the cons of henna/indigo

[jadelouise]

i have been chemically dying my hair black for around 5 years now, i love the colour but hate the fact i use chemicals. my roots are starting to come through now and im seriously considering using indigo.

however, i understand it doesnt kill your hair like chemical dyes, i just wanted to know, other than being super permanent, are there any other pros/cons to using henna/indigo?

how will it affect my hair in other ways, etc? & photos of resulting colour would be helpful as well.

thankyou x

[jadelouise]

oh and how tricky is the procedure/how long does it take? and how badly does the colour run afterwards? x

[maborosi]

I did a two step process several times. If you're completely sure you want black hair, this is a great way to do it. The only cons for me:

-It didin't smell too good
-Indigo had a harder time sticking to my hair than henna
-If I didn't oil my hair beforehand, it tended to dry my hair

But it's overall a good option. Make sure you rinse really really well, otherwise it will stain everything for several days- it'd be a good idea to sleep with a towel underneath you those first few times ^^

~maborosi~

[jadelouise]

I did a two step process several times. If you're completely sure you want black hair, this is a great way to do it. The only cons for me:

-It didin't smell too good
-Indigo had a harder time sticking to my hair than henna
-If I didn't oil my hair beforehand, it tended to dry my hair

But it's overall a good option. Make sure you rinse really really well, otherwise it will stain everything for several days- it'd be a good idea to sleep with a towel underneath you those first few times ^^

~maborosi~

awesome :) thankyou, sounds good to me! :D

[maborosi]

No problem! ^^

~maborosi~

[jadelouise]

oh and how long did you leave it to develop for? x

[pink.sara]

It's more expensive than box dye, it can be really drying, I had to leave the henna for about 6 hours then the indigo for the same time to work so it takes a whole day.
It didn't stick until the 4th full head application.
Then it wouldn't come back out without lots of colour B4 and several bleachings. It's left a tiny green tinge that mean Ill never be able to get back to blonde.

I won't go there again. Even though henna is strengthening.

[jillosity]

How light is your natural hair color? From my own experience, I can say that on my light/medium auburn hair (that had been hennaed using Lush Caca in Marron) it took several very long applications to get somewhere even close to black. The water is very very hard here and I think that contributed some to the ever present greenish tint I always had. I had to apply for 4 hours at least (sometimes as long as 6 hours) , and the smell was sometimes not so pleasant. I used Light Mountain Black (which I don't recommend!) and over the course of 5 months I did about 8 applications.

I didn't mind the long application time or the smell so much when it finally got black. And while I knew it was really permanent, what I didn't know until it was too late was that my new growth would take the henndigo completely differently than my hennaed hair. I ended up with a very stark band of jet black hair and then the hennaed length would be black for about a week then fade to very dark ashy brown, with a bit of greenness.

I think 2 stepping might take care of that issue, but it is really really hard to remove if you change your mind about black hair, or get tired of the upkeep. I found that I could not remove it, and I tried near everything multiple times! I think removal is easier if you've used some conventional dyes, but it's just a theory of mine. There are lots of henndigo removal threads, so you might read a few of those to get an idea of what people do to try and remove it.

I did find it a tad drying, moreso than the henna I had been using, but Lush Cacas are practically a gloss. I think it seemed more drying simply because it sat on my head so long and required long rinsing.

Ironically, I used henndigo because I wanted to avoid chemical dyes too, and honestly I wish I'd used Manic Panic or something like that! But, YMMV!

[jojo]

I have used hendigo twice in my life ( I also had chemical dyes and henna on) and using indigo is my worst ever mistake, it stuck to my hair like glue. It did make my hair feel and look nice but getting it out, self surgery for removing a kidney would have been easier. I did manage eventually but I'd never recommend indigo unless you have naturally dark hair to start with!

Grab a dye box much less hassle and you have more chance of removing it should you want to!

[akilina]

I cant even really read your post. Its small and the font is weird :/

I love using henna. It is about the same price for me.

A box of the hair dye I use is 8 dollars, then the developer can range from 3 to 8.
One bag of henna is about 8 or 9 and lasts me two applications.
The "developer" is just water.
Doing a two step henna then indigo would take up a lot of time in a day.
And, you have to use henna for the indigo to stick.
I think you will find lots of luck in the henna and herbal hair care sub forum.

[prettykitty]

I think for me the biggest con of indigo is that it stuck like glue for me...my colour is really a bit darker than I'd like. But when I was using henna only, it was really a bit too red :shrug:

[Marcellaa]

I have only used henna

Pros:
* Great color
* Very good for your hair
* Cheap (I pay 16 euros for 800 grams of good quality henna)
* Color hardly fades

Cons:
* The smell
* The mess
* Time consuming (that's why I leave it in overnight, saves time during the day)

[spirals]

Marcellaa, when you hennindigo overnight, how do you keep it from getting all over your sheets? Are you a still sleeper? I'm very restless, and I'm afraid a cap/towel/whatever would slip off.

[Marcellaa]

Marcellaa, when you hennindigo overnight, how do you keep it from getting all over your sheets? Are you a still sleeper? I'm very restless, and I'm afraid a cap/towel/whatever would slip off.I have a towel wrapped around my head and another one around my pillow. I wait for the dripping to stop before I go to sleep.
But yes, I am a still sleeper. One time I slept over at a friends house and we were in the same bed. The next morning she said: "I thought you were dead! You lay completely still the entire night!"
:D

[Unofficial_Rose]

The henndigo colour can get very saturated and non-dimensional looking and if you yearn for a little variation you cannot lighten a few strands around your face (or anywhere else, obv.) without them going green - as others have said.

It was very conditioning for me but it did weigh my hair down in clumps, so I ended up wearing it up all the time. Unlike others my brown hair just eats the stuff up. I ended up with black hair by accident using an indigo gloss for an hour.

[Loviatar]

Pros:

Natural.
Cheap.
Great growth and thickness and shine benefits.
Feels good to be treating myself in this way.
I like the smell - I am a weirdo :)

Cons:
Takes forever - I henna overnight then indigo the next morning.
Can't be bleached out. I tried once and ruined my hair.
Indigo can be itchy for some. I find rinsing and shampooing well cuts this, but indigo sticks on my hair like nothing else. Shampooing can pull some of the colour out.
Sitting around with drippy mud on your head sucks!

[Mayflower]

PROS
- permanent
- looks way better than box dyed hair IMO
- the shine is amazing
- added strenght and thickness
- way less split ends for me
- for most people

CONS
- permanent (though after some months it does fade a bit on me)
- can dry the hair out for some
- smells horrible and you have to deal with mud on your head for a few hours

[Arashi]

In my experience:

- It reeks
- It's a huge hassle compared to box dye
- Indigo is very temperamental.. if you are starting with light hair and the indigo decides it doesn't want to stick, you might end up with flaming orange roots
- Even if you can get the indigo to stick, it's often inclined to fade or never really reach a true black in the first place (think orangey brown black, or just orangey brown)
- It's very messy, more so than straight up henna
- Did I mention it reeks?

Okay, it sounds like I'm really against henna and indigo.. :p I'm not, if you can get it to work for you I think it's great. As for me, I speak from experience as someone with natural dark blonde hair who tried many times to use two-step henna and indigo to get black hair and almost always ended up with orangey brown at the roots. These days, now that I'm going for a less stark black color, I tried a one-step henndigo for a dark reddish brown and the indigo hardly stuck at all. I've pretty much sworn off it by this point. I still love the benefits of henna though, so I do straight hennas in between box dye.

I will note that I've seen lovely results on many other people who use two-step henna and indigo, but I think my lighter natural hair color was working against me when I was trying for black with it. YMMV. :)

[mawiwala]

Don't like the smell and it is time consuming. And the tiny hairs on my forehead are always quite orange after a dye.

But the pros outweight the cons.

My hair is much stronger now. My pony tail needs a bigger Flexi-8 now.
The color is great and the shine amazing. And it stays, not like with other dyes. And the coloring is so different in different lights.
And even if directly after dyeing my hair is dry, the nest time I wash, my hair is amazing. I'm getting very much compliments for the color.

[jadelouise]

thankyou everyone!

im not worried about it being super permanent, i know i'll want to stay black permanently...but it does sounds like a LOT of hassle... how damaging would it be to just chemical dye my roots every 4 months or so, just the roots... so there's no build up?

x