Henna and Indigo - body art quality

[SirRaymondClench]

I am looking into colouring my hair with Henna but need body art quality from what I've read. The sites all seem to be largely US based and I'm a bit at the price the ones here that I've found seem to be charging for henna and indigo as I thought it wasn't too expensive. My hair is down to my boobs so I will need about 400g of henna and indigo mixed as I understand it (and at £13-14 per 100g that's going to cost a fortune!)
Does anyone here henna their hair with body art quality henna and if so where are you getting it from please?

Look for Asian supermarkets or cash and carry's. They generally stock this very cheaply.

I have always used Henna Boy for indigo and sometimes the henna as well and found them quite reasonable. I have waist length hair and have found that although it seems expensive at first it lasts a really long time. I also find that I never need anywhere near as much mixture as they say you will. It works out far cheaper than box dye in the long run.
www.henna-boy.co.uk/
I've also heard a lot of good things from this site,but haven't ordered from them personally. www.renaissancehenna.com/Default.aspx
Ebay is also a good place to regularly check, although always be careful that you know you are buying body art quality from a good seller. I often buy Jamilla body art Henna on there for around £2-3 a box.

Have you hendigoed your hair before? Let me know if you need any advice if not. I've been doing it for about 10 years now.

Thanks for the replies!
I henna-ed my hair when I was about 17 (and had really lovely red hair) but that was centuries quite a while ago.
I've never used Indigo though and now I want to keep having mid-dark brown hair as opposed to red. And hide grey. And condition it. And not have brassy tones.
I want the moon on a stick basically!
I think I will need Amla to take out the brassiness, is that right Jasmine?
Can I ask how long it takes to arrive from Henna Boy (have read bad things about delivery time online)
What is the difference between Jamila Body art Henna or other types?
So many questions! I am so grateful for any advice!

I've never needed to add Amla to remove any brassiness luckily.I have light brown hair and use the henna and indigo to make a rich mid brown colour. As long as you get the ratio of henna/indigo right then you shouldn't have a problem. That bit can take a bit of trial and error finding what's right for you.
Have you looked at the Henna for hair website? There are lots of examples there where you can see people's hair colour and what ratios they used on it to achieve the colour they do. hennaforhair.com/
www.hennaforhair.com/mixes/index.html

Longhaircommunity also have a good section on their site. forums.longhaircommunity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=21&s=fff0d2c6e857acd4787fddf4128909ec

I've always found Henna boy delivery to be quite good. Usually about 3 days.

Thanks Jasmine. I have looked at the Henna For Hair site, it's full of info (such a shame they are US based though)
Will have a look at the longhaircommunity.
I am trying to work out how much I will need of Indigo and Henna. My hair is midway down my back. It's so complicated!

What's the thickness of your hair like? Mine isn't really really thick so I can usually get away with 100g total mix. Once you've mixed it all up it can go quite far. It also depends on what else you put in it. I often add a dollop of conditioner, olive oil, or apple cider vinegar for example and this helps to smooth the mixture out, and makes it far easier to apply. If you make it too thick without these things, then I've found it can go really gritty and be a pain to rinse off and sometimes ends up hurting a bit whilst it's on your head, as it starts to "set".
Do you plan to mix the henna and indigo together or do them one at a time? I always get better results doing several hours of henna, washing it off and then 1 hour of indigo. You tend to get a deeper cooler colour this way.
If you want a warmer colour though, mixing them together works better.

I also always wrap my head in clingfilm whilst it's on my head and put a hat on. Might look silly, but it seems to help give good results and makes it seem less messy. It's more comfy as well.

It's fairly thick but layered so I suppose that takes some of the thickness out of it.
From what I've read I would need to mix in amla and cider vinegar. Would olive oil and conditioner not stop it 'taking' IYSWIM?
After reading what you've written I will do one at a time. Do I still have to work out ratios if I do that? I think I should prob start with 50:50 that way if I'm doing future treatments I won't be ending up with black hair if a 30/70 mix is too dark for mine.
The clingfilm is a good idea, will stop me dying the house!

If you are doing one at a time then you don't need to work out the ratios. You can just mix up what you think looks like a good amount for your hair in a bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave somewhere warm for a few hours for the henna to release and get the best colour (ideally overnight), place in a bowl of very hot water to heat it up and then bung it on your head. It does make it far easier to get the colour right I have found. Leave the henna on for as long as possible. (I've been known to just leave it on for the day, but an hour or so would still work)
You don't need to leave the indigo to release it's dye before using. You can mix that up and then use it straight away. I always add a small amount of salt to it to help it adhere to the henna on my hair. I've also found it works best if I apply it to dry hair. Yes that means doing the henna process, drying hair and then having to do the indigo process, but I've just found the results are worth the hassle.

I've never had any problem with olive oil etc preventing the henna from sticking. I was surprised as I also thought it would prevent it from absorbing well. Instead it just really helped the condition.
Instead of getting the ratios correct though, you do have to get the timing of the indigo correct. Start off for a short time (say 20-30 mins) and then you can always increase the time if you want it darker. It's much easier to gradually increase the darkness and depth than try and reverse it later!
Hope that helps. It can be a messy and time consuming process the first few times you do it. After that though you kind of get into a routine and you can speed through it without too much thought.
Hope that helps!