Henna for Hair

Jump to:

The Henna Page
Mehandi: Shop
TapDancing Lizard
Henna for Hair
Harquus
Hennapedia
Conferences
Indigo Page
INCHA

Henna for Hair

Home       Henna        FAQ       Techniques        Mixes
The Encyclopedia of Henna
Samples       Indigo      Science    History
Health         Gray       Suppliers       Beauticians
Links        Warnings    Allergies       PPD Dyes
Forum        Find It!

Henna For Hair is devoted to the art and science of henna and other natural hair dyes.

Kristen's Mom's Mix
Kristen Lu's Mom

K is my mom and she is 52 and has Asian black hair with brown highlights and white hairs mixed in. I was disturbed for years when she started using chemical dyes to mask her gray and white hairs, afraid she was going to become sick in the long run. So I did some research recently and discovered henna. I first bought rainbow henna on ebay for her, which was ok, but it was hard to rinse out considering so much twig and other large debris was in it. The henna was left on for 1.5 hours. I was semi-satisfied since her hair came out a lot softer. I mixed the henna with hot coffee for a browner color. Previously, after years of chemical dyes and swimming, it had a really dry, crunchy feel. Yet, her whites remained white but her hair had an overall brownish-red highlight.

Her second experience with henna was a Russian brand purchased on ebay. I had learned a little more about henna and was glad to see that this herbal henna was all powder and didn't have chunks of leaves or branches. I mixed it with equal parts of warm green tea and lemon juice concentrate, adding an egg for easier application. After rinsing out the henna and shampooing and conditioning, her hair felt hard for days, and had a broom-like texture! This may have been a result of using henna since her hair was chemically colored a couple months ago. I thought it would be safe since the rainbow henna didn't act in the same way. I thought I had ruined her hair with the product, as I could not read the ingredients--they were in Russian, but relied solely on the ebay seller's promise that this herbal henna could be used on permed and colored hair. It did turn the whites a brassy orange, and gave much more red to her hair though. After a few days of deep conditioning, the softness and color deepened and her hair looked a lot better.

After this scare, I did a lot more research on henna, and purchased body quality henna. So yesterday, I mixed about 60 grams of henna with equal parts of warm coffee and lemon juice concentrate, adding about 10 drops of tea tree oil as terp, and cracking an egg for ease of application again. I let the mix sit for about 12 hours, and wow, the smell from the egg was incredibly horrible. Next time I will try honey or pectin. But I finished applying the henna to my mom's hair; I had her wear a disposable hair cap for 5 hours and then washed it out. This henna was truly higher quality as it was green, finely sifted, smelled fresh, and stained a nice, deep red-brown in the sun and left her hair very conditioned and soft. Though her white hairs are still a little orangey, they are far redder then before and are well blended in as you can see in the picture. Body quality henna makes a bigger difference on gray and white hairs.

I also purchased some indigo, and since my mom's hair still had some noticeable orange/reddish strands and she wanted a darker color, I mixed some indigo with a little leftover henna from the previous day's application and applied it to her hair for an hour. I used about 60 grams of indigo mixed with filtered water. The indigo was a thinner mix than the henna and I ended up a little short, so I was really stretching the paste. When we washed it out, her hair was a beautiful dark ashy black with some red highlights; her gray and whites were almost completely masked! I took one picture in the sunlight, and was surprised that it showed up more red than I had anticipated. Still, the results are great.

Want to try stuff?
Henna for hair has *almost* free samples!
Go to the samples page!

Back to the "mixes" index

Can't find what you're looking for here?
Try the Henna For Hair Main Index

For information on henna as body art, see The Henna Page

Henna For Hair is devoted to the art and science of henna and other natural hair dyes.

thou shalt not steal.