Thread: Yet Another "I Hennaed My Hair" post...

I mainly did it for the conditioning properties, and to hide my (still fairly few) grey hairs. What with my hair being auburn to start with, the effect is VERY subtle. I'm loving the soft silkiness!

Probably can't tell a darn thing from this pic, but here it is anyway!



I'm hooked!

Glad you like it! Remember that the colour can start off subtle, but if you keep doing full head applications the colour will deepen towards burgundy.

Henna saved my hair. It's magic stuff.

Henna is amazing. An old instructor of mine turned me onto it after seeing my hair covered with old dye jobs that were fading. I haven't touched hair dye since. I love Henna.

I've hennaed for years. Tried it because I like to wear my hair long and chemical hair dyes would ultimately fry the ends to the point where they'd just break off. Something I did not like about basic henna is the messiness of application and how hard it was to rinse out of my lots of hair. I found a henna product called Logona Herbal Hair Color. It's finely ground and has a starch of some kind in it that makes it mix up to a smooth, cohesive pudding-like consistency and then lets it rinse out almost as easily as chemical hair dye. It costs maybe $2-3 more a box than more basic henna products and I feel it's well worth that. I also appreciate that they give you an ample amount in the package; my hair is now waist-length (which would have been impossible with chemical dye) and I can cover it all with the contents of one box. See my gallery for pix of my hennaed hair. The color is pretty bright - that's because underneath the henna, it is - WHITE.

You look great, Zorba. I have to say I was relieved to read your post and find you're happy with the results. From the title I feared it might be a "HELP what to I do; I have wrecked my hair!" type of thread...l;,
Rosette

Looks great!

FYI from personal experience don't try to dye your hair again with normal dyes or even pro dyes until you're hair has all grown out. Henna has metallic sulfurs (some cheap hair dye does and beared dyes too)

It a nutshell my hair was ruined by trying to put highlights in. Smoke even from the chemical reaction! After hundreds of dollars my hair is now a foot and a half shorter....

You look great Zorba!

Originally Posted by amity

It a nutshell my hair was ruined by trying to put highlights in. Smoke even from the chemical reaction! After hundreds of dollars my hair is now a foot and a half shorter....

Oh yea - I've heard the stories! I've followed the writings of Catherine Cartwright Jones on the subject of henna for years. She warns about this at length - says if it doesn't smoke, it will turn your hair a weird color. Some of the possibilities are, and I quote: Swamp bottom black, frog butt green, and goat vomit yellow!

I'm hoping to get a bit of extra length out of it - we'll see!

I had a crunchy over-gelled hair look on top of tye dye going from black to my natural blonde...I should have read Catherine's stuff first lol!

Originally Posted by Rosette

I have to say I was relieved to read your post and find you're happy with the results. From the title I feared it might be a "HELP what do I do; I have wrecked my hair!" type of thread...l;,
Rosette

Naw - I've been contemplating this for 2 or 3 years, finally got off my behind and did it - actually one of my instructors did it for me. I can't see doing it myself, I'm sure I'd make a glorious mess! Now I'm trying to talk my wife into doing it - but she'd have to wait a couple of years as she's been doing highlights; so it isn't likely to happen.

I used to henna my hair then had foolishly got my hair colored/highlighted when I donated it for locks of love. I know why never grew. I let go of my hairdresser in Jan. And my hair is still growing out the color. In a couple weeks I'm going to start hennaing my hair again. I use Jamila henna brand. (It works best for me). My greys are starting to show. I wanted to give my hair a good 6 months of rest from any type of process even henna.
I got an big Indian population so the local Indo-Pak store sells my Jamila brand. I'll have my hair back to the color i like.

Alrana

Jamila Henna has one of the best reps out there from everything I've read...

I have henna in my hair right now! It's pretty long so my head is very heavy. (I keep meaning to cut it for Locks of Love, but then I color it and want to keep it a little bit longer.)

Isn't your wife quite silver, Zorba? It goes flaming orange on white hair, be warned!

On yours it looks great! Many of the ME/Central Asian men round here henna as a matter of course, even though their hair is black. Lots of nice shine.

Originally Posted by amity

Looks great!

FYI from personal experience don't try to dye your hair again with normal dyes or even pro dyes until you're hair has all grown out. Henna has metallic sulfurs (some cheap hair dye does and beared dyes too)

It a nutshell my hair was ruined by trying to put highlights in. Smoke even from the chemical reaction! After hundreds of dollars my hair is now a foot and a half shorter....

If the henna is pure, you shouldn't have any problems dyeing over it with conventional dyes. Many hennas however are impure, and contain metallic salts as you say. This is why henna has such a bad reputation amongst hair dressers!

If you get henna from a reputable supplier who sells to henna artists, the henna shouldn't contain metallic salts and shouldn't react - but you should ALWAYS strand and patch test, just in case!