Can I henna my grays/whites strawberry blond?

[Zoui]

I have dark brown BSL hair with red undertones. I like my natural colour, but I have a lot of greys/whites these days and don't like them.

If I mix henna and cassia, does this produce a strawberry blonde colour on my greys? (My backup plan is hendigo if i can't get them to strawberry blonde.)

Can someone give advice on the ratio of henna:cassia? :confused:

I'm also worried how well I'll get henna to stick to my grays. My goal would be to get my grays look like highlights. I already naturally have light golden/reddish highlights (love what the sun does to my hair!:)).

I have a few photos of my hair in my profile page but I'm afraid they're really poor quality ie. you can't really see my real haircolour or the grays at all :(. I'll try to take some better pictures later but for now I don't have a camera.

Thanx if someone can help!

[ladydiane818]

I don't know about cassia, but henna sticks to my grays just perfectly. I used straight up henna, and my grays now look like copper-auburn highlights.

[Zoui]

Hi, ladydiane! Do you use BAQ henna? I understand from what I'veread here that it gives the best results?

edit: Oh, I looked at your profile pics and you told there what henna you use:) You got really nice auburnish highlights!

[Zoui]

Found this thread about strawberry blonde...
http://www.longhaircommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51410

... but it doesn't say anything about the results on grey hair.

[Dolly]

I use Celebration henna from Mehandi.com, and my grays go cherry red.....I can't pick that up very well in photos, but in person, they are gorgeous......

[ladydiane818]

Thanks! My pictures were taken on the day after I did my henna. Since then, it has gotten a little bit more cherry/auburn, a little darker, and less orange.

I used Nupur, which is actually a blend of henna and other Indian herbs, mixed with chamomile tea and lemon.

Maybe you should try a gloss first? They don't deposit as much color as a full blown henna.

Have you read the free e-book from Henna For Hair? There are a lot of good pictures of what shade you get from different mixes of henna, indigo, cassia, and amla. I would check it out.

[Zoui]

@Dolly: Cherry red sounds gorgeous. It's just that I haven't hennaed before and I'm not ready to plunge straight into strong, vibrant colours. I want to start as light as possible first.

@ladydiane: Thank you for the tip, I'll check the e-book right away.

[ladydiane818]

Then I would highly recommend a henna gloss first and a strand test. It doesn't get any more permanent than henna!

[GlassWidow]

As I understand it, in terms of hair, the big difference between BAQ and not-BAQ is that the stain can be much deeper in color with BAQ; this is because the "for hair" henna may be an older crop. I am rather fond of Jamila for Hair, though I would never be able to use it for mehndi. The "for hair" henna may also not be as finely ground as BAQ henna.

I think the suggestion of a henna gloss to start is a good one. It might give you the color you're looking for, and it will definitely give you great shine!

[Nae]

I have a streak of white/gray in my hair. I have hennaed over it. I used Yemeni henna in the past and am now using Celebration henna. You can see the results of multiple applications in my signature picture. If you want to see how it looked after the first application those shots should be in my album.

[Zoui]

Thanks for the reply, GlassWidow and Nae! I guess I'll try a gloss first and see if it sticks to my stubborn grays. Henna, (cassia) and conditioner? Well, have to read more on glosses... I got interested in copper shade, too... I'll post pics, definitely, before and after.

@Nae: your henna streak looked great both grey and hennaed.

[blackcatw81]

Yes, you can ^^;;

Try mixes with more cassia than lawsonia (henna).

Weeks ago I applied a residual henna paste composed of:
100gr lawsonia
2 tbsp cassia
1 tbsp tumeric
honey
to which I added more cassia, and my white roots became golden O_O; the color faded very little after a shampoo; then I prepared a mix with 1:1 cassia:lawsonia ratio, and they became slightly more orange than before but in the yellow-orange range anyway.

[Nae]

@Nae: your henna streak looked great both grey and hennaed.

Aww thanks, you are so sweet!! :o

[Catia]

I second blackcatw81 on this one too.

Straight Cassia can be used to get a gold tone on white/light hair, but I believe there is a different process to extracting that color vs using it as a conditioning treatment.

It all depends on exactly how strawberry you want your blonde but I'd be very cautious with adding henna in too much, too fast.

I'm sorry I can't tell you more but I highly recommend checking out Henna for Hair forum at forums.hennapage.com

One member (I think her name is Megumi) has her natural salon on FB and there are lots of photos of different processes including Cassia for blonde (on white hair).

HTH ;)

[csm--carla]

My hair is white... and I, like you, wanted to make it strawberry blond using a bit of henna and mostly cassia.


Unfortunately, until the mixture got to 50:50 there wasn't enough henna to penetrate my color resistant roots. I use Yemeni Henna from Henna Sooq. This leaves a lot of red in the hair.

So now I have red hair--flaming red! But I'm happy with it.

I did hate to let go of my dream of strawberry blond hair--but there was just no way....I highly recommend that you experiment with coloring hair samples before jumping in with both feet. There's no going back.

Good luck with this!

Carla

[jeanniet]

If you have stubborn grays, I highly recommend doing some strand testing first, and start with a gloss. My experience with stubborn grays is that henna will stick to them, but other things (indigo, especially) may not. If you have very dark hair, your grays will be a coppery orange that you might not like. Multiple applications tone it down to a color that blends well with my hair, but I'm still trying to figure out how to tone down my roots since those are a single henna application and don't blend in as well. Even a two-step henna/indigo doesn't stick to my stubborn grays (grrrr), so I'm about to do some experimentation with buxus to see if that works better.

[Dolly]

If you have stubborn grays, I highly recommend doing some strand testing first, and start with a gloss. My experience with stubborn grays is that henna will stick to them, but other things (indigo, especially) may not. If you have very dark hair, your grays will be a coppery orange that you might not like. Multiple applications tone it down to a color that blends well with my hair, but I'm still trying to figure out how to tone down my roots since those are a single henna application and don't blend in as well. Even a two-step henna/indigo doesn't stick to my stubborn grays (grrrr), so I'm about to do some experimentation with buxus to see if that works better.


Have you tried Celebration henna? I get a cherry red with ONE application on my grays.....and they are about as resistant and obnoxious as can be (LOL)......you may want to give it a shot!

[jeanniet]

I haven't tried Celebration, so maybe I'll give it a whirl. :D I've done hendigo (one step), two step, and Rainbow so far. Two step does the best, but even that doesn't stick much and it fades pretty quickly--and two step is way too much of a pain to keep up if the results are only so-so. I really like the conditioning effect of henna, and if I only had a few grays color wouldn't be an issue, but with as many grays as I have I just need to tone it down a bit. Thanks for letting me know about Celebration!

[CrisDee]

My opinion, based on my own experience, is that an 80/20 cassia/henna ratio would produce the strawberry blonde color you're going for on your grays. I am going for more of a coppery Irish red, so I use a 50/50 mix; you can see my color in my avatar and in my albums. But don't do repeated applications of henna, even with a gloss, or it'll darken to a winey burgundy that to me doesn't look natural. Found that out the hard way. If you like the color result, do roots-only after the first application.

[GRU]

My opinion, based on my own experience, is that an 80/20 cassia/henna ratio would produce the strawberry blonde color you're going for on your grays.

CrisDee is spot-on. I use about an 80/20 mix of cassia/henna, and my grays turn strawberry blonde. My grays are generally color-resistant... tried using a box dye years ago and my grays were still white but my natural strawberry-blonde turned red. :rolleyes:

My main reason for coloring is my Paulie Walnuts temples (http://images.forbes.com/media/2007/05/30/sopranos_5.jpg) -- I don't have so much gray throughout my head, but my temples are just :blueeek: without the cassia/henna!!!

[Intotouch]

Hi. I used the Surya henna blond on my greys and got a light strawberry blond. It washed away too quickly though. After a few weeks they looked white again. But your hair may have more luck.

[GRU]

Hi. I used the Surya henna blond on my greys and got a light strawberry blond. It washed away too quickly though. After a few weeks they looked white again. But your hair may have more luck.

Sounds like you used CASSIA instead of HENNA -- there is no such thing as "blond henna", but lots of people call cassia "blond henna" anyway.

Cassia is not permanent, it washes out in about a month. Real henna, however, is permanent. If you want a longer-lasting color, try mixing 80% cassia with 20% henna.

[CrisDee]

... my Paulie Walnuts temples (http://images.forbes.com/media/2007/05/30/sopranos_5.jpg) --...


Snort!! :rollin:

[GRU]

Snort!! :rollin:

I swear, CD, it's downright SCARY! :blueeek: