Henna Thread, take two

**Tisiloves** · June 18th, 2012, 06:10 AM

Originally Posted by bubastis

hello everyone!

I'm new here,and dying to get to those 25 posts so I can look around a bit more ;-)

I've just done my first henna a week ago and was amazed at the difference it has already made in my hair! I'm a natural blonde but I've been dyeing black for 14 years,so needless to say my hair has become very damaged and thin. I've decided to grow it out but instead of going virgin I'm going to use henna. After only one application (I did leave it on for 8 hours) it's already softer and shinier,and it seems somehow stronger as well. I sure hope this continues to improve with subsequent applications :-D

Awesome! Are you doing straight henna red or do you hennindigo?

**bubastis** · June 18th, 2012, 06:32 AM

I just went for the straight henna for now...I'll see how that goes as the regrowth gets longer. Have no idea how ridiculous red roots and black lenghts will look :-)
I didnt have enough hair for a strand test either,but I did test indigo over henna on (dont laugh) some shed hair of one of my white cats and it turned a weird looking greenish brown :-)

I know,I know,but having six cats its nice to find something useful to do with all that hair :-p

**Tisiloves** · June 18th, 2012, 06:34 AM

Originally Posted by bubastis

I just went for the straight henna for now...I'll see how that goes as the regrowth gets longer. Have no idea how ridiculous red roots and black lenghts will look :-)
I didnt have enough hair for a strand test either,but I did test indigo over henna on (dont laugh) some shed hair of one of my white cats and it turned a weird looking greenish brown :-)

I know,I know,but having six cats its nice to find something useful to do with all that hair :-p

I think I might stuff a matress with the amount my longhair sheds. There was a member on here who grew out from black to red and it looked really good, like reverse ombre, so waiting and seeing might be best.

**bubastis** · June 18th, 2012, 06:40 AM

that's what I was thinking too :-)
I need to get it redder though,because orange and black really dont go that well together... A friend of mine gets hers really red by using henna with sodium picramate in it. From what I understand it's not damaging to your hair,but I'm still a bit scared to use it. For my next henna I might mix some of it through my regular henna to dilute it a bit.

**Tisiloves** · June 18th, 2012, 06:54 AM

Originally Posted by bubastis

that's what I was thinking too :-)
I need to get it redder though,because orange and black really dont go that well together... A friend of mine gets hers really red by using henna with sodium picramate in it. From what I understand it's not damaging to your hair,but I'm still a bit scared to use it. For my next henna I might mix some of it through my regular henna to dilute it a bit.

If you do multiple applications/leave it longer it will get darker/redder.

**bubastis** · June 18th, 2012, 10:14 AM

I know,but the problem is my natural colour is such a light blonde that it would take ages to get to the shade I want. And then I'd still have to deal with orange roots every month.that's why I'm thinking of diluting the picramate henna,at least until most of the black lenght has grown out...which at this rate,will be in a year or two

**Neecola** · June 18th, 2012, 12:27 PM

Originally Posted by bubastis

I know,but the problem is my natural colour is such a light blonde that it would take ages to get to the shade I want. And then I'd still have to deal with orange roots every month.that's why I'm thinking of diluting the picramate henna,at least until most of the black lenght has grown out...which at this rate,will be in a year or two

What about the red raj over at hennasooq? It has a very high lawsone percent and you may only have to do one or two treatments to get the color you want.

**RitaCeleste** · June 18th, 2012, 01:28 PM

Red Raj is the one I used. I got a lot of color in five hours. I imagine if you leave it on longer, you could get pretty dark with a few applications.

**saffy2yrs** · June 18th, 2012, 06:57 PM

I just bought 300g of henna, and can't wait for the weekend. I plan to do my first henna (first color ever) on Saturday so it is mostly oxidized before work on Monday.

**saffy2yrs** · June 19th, 2012, 08:38 PM

I was wondering how long Henna has to be on hair to give its benefits. I see threads where people leave it on for 6 hours or so for the color, but does it enhance the strengthening benefits? I was only going to leave it on for 2 hours for a first henna, but if longer is better, then I would see how long I can stand it on my head.