Henna on 50%+ gray hair

**melesine** · November 14th, 2013, 10:29 AM

How do I decide if I should 2 step or just hendigo? There isn't an issue with doing henna only and then if I don't like it doing hendigo? I just think with all the gray I have at the roots and then the brown colored ends it will look like I have a red skunk stripe LOL.

I have a good 1/2 inch of regrowth and I'm thinking about getting henna, indigo and amla from henna sooq and do some test strands.

Oh and I am concerned about maintaining my natural wave.

**Anje** · November 14th, 2013, 10:34 AM

Originally Posted by melesine

How do I decide if I should 2 step or just hendigo? There isn't an issue with doing henna only and then if I don't like it doing hendigo? I just think with all the gray I have at the roots and then the brown colored ends it will look like I have a red skunk stripe LOL.

I have a good 1/2 inch of regrowth and I'm thinking about getting henna, indigo and amla from henna sooq and do some test strands.

Oh and I am concerned about maintaining my natural wave.

Best course of action, just to be safe, would be to do strand tests before any of it touches your head. That's particularly true if you're picky about the color.

But there's no reason why you can't henna first, then switch to henndigo. Just realize that the permanence, particularly of indigo, varies tremendously. Many people find it fades, a few people find it won't ever fade, and many find that if they apply peroxide to hair that apparently hadn't had all the indigo trimmed off, it goes greenish. It's sort of fiddly, but things like overlapping root touchups tend to be very forgiving.

**AmyBeth** · November 14th, 2013, 10:45 AM

I must do a two step process wherein I use henna/amla for three hours, then a smaller amount of henna with indigo and buxus. The first step is done to give a base color for the indigo to grab, because my greys are very resistant. I tried a one step and absolutely nothing happened. The second step is henna, indigo and buxus to create a brown, instead of the orange that the first step creates. I found this process on the forums at hennaforhair. I have found this to be very conditioning and thickening to my hair and I do like it. But to my tastes, it is still too red and I use a Manic Panic/conditioning gloss over the first two steps and I then achieve the brown I really like. It takes me 5-6 hours to do it all, but I used to spend almost that much time in the salon letting someone else use chemical colors. I did lots and lots of strand testing before I committed to this process. It's really the only way you can know for sure what you are going to achieve. You are the only one with your hair. If I could get my result with only one step, I'd gladly save myself some time and trouble. I'm just glad I get a result that pleases me, is healthy for my hair, and is nicely cost effective. No grey and no orange

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**melesine** · November 14th, 2013, 12:25 PM

Ok 2 step with hendigo in the second step seems like the way to go. Time to get an order going so I can do some test strands.

**JLeighs** · November 15th, 2013, 05:44 PM

Originally Posted by caren

YMMV. I use straight henna on my greys, and I really like the shade they turn. They look like nice, natural highlights on me. But I have heard on others they do the bright orange thang.
I'd recc collecting a few greys from your natural sheds and doing a henna experiment to see how henna works on your hair.

I use straight henna on my greys as well. I love how it looks like bright coppery highlights throughout my hair. When I first started to think about using henna, I did lots of strand tests with variations of henna and henna + indigo. The henna + indigo made my grey hair look muddy, if that makes sense.