Henna Hair dye

[vegansurfer]

Has anyone here tried henna hair dye, and if so, what luck did you have?

[borealis]

I love henna. I've used it a lot. There are precautions, though.

Has your hair been permed, straightened, dyed with regular dye, or otherwise treated with chemicals? Henna can react badly with the chemicals in dye. PLEASE do a test first. Take a wad of hair from your hairbrush and try the henna on it before using it on your head.

Likewise, do not perm, straighten, dye, etc. after using henna. It can really trash your hair. Trust me.

Is your hair naturally light? Henna only does shades of red -- and over blonde hair, can look clownishly orange. Same for gray hair.

Are you picky about what color you get? Definitely do the test first.

Also, avoid anything that calls itself black henna. There's no such thing as natural black henna, and what is sold under that name is usually a very dangerous chemical. If you want to dye your hair black with something natural, indigo over henna is reputed to work well.

Here's a good link for more info: http://www.hennaforhair.com/

[JulieShul]

I have dyed my hair with henna before, but its only good when its sunny and, ideally, it would soak for 3 hours.

Instead, i now use Nature Gate's Henna Shampoo and Conditioners because they continue to highlight your hair the way henna does, but they do it all year round. Its more subtle, but still great. You can get them at wholefoods and online and probably any vegan/organic store.

[skunkpumpkin]

Henna never worked for me. I wonder if I did something wrong?

[borealis]

Henna never worked for me. I wonder if I did something wrong?

Possibly. Factors in henna not working include: old henna that has lost its potency, not leaving it on very long, not applying heat, accidently getting neutral henna, and having too much conditioner/products on the hair so the henna can't get through.

The henna from this seller is very high quality: http://www.mehandi.com/shop/hairhenna.html

It has lasted on my hair far longer than any other I've used, not to mention being extremely potent. I did it before Thanksgiving and it's still very red.

[CharityAJO]

You're scaring me! I had bought a box of henna black... Should I just chuck it?

[borealis]

The bad black "henna" is PPD, Para-phenylenediamine. It's possible what you have is actually indigo or an indigo/henna mixture, or some other plant-based product. But it could be PPD. Whether you use it or not is your call, but here are some links that might help:

Lots of good information, including how to tell if what you have is PPD or indigo:
http://www.hennapage.com/henna/ppd/whatisppd.html

Scary case of PPD poisoning:
http://www.mehandi.com/PPD/Wilson/wilson.html

More linkies:
http://www.hennapage.com/henna/ppd/

If you do use it, I would encourage you to do a test first (a wad of hair from your hairbrush works well). I had a friend who used Light Mountain black "henna" and it turned her hair a funky half-black half-green color. I have heard that Light Mountain black is actually indigo mixed with henna, but I don't know that for a fact.

If you determine that your product is not PPD, a test patch on your skin is still a good idea to rule out allergic reactions.

[punkmommy]

Henna can turn your hair a nice shade of green if you choose to re-color it with traditional home hair color or get your hair colored at a salon- be warned!

[vegansurfer]

I dyed my hair blue last year, and then just dyed over it to come back to my natural hari color, which is dark brown I have had to re-dye it once more, and am needing to do it again. I was thinking about using henna, but you guys scared me out of it. I think I'll stick with the nasty chemically dye.

[Artichoke47]

Wow, Borealis. You are a henna guru! :wayne:

[borealis]

I don't mean to scare people away from henna. :( Henna is wonderful! I love henna!

It's just that I would hate for anyone to have bad results from reactions with chemical dyes. That is the kind of thing that gives henna a bad name. If you test it first (a strand test or on hairbrush hair) you should be fine -- if it comes out green or trashes the texture, you'll be able to tell.

Honestly, I have used henna over chemical dye -- after several weeks or a few months -- and I have not had any problems. But everyone's hair is different. That is why I feel the need for warnings.

Personally, what scares me are the chemical dyes, many of which do contain PPD. Stuff I've read about cancer risk and other problems... I have dyed my hair dozens of times with chemical dyes, and I hope I stopped soon enough before it affected my health. :(

Henna is wonderful! It smells earthy and good (rather like hay). It makes my hair feel so soft and conditioned, but stronger too. And it's natural. No animals' eyes were burned out of their sockets for henna. No bunnies got blisters on their backs for henna. It's been used for thousands of years, all these generations of women stretching back to pre-history, using henna to make pretty designs on their skin and color their hair. I feel connected to all those women when I use it. And DANG! it's gorgeous! When I first wash it out, I always worry... is it going to show up? Then when it dries, WOW! especially in the sun, but indoors too -- firey highlights, deep lovely rich red! :)

Don't be scared away. Just be smart and do the test first. Okay? :)



PS -- just uploaded a pic to the gallery, of me with henna'd hair -- in case you want to see an example

[rainbowmoon]

Hey borealis-
I was getting ready to order some Light Mountain Henna. Do you know where it is sold normally? Ordering it is kind of a pain....
I already have my hair dyed an auburn-ish color- I used regular over the counter dye, I think Garnier Fructis 100% color. My Mom suggested that I go to someplace like Sally's beauty supply and buy a product that removes hair color to get you back to your base color before I apply the henna. Is this a good idea? Also, how do I do a test? All I have is my head of hair, I don't have any in a brush...?

Thanks!
lovenlight!
Linz

[borealis]

Do you have any health food stores or food co-ops? I'd look there for Light Mountain, if you don't want to order on-line.

I wouldn't strip the old color out, because the color stripper is also a chemical treatment, right? I think it would be a bad idea to henna right after color stripping, but I have never done it.

Testing -- you can do a strand test. Separate out a small chunk of hair and put the henna just on that. When I do this, I put most of my hair up to keep it out of the way, and find a chunk that will normally be hidden (in case it comes out bad -- though I've never had henna come out bad, personally). The Light Mountain kit has instructions for doing strand tests, like how long to leave it on and stuff.

Good luck!

Oh yeah -- there's a henna forum on Rev. Bunny's website -- there are people there that make me look like a total newbie to henna. I'm sure they can answer technical questions about stuff like color stripping. :) Here's a link:
http://www.hennaforhair.com/forum/

Have fun!

[rainbowmoon]

Thanks, borealis! I went over there and posted! :D Woohoo!

[rainbowmoon]

Oh, and whatever I do, I'll definatley test!

[borealis]

Cool! :)

I'm going to do mine again soon. This time I'm adding some indigo. It will be interesting to see how it comes out.... :D

[NaturalChick]

Some of the henna products I've seen are categorized as semi-permanent, demi-permanent, and permanent. I would like something that looks pretty but only lasts a couple weeks and does NOT damage my hair even a tiny bit. Would the semi-permanent henna product be advisable for me? Borealis, you ARE quite knowledgable about this -- very cool!

[tina123]

hey ive tried henna before a few times and my mom has been a henna user for years ...like 20 years...and she loves it to death, hates going to salons and stuff. shes a red head so the auburn color is great. ive used it before but with my hair its tough for anything to cling to for some reason...i had to do it twice each time to get a good result. and like every one else has said,...just be careful not to use henna and then go to a salon to get it dyed because it either wont take and youll waste your money, or itll turn your hair funky colors!

[borealis]

Some of the henna products I've seen are categorized as semi-permanent, demi-permanent, and permanent. I would like something that looks pretty but only lasts a couple weeks and does NOT damage my hair even a tiny bit. Would the semi-permanent henna product be advisable for me? Borealis, you ARE quite knowledgable about this -- very cool!

I'm sorry -- I guess I'm not as knowledgable as you think. I have never seen semi-permanent henna. The name sounds like what you want, but I don't know. What is on the ingredients list? What brand is it?

You might try the henna forum that I mentioned a few days ago:
http://www.hennaforhair.com/forum/

Someone there might know more. :)

[glimmermarielea]

I tried the henna from the company called lush. It is free of synthetic chemicals and preservatives and I got really good results from it however it was messy to put on and smelled horrible. It took several washings to get the smell and chunks out. But my hair looked wonderful after.

[borealis]

I have never used Lush brand henna, but I've heard good things about it.

I hennaed my hair last night. This was done with 2 boxes of Light Mountain henna (one bright red, one medium brown). I mixed it with a deep red tea out of hibiscus, rose petals, black tea, and lemon slices, plus some more lemon juice for good measure, and a bit of cocoa butter. I left it on about 3 1/2 hours. I'm pretty pleased with it, though I think the henna from mehandi.com (http://www.mehandi.com/shop/hairhenna.html) is better quality.

Edited to upload better version of photo -- the color balance was wacky on the earlier one, due to my monitor being weird.

[cb1357]

i was thinking about using henna but im afraid of using any types of dye. i have really long, very thick light brown hair. and i use to constantly bleach it with sun in and i was addicted to straighting it with a clothing iron. so then i didnt want it to be bright blonde anymore .so i dyed my hair with nice n easy dark brown hair dye. so then my hair was twice as damaged and its so brittle and unhealthy looking. but it is slowly getting better since i havent straighten it or dyed it for a while. so since the nice n easy hair dye faded out im getting some of my orange highlights back and i want my hair to be darker again. but i was just wondering if henna will mess up my over processed dried brittle hair?

[rincaro]

Wow Borealis - your hair is absolutely stunning! Woo-hoo!

[borealis]

since the nice n easy hair dye faded out im getting some of my orange highlights back and i want my hair to be darker again. but i was just wondering if henna will mess up my over processed dried brittle hair?

If you don't want orange or red highlights, you don't want to use henna. Henna is all about adding red highlights.

What henna does is lay a layer of color over your existing color, and that layer of color is orange-red. The color-causing molecules in henna cling to the keratin, sticking in the little cracks and crevices of each strand of hair. This makes the hair feel more smooth (which accounts for the conditioning qualities of henna) and adds the color.

The best description I have seen of how the color works is this: take an orange-red crayon and color over different shades of paper -- brown, black, blonde. The color shows up best on lighter paper, less on darker paper, but it's always orange-red over the top of the original color. That's what henna is like.

Some companies claim to have different colors of henna -- neutral, brown, dark brown, black. This is basically impossible without adding extra ingredients. Take Light Mountain brand for instance -- their browns and black are created by adding different amounts of indigo. The blue of indigo takes the intensity of the henna red down, and creates a darker shade. By the way, there is no such thing as neutral henna -- what is used is usually senna, a different plant. Henna is always red.

You have to be smart about what henna products you get. There are products that claim to be pure henna and aren't really. Light Mountain says "100% pure henna" on the box, but when you look at the ingredients list, they have the plants they use listed by Latin name. I have heard that there are other products out there, claiming to be all natural or 100% henna, that actually have PPD and other chemicals in them, or metallic salts, which can totally trash your hair. These products have given henna a bad rap. Be careful what you get. I prefer to get my henna from reputable online suppliers, but I buy Light Mountain sometimes because it's available at my co-op and I have lots of experience with it.

As far as using henna over processed, brittle hair -- definitely do a strand test, or test the henna on a wad of hair from your brush. Processed hair can be tricky with henna. I have to say, because I love henna so much -- this is not henna's fault! :) It's the chemical process that trashes hair, weakening it. Henna and hair are made for each other.

Don't be discouraged if you have dyed or processed hair, though -- I have successfully used henna over previously dyed hair, and it came out fine. But I tested it first, because I love my hair and I didn't want to risk it. :)

[cb1357]

oh okay well i fould some products on ebay called Henna Verdina .i dunno if thats the kind you use ...bcuz the seller had all these types of browns...would it still turn my hair red?... and if it would is there any good dyes that wont damage my hair to bad.