Have I bought indigo, henna, a henndigo mix or something else?

[Becky9679]

I was in a health food shop today and saw a brown paper bag labelled "black henna". This was also listed as the only ingredient. It says it is from India.

I know there is no such thing as 'black henna', but I bought it because it was fairly cheap (£4.38 for a 500g bag), and because it has a 'use-by' date which leads me to assume it's not some horrible chemical. I did ask in the store if it was actually indigo and the assistant said they weren't sure but that it is probably a henna-indigo mix.

Is there a test I can do to work out exactly what it is and therefore how I'm supposed to use it? I've never used either henna or indigo before! I know that there are different rules for dye release and how long it should be left on your hair depending on whether you're using indigo, henna or a mix. There are no instructions on the bag either!!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks

[FluffSpider]

The best-before date doesn't mean it hasn't got any chemicals.
Harvest hair from a brush, and experiment with that. To ensure the (almost) lack of any bad chemicals, pour dye developer over the dyed strands. You can tell what it is by the stain it leaves, esp. on blonde hair(ask for some from a friend?): henna will leave orange, indigo blue/green, and a mix will be probably something brown/burgundy.
Good luck and please don't slush it on your head before taking all the precautions!

[akuamoonmaui]

Be very careful! Check out the henna threads here. A lot of the "black", "brown", "neutral" hennas have metallic dyes and make a really big, permanent mess of your hair. I'd see if you could get your money back and go with a reputable company. One of the mantras for henna is "know your ingredients".

[Becky9679]

Well I've done a couple of tests and I don't think it's a chemical dye, I think it probably is real indigo but either a bad batch or mixed with a bulking agent. I mixed and used it in the way that you're supposed to with indigo (add a little water and wait a few minutes for dye release) and used it on some shed hair from a brush. It had no effect at all and there wasn't any blue dye seeping out as in this page http://www.hennaforhair.com/indigo/, it just stayed in a green lump! However when I washed out the plastic bowl I used there was a slight blue stain on the inside.

In any case I've decided not to use it, I'll stick with online suppliers that know the correct names for products!