To henna or not to henna?

[animetor7]

I only ever do henna glosses, but I make them fairly thick/concentrated and have never noticed any dryness from hennaing. Some things to note:

It is recommended to henna on damp hair, and just like with a dye uptake will be better if your hair is freshly washed (even if the uptake is different with henna than with a traditional dye). And find that although I henna for the extra thickness it gives my fine strands and easier detangling, not color, I still find it works best when I use my henna gloss on freshly washed hair as though it were a moisture treatment.
Henna glosses rather than straight henna can be a good way to avoid the dryness that some can experience with henna. You may not need as much in the way of moisturizing treatments if your hair is protein deficient as it is easy for protein deficient hair to become over moisturized and "mushy".
I can't speak to doing roots only as I only ever do glosses, and have auburn hair anyway so my hennaed hair isn't a vastly different color than virgin hair for me, but I'd recommend checking out the henna thread for information.
Lastly, DO NOT henna if you're unsure, there are ways of removing it, but they are difficult and not guaranteed. If it's a protein treatment you're after there are products specifically designed to help with that, and plain coconut oil can help too.
Good luck whatever you decide, and smart idea to strand test!

[Ana H.]

I used Henna for years. I loved it because it did help condition and strengthen my hair. It did however pull out a bit of my wave pattern and thicken up my hair, which for me was not an issue. I have actually stopped using it though. My hair has is very low porouristy, despite being fine, so is hard to dye, Henna has been one of the only dyes to ever stick to my hair. So My lighter colored hair never was able to achieve the burgundy tones that would have done better with my cool skin tone. Years of trying many different types and brands always faded back to the copper penny orange within a week. So Make sure you strand test! I hope you the best of luck!

Thanks for the info. I love the idea of thicker and stronger hair! And luckily, copper is what I’m going for. =) It will be my first time ever coloring my hair. I’m sorry you weren’t able to achieve the burgundy you were after.

I only ever do henna glosses, but I make them fairly thick/concentrated and have never noticed any dryness from hennaing. Some things to note:

It is recommended to henna on damp hair, and just like with a dye uptake will be better if your hair is freshly washed (even if the uptake is different with henna than with a traditional dye). And find that although I henna for the extra thickness it gives my fine strands and easier detangling, not color, I still find it works best when I use my henna gloss on freshly washed hair as though it were a moisture treatment.
Henna glosses rather than straight henna can be a good way to avoid the dryness that some can experience with henna. You may not need as much in the way of moisturizing treatments if your hair is protein deficient as it is easy for protein deficient hair to become over moisturized and "mushy".
I can't speak to doing roots only as I only ever do glosses, and have auburn hair anyway so my hennaed hair isn't a vastly different color than virgin hair for me, but I'd recommend checking out the henna thread for information.
Lastly, DO NOT henna if you're unsure, there are ways of removing it, but they are difficult and not guaranteed. If it's a protein treatment you're after there are products specifically designed to help with that, and plain coconut oil can help too.
Good luck whatever you decide, and smart idea to strand test!

Thank you for these helpful tips. The only thing I was unsure about was whether the FutureDerm article was right about henna being damaging to hair and making it “impossible to condition". Now that my fears have been allayed I am excited! And yes my hair has the mushy problem (despite being completely virgin) so I am hoping to experience some of the strengthening benefits. Even ApHogee protein treatments don’t last the full six weeks on me. I think I’m going to get some cheap henna to try on my cosmetology mannequin first just to boost my confidence about the application process.