hand-holding needed - henna-ing hair for first time . . .

[FromGirders]

That's it really. Using Lush Caca rouge, got it on now, wiped all the bits off my ears and neck, panicked about whether those are stains on my ears or sun-induced big freckles (why o why didn't I ever look before?) now sitting around with my cling-film and woolly hat on.
Henna went on at 5.45, so I can't be allowed to wash it off until 9-ish, I guess.

Blimey. I imagine you are washing it now, and your entire bathroom has turned a fetching shade of pink! Let me know how it goes... henna takes me back to my school days! Used to get it from The Body Shop :)

I did mine last night - 3rd time with Caca Brun. Was recommended them by my boss who uses the Maron and hers is a lovely auburn colour - gorgeous looking and in great condition even though she's in her 50s and mostly grey.

I am naturally dark brown with quite a few greys now (am mid 30s) and have grown out my chemical colour (was sick of blonde highlights turning pale ginger after a while). Was also worried about amount of chemicals going onto my head, so tried the Brun and was very pleased. Lovely condition, shiney, greys not quite covered as brown but more like goldeny hightlights. I'm definitely going to keep using them.

Only downside is it's a bit of a faff, and I AM worried about how regularly I'll have to do it to keep my greys fro getting too noticeable (proably every 3 weeks/4 weeks max).

What colour have you started out with? I bet the red will look amazing. It's not like a chemical permanent colour anyway,e ven if you don't like it. Its more like a semi permanent and will wear out after 5-6 weeks.

Let us know what the result is!

I've been wondering about this, did it once a few years ago and was pleased with the results, but can't remember which one I used, how long I left it on etc. Someone told me to put vaseline all round my hairline before putting it on, keeps the stains at bay.

Well, I'm liking it! Just washed out now, not as hard to do as I'd heard. I'mm a nice proper auburn now, and what I really like is that my slightly-sun-lightened bits are still a bit lighter, so it looks quite natural. I've gone redder without going darker, iyswim.
I tried a standard semi-permanent just over a month ago, and although it said auburn, it made my hair much darker, and just a bit redder. This is more like I wanted.
Actually, I didn't find it as much of a faff as I'd expected - and it feels a bit safer that chemicals which work in ten minutes. In my mind, if they work that fast they must be fairly serious!
Apparently the colour keeps getting brighter / more intense / darker (depending on who tells you ) for a couple of days, so looking forward to seeing how it ends up!
May do it again in a few days, as I only used two squares of the block on my hair (yes, I'm a wuss) .
The vaseline worked at stain prevention.

2 blocks is about right if your hair is shoulder length, FromGirders. Is your hair longer than that?

Glad you like it. Mine has gone darker over the last day. I'm still going to continue using the henna I think. It's left in lovely condition compared to the chemical dye. And it doesn't make my head itch and eyes water!!!!

I've found it less of a faff compared to the first time I did it. Then it DID seem like a right load of messing about. But it's getting quicker the more I do it.

excellent - I was thinking of buying the Lush Caca Marron this weekend and having a bash. I was worried it might stain the bath though, was it ok?

I use Lush henna regularly and staining isn't a problem - I just give the bath a spray round with standard bathroom cleaner afterwards and it comes up fine. Definitely old clothes though, and wrap your head up well in clingfilm and a towel or something to stop crumbly bits from falling everywhere when it dries while you're leaving it to soak in!

Nope, i'm shoulder length, but it said to use a whole block for long hair, so I thought I was being quite restrained. It's lovely and shiny now - doesn't look a whole lot different until the sun hits it, then wow!
My bath was fine stinky, a little bit of a green tinge, but washed off really easily.

Does anyone know where you can get disposable shower caps? DH goes away a lot and sometimes brings me shower caps back from hotel rooms and I find them great for when I'm doing my henna - the elastic really keeps it all in. But I've run out. I think there's be more clingfilm around my hands than round my head, knowing me, if I had to use that!

Oh I wish I had the confidence to give henna a go. I usually use a herbal essence red dye. I guess I'm a bit afraid of not being happy with the results and then not being able to use chemical dye to 'fix' it. That, and roots - isn't henna very permanent?

Ooh, I'm feeling tempted now. I have dark brown hair, so might be conservative and try the Caca Brun first, I don't have many greys, but the brown is a bit faded looking and dull, could do with a bit of depth and shine. I have one or two disposable showercaps from hotels, am thinking Wilkos or pound shops might do them.

Henna is permanent in the sense that you can't bleach over it - bleaching just "fixes" the colour to the hair even more! But it is much more subtle and natural than your usual box dyes - as FromGirders says above, it lets the underlying shades of your hair come through so you get a range of darker and lighter sections rather than one uniform and fake-looking block of colour across your entire head. And the intensity of the colour does gradually fade over the course of a few weeks and months so if you don't like the shade you've got it won't be around forever! Like with other dyes you could also go darker - so if you start with something like Lush Caca Rouge which is the brightest and redest, you could re-dye with the Caca Marron or Caca Brun to go darker if you wanted something less intense.

So does it cover greys?

I´ve recently fallen victim to dying & I´d rather find something else as I´m currently dying all my hair for the sake of hiding a dozen or so greys.

Yes it does diddl, but they come out a lot lighter.

Ah, thanks!

That´s OK though as I recently used a red hair dye & my greys are pink!

Not as noticeable as greys in dark brown hair, though!

Thought I would come back and post how it went! Pretty messy to put on so we did it outside in between torrential rain (lots of crumbly bits everywhere). I used 3 blocks of caca marron on my shoulder length hair. Hair is about 20% grey and has had some previous colouring which is only on the ends, and is naturally very dark brown/black.

I left the gunge on for about 3 and a half hours. Washing it off was fine - two shampoos. My hair feels fantastic - very thick, shiny and soft. Hair is darker all over with a reddish tinge - lighter on the previous dyed bits and my grey hair is a kind of coppery colour. I'm going to repeat it in a couple of weeks. I am really pleased with it - and my new bath is fine. No skin staining afterwards either - I wore rubber gloves and put moisturiser on my hairline and just wiped it off. The henna doesn't seem to wash out during the subsequent washings which is good - I hate seeing the hair dye going down the drain after you've done it!