LUSH henna - why has it took me so long to find this fabulous stuff?

[IDoAllMyOwnStunts]

God it's amazing. Been using box dyes for ages to cover the greys in my brown hair. My hair was in terrible condition, dry, thinning, breaking off etc.
Tried the reddy brown Lush henna, it's a gorgeous colour, plus has left it really glossy, hasn't been this shiny all over since I was in my 20s.
Did it about 4 weeks ago and the colour and shine is still as good as when I first did it. Will never use a box dye again.
Promise I don't work for them, just needed to share the love!

Couple of questions - what sort of bowl do you use and how do you clean it afterwards - can you put it in the dishwasher??

Will I need one of those brushes hairdressers use for applying dye? And I'll need disposable gloves presumably?

I cut up the lush blocks (you don't need the whole block if you only have shoulder length hair, lush staff will advise). Then put blocks in small glass bowl, cover in boiling water and whisk (thanks for the tip someone in here gave me) over a Bain Marie to keep it hot. I make it quite runny as easier to apply. Then pour mixture into empty squeezy bottle (ketchup or something).

Stand in shower naked, slop it onto hair and rub in, cover in clingfilm and an old towel and leave for as long as possible. Rinse off in shower, wash and condition as normal.

Voila, super douper just stepped out of a salon glossy hair.

and yes disposable gloves but no need for brush thing.

I need to dye my hair every 3 weeks and my roots are white, completely white (hair dyed brown).

Would brown henna cover white hair or would I end up s strange shade of orange?

Also once you've tried it, can you return to dyeing roots, if it doesn't work for you? My hair is long, so can't grow it out! Certainly not cutting it off! Thanks

I'm seriously tempted...currently dye my hair every 3 weeks with a box dye. Does it stay put if it's raining? (bad experience with Wella Colour Mouse back in the day makes me worry about this!)...Can anyone that swims regularly vouch for henna?

This is the thread I've needed! My hair is frazzled, porous and wiry. It's never been this bad, I think a combo of regrowth from two pregnancies and a hairdresser who is a keen bean on permanent hair colour has led to this. So on the way home today I've invested in the brun block, I'm going for it on Friday night. I'll report back on the result. Very excited considering the positive reports already!!

Sorry if I am being dense re earlier post on this - but does it leave you with roots as it grows out, or just fade out totally over time?

Love Lush products!

I would like to know the answer to your question too, sandyposy. Is it even possible to do roots touch-ups with Henna?

Mine hasn't been in long enough to see about root growth but so far it has clung to my hair and not faded so I imagine I will get roots showing.

Saying that lush staff said It doesn't matter if you just slop it all over again (rather than just do the roots) as you don't get that block of colour look with box dyes. It's very forgiving stuff.

Not sure how it would work with very grey roots sorry, need someone else to answer that.

I dye my long hair with Indian henna from eBay. It does cover all the grey, shows roots after a while but I do get it fiery red after about 2 hours with a clingfilm cap and then because I get fed up I dry it with a hair dryer, that brings out the colour. I love the coles, it's great to pay around with mixes. And, some say that you get the smell out if you add ground ginger powder.

I suppose there's nothing to stop you mixing up a small quantity, putting it in a ketchup bottle and just doing roots though. But really not sure what coverage you would get on really grey roots.

Someone more henna experienced might be able to answer that.

I'm keen to try this. I've NEVER dyed my hair and I'll be 45 this year. First greys are sprouting...
I'm just so nervous and I'm the low maintenance type and can't see me doing this every few weeks. So wonder if I should just stick with my hair as it is.
Also, I'm not a natural red head, I have dark blonde-brown hair, which has always had a lot of colour variation in it, but its now turning more mousy in colour and dull too since childbirth. I miss shine!
Anyone know which colour I can go for to give it a natural lift without becoming a total red head, which is a step too far for me.
Thanks all!

This stuff sounds great. How do you manage roots/regrowth?

Do they have a Brown colour that's not plum looking? If so what is it called, many thanks!

Lush have a reddy brown called MARRON which I have used and is not in the slightest purple, and a more chocolatey brown one called BRUN, which someone on here described a conker-ish. You can experiment by mixing shades too.

Not sure about regrowth. I'm just going to slop it on all over and hope for the best when I redo mine (henna suits my lax style of hair maintenance ).

I used to use something called Henara when I was about 15 and just starting to dye my hair, think it was a bit orangey from memory/dodgy old photos!

I didn't know Lush did henna. I'm quite tempted because I use a permanent box dye at the moment and it just fades so quickly. Would henna last longer? And is the brun shade proper brown or is there red in it?

I'm another Lush henna fan! Started using the marron when I spotted my first few greys. Marron is a lovely chestnut reddy brown. Then I felt a bit bolder and moved on to rouge - which is a bit redder. Both look great, and leave my hair in great condition - incredibly shiny. I have a few more greys now - and do it every 6 weeks or so to keep them under control. The greys come out a lot redder than the rest of my hair (which is naturally brown) - but the variation looks nice, and is quite a natural effect. I have short hair, and one block does me 3 sessions - so good value. It is a bit messy - but after a couple of times I found the best way for me. I make up the paste, get it quite hot, and then sit in the bath to apply it. I wrap my head in cling film and just get on with jobs at home for about 3 hours. Once I'm done, I rinse the bath - and things are pretty much contained. I put on a sweatshirt with a hood, and the one time someone did come to the door, I just put the hood up! No doubt it looked a bit odd - but I can live with that!! Heat helps you to get a good colour. In the summer it's a great excuse to sit out in the garden for a while. I really couldn't go back to chemical colourings now.

It can be a bit lentil-weaver-ish at time but I can highly recommend this section of the Long Hair Community as a resource for people interested in henna, whether you want to use Lush blocks or mix your own from scratch.

I don't get much fading at all when I use powdered henna. I do a two step henna and indigo process to get a soft, natural looking black. I last did mine before Christmas () and whilst he indigo has faded a little, meaning it's now more dark chocolate brown than black, the henna underneath has barely faded at all.

My hair grows quite quickly so I've got a horrible amount of roots but, as a PP said, you don't get that really harsh line between coloured and non-coloured hair with henna. It's obvious if I compare my ends to my roots but it doesn't look too bad at all hence why I've been horribly lazy and haven't done it for ages

I've got quite a lot of greys right at the front and the henna/indigo covers them just fine and I get no more fading on them than I do on the rest of my hair.

This thread has finally got me off my arse and my henna mix is sitting in the airing cupboard waiting for me to use it tomorrow

Ooooooh I am a ginger but am fadin and would like to brighten my hair up to my original flaming glory. Would this work? I currently use a clariol (I think) semipermanent colour when I can be bothered but that's not often.

Thanks Stunts I'm really intrigued now. I checked out a few you tube videos. It looks great, shiny and I love the fact that hair looks slightly thicker.

I have box colors in my hair so I'm not sure how henna will come out.

I'm also wary of 'build up' where layers of color darken the hair to black, not sure if that happens with henna?

Persis- lush do a red shade called Rouge, go for it!
Scarlet - I did the lush henna over years of permanent home box dyes and it took beautifully.
Can't believe there's so many henna users already on here, thanks for all the tips everyone. I may redo mine tomorrow and stick photos on here

Does anyone know if there's a way of getting a blonde or at least light red colour using henna?

persis I'm ginger, the rouge gives me a dark red colour whereas in reality I'm a firery copper red.

Is it possible to apply NOT sitting in the bath or shower? Or is this not recommended??

Dancer I just apply mine standing in front of the mirror. I keep it relatively thick so I don't get any drips and once I've got cling film over it and an old towel round my shoulders I'm safe to wander round the house.

Scarlet if you do repeated full head applications of henna it will eventually get darker and darker. Not all the way to black but it can end up sort of burgundy. I found the Lush stuff faded quite a bit so build up would have been less of an issue if I'd kept using that than it is with powdered henna. If you reach a colour you like it's wise to then start doing roots only. Some people use cassia (or a henna and cassia blend) rather than just henna on their lengths to get the shine and condition without any colour.