out that possibility. I now henna gold morrocco method, which is really tumeric. So far I like this better, because the gold color really works for me, so I may stick with tumeric.

[physicschick]

I use a henna-indigo mix to cover gray. I don't get fabulous coverage (and the indigo always fades), so it won't work when I have a lot more whites. For now, it's sufficient to make the whites blend in. I don't want to use chemical dyes because they'd probably trash my hair. The henna is redder than I'd prefer, but I have a decent amount of red in my hair already, so it's not super noticeable.

[zift]

My hair was very long and the ends have got significantly lighter from the sun, looking orangy. My natural color was a reddish dark brown(not too dark though) and I thought that if I used henndigo on the lower half of my hair forexample like waist down I'd put back the darkness the sun have taken away from me and I'd do it without hurting my hair with chemicals. So I started henndigoing. I see that it gave great condition and the darkness I want to my hair and loved it. But indigo faded so fast on my hair that I was left red with the half of my hair so with every new process I did the coloring from higher resulting in a full head henndigo for the last time. I also increased my indigo level quite high, I started with something like 1:1 henna indigo and ended up with 1:5 in the last one hehe. Now my hair's a very dark reddish brown and it becomes almost black right after I henndigo. It looks very natural on me and gives me AMAZING shine so I love love love it. I think I'll continue until the day I get bored(hope that doesn't come soon because playing with the mud is fun!).

[Riot Crrl]

This is a very interesting thread, and I have been trying to decide how best to respond to it. Would you like the tl;dr version, or the Cliff notes? :)

[jesamyn]

I love red hair in all shades, from strawberry blonde on up to dark auburn. I also happen to love deep burgundy hair on those who can wear it. Henna does that for me. It gives me the red hair I always wanted, never fades, and never trashes my hair. It's also fun to mix, and I love the smell. And the SHINE! So many people comment on the color and shine of my hair, and I never get tired of the compliments. ;)

[Remke]

Because I like the red color and how my hair feels afterwards, nice and soft. I've been using it for about 8,5 years now.

[akka naeda]

Because I love the colour it gives my hair in the sun. It doesn't look excessively red when I'm not in the sun, but since I started using BAQ henna there's more of a difference between my natural colour and the hennaed hair. I'm getting too many white hairs now for it to really look good with henna so having hennaed for half my life I'm going to have to stop soon.

[lookingglass]

My ends were trashed and my hair was very dry from not clarifying for years and years (I didn't know! I didn't know! LOL!). I decided to henna b/c I love the magical color and all of the strenghening and conditioning properties.

[LadyPolaris]

I've been dreaming of having red hair since childhood. My natural hair color is a very blah ashy medium brown. When I felt the time had come for me to use 'grown-up' permanent hair dye, I tried the chemical stuff (I chose the 'gentlest' one, Garnier Nutrisse). But not only did it look completely unnatural, it fried my hair and aged me about 10 years in pictures. (Apparently my hair is one of those that can't take any abuse at all.) I can say I'm fond of having hair on my head given a choice :p so I was forced to look for something else.

Henna and I were just meant to be - I love the mud, the mixing process, the smell, the application, the feeling of it cooling my scalp (it's awesome for scalp flakies and itchies too), the color oxidation over the days, the way it adapts so naturally to my haircolor, the natural highlights and multidimensional/iridescent quality, the fact that it blazes in the sunlight... I love everything about it. That plant is a miracle of nature to me, it never ceases to amaze me. :)

But recently my hair was becoming too burgundy colored, which doesn't go very well with my warm complexion, so I'm doing some honey lightening treatments to lift the excess henna and lighten my starting color a bit. I plan on doing either henna+conditioner glosses or henna+cassia glosses from now on - as much as I love full henna treatments, I'd like to avoid oversaturating it and getting that dark burgundy again. I love the copper phase the most! And I think I can have it indefinitely at that color stage by alternating honey lightening treatments and henna glosses. Or so I hope!

Eep, I wrote too much, sorry! That was bound to happen. :rolleyes:

[LynnM]

I love all things red. :inlove: :lol: It's my favorite color, hair and otherwise, and my natural color is very boring--extremely ashy light brown. I henna for the color, because it's something I can do myself at home and it doesn't make me nervous about what I'm putting on my head; the strength/softness/shine and everything else is wonderful, but secondary.

Plus I love the smell. :thumbsup:

I hear you there! I would have to say the same things... boring natural color, I LOVE red and henna red is very flattering for me, and it makes my hair extremely soft and shiny. Plus I get so many compliments on my hair - never fails! I also love that it's nearly fool-proof, unlike boxed color, which may not look even close to the box. I also love that it doesn't damage my hair - so I get the color I want without ruining my hair.

Oh, and it's cheap! (Especially when you buy in bulk) Potentially cheaper than boxed dyes (less than $10/treatment for me right now).

[spidermom]

I tried it years ago because I thought it would be awesome to be a red-head.

I was wrong. I got sort of an orangey color that settled into kind of a brick color, as dull as a brick, too. I didn't get the awesome shine. My hair and henna? Big circle with a slash through it.

[GlassEyes]

Chemical damage in the extreme, and henna helps.

I've...borderline, and grudgingly accepted that I will still have to cut it all off, but the henna makes it so that I ca spread it out and not look like a gremlin. That, and I like red hair. xD

[Euphony]

This is a very interesting thread, and I have been trying to decide how best to respond to it. Would you like the tl;dr version, or the Cliff notes? :)
hahaha whichever version you prefer my dear!

This is so interesting seeing all the different reasons.

[Pierre]

I started hennaing because I got gray hair and didn't like it. I keep doing it because I love the feel, the shine, and the smell. It turns my gray hairs into sparkling red jewels. Before henna, my hair felt greasy-sticky (I'm not sure I'm describing it right), and the roots feel that way when I go too long between hennas. With henna, my hair feels like it keeps itself clean. And it feels so sooooft!

[Liluri]

I use henna to strengthen my hair, I don't think my hair would have gotten so long without henna. I have really thin shafts of hair and henna builds it up.

The colour is a good thing as I get bored with colour sometimes and henna seems to change colour daily.

[Riot Crrl]

hahaha whichever version you prefer my dear!

This is so interesting seeing all the different reasons.

OK, the tl;dr version it is. Don't say I didn't warn you!

At 23, I had been wearing my hair natural for a few years when I started to go grey. People kept giving me a hard time about it, so I caved and just went back to what I knew best from high school (at least that was the least weird looking): drugstore peroxide color boxes! On my natural hair, the roots were ashy brown and the ends always sun bleached to a yellow. So I matched the yellow ends.

Fast forward to age 31 or so. I grew weary of the yellow box. I seeked change. I had always loved dark red, so rather than do anything logical like go to try on wigs or something, I decided to see what it would look like with the "shampoo out in one shampoo" Fanci-full temporary dye. It dripped and it dried very crusty, but was a beautiful color and I thought it looked awesome on me.

Ladies and gentlemen, when people say that just about everything including "temporary shampoo out" colors have the potential to stain light and/or treated hair on more than just a "temporary shampoo out" basis, I know that they speak truth. I know this because no matter how many times I shampooed the Fanci-full, it did not come all the way out. After a weekend of shampooing this, I had to go to work, which was embarassing even though I put it up. Yellow that was striped and banded with pale orange.

So, since I had liked the color anyway, I took myself back to Walgreen's where I invested in 3 of the finest dark red drugstore boxes money could buy. My hair was waist length at the time, so I used all 3.

Again, the result was beautiful and looked fantastic on me. For a day or two. Then, despite its claimed "permanence," it did nearly the same thing the Fanci-full had done. Day 1: a little yellow starting to show. Day 2: a little more. Rinse, lather, repeat. (So to speak.)

My shower looked like Psycho every day. My bathroom always looked like assassins had taken care of some business in there. Determined, I purchased more boxes and tried to keep it up.

At one point, I think I was going through something like three of these boxes a week. I was tired, my bathroom looked awful, and my L'Oreal bills were through the roof.

This went on for like two months. My hair condition worsened considerably from all the putting drugstore boxes over the whole thing constantly and not just roots. The smell and eye-burning started getting to me. I researched gentler alternatives, and ended up that I purchased Special Effects (which is "semi-permanent" dye) in a burgundy color.

Well now, that stayed in much better. It was actually OK for a month or so. Then, the pretty red tones did begin to wash away, leaving the bluer tones. It was much gentler dye, but I was tired of doing all my hair, and buying enough product to do all my hair.

I began to long for the days of my trusty yellow Feria, when at least I only had to my roots which took only one box each month. It didn't dye the bathroom and towels and pillow and everything else it ever touched either.

Dejected, I ColorFixed. I was not sure what the results would be. I strand tested, but I had so much different stuff going on over my whole head, who really knew. The ColorFix removed just about everything. I know now it isn't supposed to remove half the stuff I had in my hair, but I assure you, it did anyway.

Right after rinsing the ColorFix, my hair was as stretchy as rubber bands. I honestly did not know whether I'd be rocking a pixie same time next day. Then to my surprise and delight, it dried to only a paler and only slightly brittle version of itself before this all started! The only thing it didn't remove were some of the more stubborn blue tones from the Special Effects, but those were only in the bottom inch or two, and only in random places. I conditioned it for a while, and then when I felt it was ready I applied three boxes of yellow Feria. It was not the best it had ever been, but it actually looked OK considering all that.

I applied a box of yellow Feria to my roots every month or so after that for the next several years. All the hair that had ever been through the debacle grew out and was trimmed off without major event.

Then, a few months ago, some things all happened around the same time.

1. I cut some of my hair off, at which time I realized it was curly. I always just thought it was wavy before.
2. The yellow Feria, my friend of so many years, stopped covering my grey as it always had.
3. Confounded by how to care for my "newly" curly hair, I sought hair care advice online.
4. Where there is talk of things like natural hair care, there is eventually talk of henna.

Henna? That dusty can of twigs I bought once in 1984 that didn't do anything? Really?

I researched it and discovered it was not so, if care was taken with the source. Perhaps it could provide both the grey coverage and dark red of my dreams, and all without damage!

I bought samples. I strand tested. The results were quite promising. I ordered more.

With the first henna, I was a popsicle. But I somewhat expected this, thanks to strand testing and reading the results of others. Now after the seventh henna, my hair is dark red. Its condition has been only improved. It does not rinse out immediately as the red drugstore dye once did. Or ever, for that matter.

I have a reasonable amount of demarcation to deal with as I grow out my henna-over-drugstore-blonde and transition only to henna-over-my-natural-color. But that could be much worse than it is.

I am now, for the most part, immensely pleased.

And this has been my henna-story. Thank you for reading this far, lol!

[Delenn]

My natural color is quite boring: as a kid I had white-golden blond hair and over time it darkened to a very drab dark blond. Either I pay someone to highlight it for me (and I'm cheap) or it was dye. I always loved either red hair or chocolate brown, red flattered my coloring and the brown did not. (tried dyeing it brown once, it was bad) Red commercial dyes fade so fast and I never quite got the copper color I wanted, I all but gave up on the idea and was arguing with myself about starting highlights again until I found LHC and the henna threads.

And my hair loves it, it's so strong and shiny!

[Nightshade]

RiotCurl- Thank you for posting the long version, I had a wonderful time reading it. It's wonderful to see someone has a very similar story to my own- red hair dye addict to hennahead.

[ladystar]

I used henna once it has made my hair straighter which I love. I learned about henna on this site. I will be doing my second henna next week. So far so good, it leaves my hair like silk I am in love.

[khyricat]

I just realized I had NEVER answered this though I had planned to before.

I have been grey since I was a teen. Mom used to henna, with the old chunky stuff, and I did too... this was back in the 80's.. and even early 90's.. then I moved to the midwest and had trouble getting it... I tried commercial red dye and wound up with a funky orangeish cast all over (I have black hair with whites). So then I dyed it shades of browns for awhile. About 8 years ago I had it professionally done for awhile with some great looking burgundy shades, and then switched to boxed dark auburns and stuck it there for awhile, btu the 24 shampoo stuff washed out in one shampoo, and the other stuff fried my hair every time... I couldn't keep dying it everytime I washed it, so I left it grey for awhile, tried to go back to dyes when people commented on the grey and I decided I didn't like the way it looked with the uneven way it came in (I'm white in BACK and dark up front, with white strands up front)... and had the same issues with the red dyes washing out...

Since my hair is fragile and breaks easily and I've always had that problem and very thin hair, I decided I wanted ot go back to henna like I did years ago, and started reading, found BAQ, and in looking for reviews of supplies LHC and the rest is history

[Sana]

I have done henna for as long as I can remember!! Well I guess it started as there was really not much to be done to long dark hair:) I did it mostly because a natural way to color your hair was fun!! Also in those days my hair was bit flat from all the vigorous washing & shikakai & no real conditioner. Henna probably worked as a conditioner.....which I didn't know then...& added shine to my hair which I loved. Now I henna for the reddish highlights that I love & shine.

[vindo]

Mostly for the benefits. I used to Henna in my natural dark brown. It was just a tad prettier with very subtle red highlights but very natural looking.
Then one time the mix turned out too dark because the henna didnt sit long enough and my hair turned black.
That was a little shocking and I decided to use red henna only until the indigo fades.
And now I really got into liking the red. My hair is very dark brown in some light it looks black. The henna seems to lighten the shimmer which makes me look very 'bright' and my green eyes are a nice contrast. I also think it looks nice with my light yellowish skin tone.

[Riot Crrl]

RiotCurl- Thank you for posting the long version, I had a wonderful time reading it. It's wonderful to see someone has a very similar story to my own- red hair dye addict to hennahead.

I am glad you enjoyed it. :)

I think you have a good head start on me of growing out the henna-over-dye. I only have a couple inches so far that isn't henna-over-yellow. It actually looks decent in the front since most grey is there, and the greys have turned out the same color as the yellow when hennaed. But I have less grey in the back so the two tone is getting weird back there.

[tiny_teesha]

My ends are really damaged and i was putting off cutting them by useing as many things as i and you guys could think of- including henna.
Well....it worked but i stopped useing it for a few months because my hair turned weird, but i plan on doing a henna and amla gloss soon.

[Nightshade]

I am glad you enjoyed it. :)

I think you have a good head start on me of growing out the henna-over-dye. I only have a couple inches so far that isn't henna-over-yellow. It actually looks decent in the front since most grey is there, and the greys have turned out the same color as the yellow when hennaed. But I have less grey in the back so the two tone is getting weird back there.

Yeah, I only have a couple inches left, but I've been growing it out for about 4 years now I think :) I'm sure your hair looks fantastic, and the more it grows out the more that line will blend!

[Oskimosa]

It's great reading how you all use henna.
For my part, I began an early fixation on red hair starting with Ariel, (yes the little mermaid.) But, like many of you, after many box and beauty-shop-visit dissappointments, I had stripped my hair over and over, tried again, grown it out, done it again on virgin hair, stripped it AGAIN and totally given up. One day I saw someone with a nice copper toned med brown hair in great condition, and she said she used henna. I'm sure it wasn't BAQ, but anyhow searching on the internet got me to the henna page, and within a few weeks I learned enough to convince myself. I changed over from a pretty dark blonde (which I had whacked 12 inches off of to donate to Locks of Love!) to a flaming redhead! I have no hate for my natural color, it's just boring. Several months into it, I'm still getting used to it, especially since I had resigned myself to never trying dyes again.

Now I feel compelled to protect my hair even further, not just by using natural dyes, but also in using natural treatments to my hair to help it grow long and beautiful again. Who knows, maybe I'll donate it again! Either way, I feel like I have a "look," something different, and it suits my personality. I don't know if I'll keep it forever, but I just might.

[atina]

I hennaed because i had previously 4 yrs ago had to cut my hair v short due to bleach damage i had used jerome russell really strong stuff ! and although i used a less strong blonde dye years later it was making my head hot and itchy, i was looking for an alternative herbal dye when i came across this site so i hennaed it and love the colour and condition of my hair know :D I am also going grey which i dont want and henna suites me great stuff for my hair anyway :D

[MerryKat]

I was auburn as a child and teenager. Unfortunately with each preganancy more of my colour faded to a medium brown with coppery highlights (and now lots of silver sparkles). I had henna applied to redden my aubern in my 20's but it was very expensive to have done in a salon so I stopped once I got married.

When I found LHC it was one of the things that very quickly got my attention. I tried some locally available henna, but it was obviously old or bad as I got no colour change. I then imported some and loved it for a while. But the straight henna went to burgundy for me and I stopped for about 18 months.

Then I read about the henna / cassia / chamomile mix that Nightshade does and I just had to try it as that copper colour is exactly what I want. I loved the result, but hated the mess of applying and the smell and the difficulty combining it with NW.

I have this terror of ending up in my 60's with a skunk stripe to grow out between white and copper, so I have made the decision to grow out my natural colour with silver sparkles and never have to deal with the skunk stripe.

I have used the honey lightening a couple of times and it has removed the bulk of the henna from my roots, but the ends to a degree and a band in the middle are still very copper (especially in the sun).

I look forward to growing and cutting all of the copper out, but will enjoy it till then.

Long story short I love the colour but hate the effort, smell and non-compatability with NW so I will just admire the henna on others.

[EtherealOde]

Since color is one of the benefits, then it is totally about the benefits for me. :) My hair was damaged from bleaching/coloring my hair blonde to hide my progressively increasing grey strands. The problem was the color didn't really suit me. I was born a redhead, but it had dulled as I got older to a brownish tone with reddish highlights and a hellish amount of grey. My natural coloration is better suited to red than blonde, so henna fixed two problems I had. It fixed the damage from the bleaching quite a bit, and while not as perfect as gently treated virgin hair would be it still looks pretty good considering it's past abuse. And it also gave me a lovely color, mainly because before I used it I read Nightshade's article. I ended up going with something close to her formula (1/3 henna 2/3 cassia because it was easier to do the math) and was really pleased with the results. I ended up doing a second full head treatment to darken the first one a bit more, and love the resulting color even more. After a few days for the bozo clown hair orange to oxidize it has settled into a great copper color that makes me smile every time I look at it.

So if you ask me, color is most definitely one of the benefits, although the primary reason was to strengthen my hair and repair previous damage.

[Norai]

My natural color is an icky grey-brown-blond that doesn't stand out at all. I didn't want to use chemicals and I didn't want to deal with henndigo (I'm sure I'd accidentally make my hair black at some point on accident going for brown).

[Eden Iris]

I first used henna years ago because I was tired of the smell of chemical dye. I used Light Mountain and was not thrilled with the results or the condition of my hair, although the color was nice.

Then I came here and discovered all the things I'd done wrong (combing it through all the way to my scalp led to a halo of broken hairs; also, it needed more conditioning -- removing the henna with SMT fixed that).

Now I use Yemeni henna from HennaSooq, alternating full head and yogurt gloss. Benefits: gorgeous color, strength, shine. My white hairs disappear, but I don't care much about them, so that's not so much a benefit as an amusing experiment (what color will they turn? how much white can I grow and still camouflage it among the auburn?).

[Monsterkitti]

I heard about henna via the shop LUSH while shopping years ago :) I was hooked for a few years then completely forgot about it till I joined LHC :)

I use it mainly for conditioning and strengthening my ends which are still damaged from previous straightener frying. I also love the dark red colour I have on my ends where I apply the henna fading to my natural brown roots :)

[twilight_faerie]

I am not a fan of my natural medium brown color. It is, in a word, boring. So I started dyeing it with chemical dyes when I was 14. I never used the same color twice; always a different shade of red, trying to find a color I really like, never with any luck. I think I was around 18 or 19 when I first read about henna, but didn't use it right away because I'd also read about the horrors of how henna can ruin your hair. Eventually I declared poppycock to that and decided to use henna anyway. I thought that maybe henna would give me the deep red (not auburn, but actually RED) that I'd always wanted. It didn't, but I decided to keep using it anyway, because it's natural, and because I figured with enough tweaking maybe I'd eventually get the red I so desired. To this day, I still haven't gotten the red I want, but I haven't given up. Maybe someday.

[melrose1985]

Because my ends were damaged.. and i like red hair.

[lovebug]

I had dyed my hair red since I was 13. Red hair is a big part of who I am.

In June 2008 I was in the middle of a big crisis and for some reason decided to go bottle blonde. The blonde version of me did not have more fun, plus my hair was badly damaged afterwards. I wanted it do be red again, but was scared of taking another box color again. Henna felt like a good idea and turned out it actually was :) Now it´s just henna for these locks!

[GlassEyes]

I fried my hair with bleach, and I wanted a quick fix. xD

I didn't really do it for color, though I did lighten my hair with honey rather dramatically before that. >.> I was curious how it'd turn out. I still had to cut off the damage, but it stopped it from possibly melting off! :D

[Aisha25]

I think I do it cause im addicted to it lol seriously I just love the feel of my hair after I wash the henna out :lol:

[Medievalhair]

Well I used have a friend that I went to church with and she had red curly hair. I wanted her hair so badly. After finding out that I am Irish, and testing out how red would look on me.

At 18 I decided I would dye my hair red and I love it, the way it feels after its washed out, the way it smells. I especially love the color I get, because when the sun lightens it, it looks really pretty and matience is pretty low.

[JamieRose]

Because I was using reddish black chemical dye before anyways, and it was trashing my hair....
Now I get the color I love with the added benefits of shine, thickness, and softness. I love henna!!!

[gibsongirl71]

I have wavy hair and it was never very shiny. My regular color is a medium brown with auburn highlights. I was using straight henna for a while but have switched to a henna/alma/indigo mix. I love it! It has given my hair shine and strength. The whole henna process is like a ceremony. I still don't care for the smell all that much but I can deal with it.

[Fiferstone]

I do it because I love the way it looks (a subtle Auburn, not burgundy or purple), and I love the way it has improved the condition and strength of my hair. I used to use L'Oreal Excellece or Preference in light auburn, but over time I realized that it was in fact damaging my hair. With LUSH henna, I can do my hair every 2 months and know the result is going to be consistent. Once I have more grey than my natural light/medium brown, I'll have a decision to make, but for now, I'm liking what henna does very much.