Thinking of Henna'ing my hair...

[MalibuStacy]

Brunette. From Lush. Anybody have any experiences or advice? Thanks.

I was thinking about doing this and my sister, who dyes her hair frequently, told me that once you've dyed with henna you can never use ordinary hair dye again. I can't imagine it's never ever, but perhaps until all the henna dyed hair has grown out. This may be completely untrue. But perhaps worth looking into if you might want to use conventional dye in the future?

Yes, that's true. I guess I am hoping that the henna will be successful and I never have to go back to normal dye.

All I want is a dark, chocolate brown. What I get is either ginger or flat black. Why can't colorists achieve what I want? Is it really that hard?

I was looking at the Lush catalogue and the henna is 'brunette'.

However, my roots are almost completely grey and I am not sure the henna will cover them?

I started using Surya Henna Cream while pregnant. They do a chocolate brown shade. It's easy to apply and gives good coverage even on greys. It's only semi permanent though so depending on how frequently you wash your hair it needs a regular touch up. My hair was in much better condition once I started using this instead of regular hair colour.

Isn't the re-dye problem chiefly with metallic henna compounds? Worth avoiding these. Obviously always do a strand test to check, but personally I haven't had problems using conventional dyes over pure vegetable henna

I think the Lush brunette one still has a reddish tinge and will show up more red on greys so you may find that your roots are quite red.

I haven't done it but I've been looking into it for a while.

Did mine with lush caca Brun yesterday.
Colour is ok - like I've had shimmery highlights of diff shades if brunette through my hair. You are meant to keep it on for 3 hours though and it really stank in this heat! It looked like sheep crap too!
I'd do it again - I don't want to use chemical dye any more. I used 3 cubes for shoulder length hair and it was far too much. I'd use two max next time.
Have fun!

I like the sound of the henna cream. Do you just apply that like normal dye? conventional henna seems a lot of faff when you'll still have a roots issue within 2 or 3 weeks

I Henndigo-ed my hair for the first time about 6 weeks ago (Henna and Indigo do make dark brown/brunette) and I LOVE it!!

I did a LOT of research at the time and the Lush hennas are full of other stuff and get mixed results.
Have a look at this [[http://www.hennapage.com]]

You need henna and indigo to make brunette. and you need Body Art Quality henna not one that is mixed with salts etc.
It IS messy but so much better for you than normal dyes and you will love the colour you get.
There is a forum on Long Hair Community and a bit for henna users. They are very helpful.

link fail!

You apply the Surya Henna Cream directly from the bottle, there's no mixing. I use a tinting bowl and brush I bought from superdrug and disposable gloves. To cover grey you need to leave it on at least an hour. I get mine from Amazon and with fine shoulder length hair I find I can get 1 full colour and a couple of root touch ups out of one bottle. With washing my hair every day I do a full colour fortnightly and a touch up in between. Might be a faff for some but worth it for a more natural product IMO.

You might get some staining round the hairline on application. Micellar water is good for removing this but any remaining will disappear on the next wash. It washes completely out of towels and pillowcases (if you sweat at night) on first wash.

I disagree that Lush henna blocks are full of other things - they publish the full ingredients list online.

I used to use the Lush stuff, but in red. Nice vibrant colour, but bit too 'block colour' to look natural and over time there was build up of colour as hair was fairly long (might just be because I'm rubbish at touch up jobs though), so when I decided to stop, I got quite a bit off the length (even though I'm a natural redhead, so it wasn't a complete mismatch).

It is fairly messy. DP used to do it for me and I had an old dressing gown that was never quite the same

Having said that, hair was in great condition unlike with conventional dyes.

The bit about not being able to bleach it out is true as it risks going a really odd colour. Not sure why, but that's part of the reason I chopped mine.

I've used the Lush henna a few times. The brunette tones don't last as long as I would like, and you are left with quite a lot of redness. Your grey will be mostly orange (which could look fabulous on you, who knows!).

It is a MASSIVE faff grating it up, heating it, applying it and leaving it on for long enough. Leaves your hair nice and shiny, though.

I have coloured over the top of henna plenty of times with no problems. You can't bleach/highlight over it, though - it just goes orange.

Wasting I never said they didn't publish the ingredients for Lush Henna but here you go :
Cocoa Butter, Indigo Herb, Red Henna, Ground Coffee, Nettle Powder, Irish Moss Powder, Clove Bud Oil, Citral, Eugenol, Geraniol, Citronellol, Limonene, Linalool, Perfume.

Some people love the colour Lush Henna gives their hair whereas others feel it's the Cocoa Butter that prevents it taking properly. You need BAQ Henna and Indigo. I add Amla too to tone the red in the Henna and some apple cider vinegar, brown sugar and olive oil.

I've used semi nice n easy after lush henna fine, had to cos the henna was pretty useless and my grey was shocking

I used lush last year, it came out really well, dyed my hair a couple weeks ago at a salon and there was no issues. You definitely can use norrmal dye!

Thanks for my first Sir Raymond .

Okay - I think Lush henna is probably a good place to start for someone who hasn't used henna before. I know that more experienced users swear by BAQ henna and indigo though.

Wasting you're very welcome

Yes I think maybe you're right. I'm only very new to this myself (two full henndigos so far) and it was Lush that piqued my interest in henna.
Either way you will love the colour OP and then get hooked on henna.

SirRaymond, what colour have you gone from and to ?

I've Lush Henndigoed once so far, but quite like the idea of using BAQ henna and indigo.

Wasting I was dyeing/having my greying hair to a dark brown colour for years and Henndigoed as a one step to a rich chestnut brown which I loved, then did it again last week as the grey was coming through and left it a bit longer and now it's a lovely dark chocolate brown with reddish tints in the sun. It's so glossy too (henna is so good for your hair) and I love it.
I'm going to do a few henndigo glosses (a table spoon of dye released henna and a table spoon indigo with loads of conditioner left on for half an hour) when the grey comes through rather than a full treatment for the next few times so it doesn't get too dark.
I wouldn't go back to normal dyes now!