Help with Henna!!!!!

[pes3108]

I am new to the whole henna scene, where can I buy it and how do I go about using it? I started dying my naturally light brown hair with boxed red dyes about 2 years ago. In the past year, my naturally curly hair is become a lot frizzier and thinner and I think (know!!!) it is because of the boxed dyes. I haven't used a permanent dye in months, but have been trying to maintain my color and keep my roots from becoming too obvious by the occasional semi permanent color. I am really interested in henna after reading about it on here but have no clue where I can get it, how the colors work, and what to do with it. Please help!!!

[SilverMcFly17]

Oh I have so many questions about henna too! I'll be watching this thread intently. I would have to post a pic or 2 to have someone tell me what I need and where. But I'm going to piggyback the knowledge from here. :D

[Auburn_locks]

There is absolutely loads of info about henna in the 'Recipes, Henna and Herbal Haircare' area of the forums. I suggest you check it out for answers to every question you could ever think of!

I'm actually very similar to you - been dying mine box dye red for about 4 years but noticing some major damage now. Some of the main, basic things that I've learnt about henna over the last few months is that:

1. Henna is PERMINANT as in you will likely have to grow it out and cut it off if you decide you want a change. Some people have had success with bleach, but if you're not sure you want to be a redhead for quite a while then you might as well stick with semi-perminants, perminants or vegetable dyes like manic panic.

2. Watch out for heat styling - some of the lovely henna-heads on here have noticed that henna darkens with use of heat on the hair. I'm sure you can get away with occassional use or warm blydrying, but if you want a vibrant red-orange from your henna then it might be worth holding back on the heat.

3. Make sure you ONLY use body art quality (BAQ) henna on your hair, not the 'for hair' stuff. That sounds odd, but non-BAQ henna may contain metallic pigments or other nasties which may cause your hair to turn a swampy green if used over chemical colour or if bleach or chemical colour is used over the top. Not good!

4. Strand tests! Collect loose hairs from hairbrushes, drains (ew I know :p) and anywhere else it happens to come out and put some henna on it and keep it warm in a pocket or something to see what colour you are likely to get. This will help make sure you'll be happy with the shade you get and give you a chance to tweak your mix before putting it all over your head.


To answer your questions: I buy mine online at henna-boy.co.uk as I live in the UK but Hennasooq, Henna hut and Hennaforhair are also reputable sources of BAQ henna. You can also get it from some Indian grocers if you have one nearby (make sure it is BAQ though). As far as I know, the colour works by binding with the keratin in your hair, hence the perminancy of it. It will add a red sheen in the sun and under bright lights if you have dark hair or with lighter hair it will add an orange-red colour to the hair which can turn to a rich burgandy with repeated use.

To mix it up, add warm water, tea or lemon juice (although this can be drying) to make a thick muddy paste the consistency of yoghurt. You then slather it on thikly from root to tip and make sure you wear gloves (remember, it is henna!)

I hope some of that helps and make sure you head over to the herbal haircare section as there is vast amounts of info there including adding indigo to make brown and black hair and adding cassia to make it more of an orangey red as well as how long to leave your henna to dye release, how long to leave it on your hair and the best way to get it out!

[Auburn_locks]

By the way, if you're interested my last henna mix was:

100g jamila henna
Warm spiced chai tea (enough to make a thickish paste)

I left it to dye release for about 7 hours (although I think I probably should have left it a lot less, maybe 2-4 hours) then applied on damp, washed hair and left it on for 5 hours.

To get it out I drew a medium-shallow bath, laid down so all my hair was underwater and shook from side to side gently. The water goes a lovely shade of mud-brown. Yum. Then I rinsed the rest out with the bath shower-head. No need to re-shampoo :)

[mrs_coffee]

My daughter and I both use Henna Sooq and love the results. As Auburn Locks said, there is tons of henna info in the henna section of the forum. You can also find good info on the Henna Sooq site and also on the Henna For Hair site.

http://www.hennasooq.com/
http://www.hennaforhair.com/

There is a great thread in the Henna section called "Show me your hennaed hair" or something like that where you can see the results people have gotten from different strains and brands of henna.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=2963&highlight=show

[pes3108]

Thank you ladies both so much for the great info!!!!
@ Auburn_locks... I didn't realize that henna was permanent... so I guess that if I was gradually trying to get back to my natural color, henna wouldn't be the way to go. Since I've been using the semi-permanents, the line between my virgin hair and colored hair is a lot less noticeable and my ends are becoming honey blonde again! Does henna fade as quickly as regular dye??

[Alvrodul]

Assume the color is there to stay! For some the first couple of applications may fade, especially if the henna is diluted, like in a henna gloss (when you mix an amount of the mud with conditioner and apply it for a subtle effect.) But never count on it!

[pes3108]

Oooooh, gotcha! Thank you Alvrodul!!