Lush henna

[ComeAlongPond]

Is it a good idea or a terrible idea?

My hair's long and wavy and pretty dry. I tried to have it dyed red a while ago and it just didn't really take, so now it's faded to it's normal blondey shade but is quite brassy from the remains of the dye.

Someone suggested henna but I'm a bit wary, does anyone know anything about it or have any advice?

If you're blonde I really really wouldn't.

If you still want to, ask them for a small sample and do a strand test.

Personally I would not recommend henna hair dyes to blondes.

Eek! I will stay well away.

Why not? (not being rude, just curious)

It's not yellow-blonde, more mousey blonde, naturally. The old faded out hairdye is making it brighter at the moment, not very nice, so if I can't put henna on it I'll have it re-dyed.

I'm also mousey blonde and I use Lush henna. I usually use either the brun or a mix of brun and the marron. I find it fades quite quickly for a permanent dye, but that's a good thing, I guess, since I currently have about an inch and a half of root showing, it's not too noticable now! The first time I went into the shop to buy it, they said it would come out really bright orange/red, but it never has done. Planning on using just marron next time.

I don't have any chemical dye to cover up though - I don't know what effect that would have.

...and it stinks. Really, really stinks. For about a week. Yuck!

Forgot to say - it also makes my hair really shiny and soft, even the dry ends.

If you do do it make sure you do a decent strand test first. Any old chemical colours can do funny things to the finished henna colour.

You could ask them in the shop if they have any little off cuts you could use to do a test first, when I worked there we sometimes had broken bars that we used to give away as samples.

Lots of the staff will have tried it out so you can ask them too. (although I'm a boring old fart so I never tried it).

The colour depends on how long you leave it on for. And try and do it in the garden, with old clothes on.

If you're blonde henna can come out bright red. And you can't then get rid of it till it naturally fades.

As henna is a natural herb, theres no guarantee your hair will get the same colour as someone else.

I have dark hair, and the body shop powdered red henna used to turn it a beautiful colour, but like PeppermintPanda I find the Lush red henna doesn't really do much but make it shiney (and smell odd for a couple of days).

I don't get it - the reviews are full of people saying they got flame red hair. All I can assume is the stack got mixed up and I got a brown one instead by mistake.

On the bright side, it also doesn't dye my pillows...

Ah, okay.

That's what I'm worried about - if it goes wrong I can't just dye it out! Though I would quite like bright red hair... Not brave enough for that to be my aim though.

My cousin works for Lush so I'll see if she has any advice or little leftover bits I can use to test.