More henna/indigo questions

[AprilSeptember]

Following on from my henna thread a while back.

I'm a bit tired of the pale copper now and my darker roots are coming in. I've bought some indigo powder and my plan is to put that over this red/copper that I have from the henna over my lightened hair. I want to end up chocolatey brown and I figure orange + indigo should give me that.

Experienced henndigo heads, please tell me:

What do I mix indigo with? Water - tea? Vinegar?

Can I add coconut or olive oil and combine a gloss with the colour or do I need to do this separately?

Do I put it on damp or dry hair?

How long do I leave it on if I'm not trying to go jet black?

Thanks x

I use hendigo [ henna and indigo]
You have to mix the henna and indigo together.
I usually make up the henna [or have previously and frozen it]
You cant make indigo up in advance. You are meant to use distilled water. I just use tap water and mix the indigo. You need to use it once it has mixed. Put the henna in with the indigo and mix well. Then you are ready for application. You can do it in two stages also. You can dye your hair with henna then apply indigo once that's done but its way too much of a faf for me. I wouldn't personally add anything to the hendigo mix. It can have trouble staying put. Equally when you have left it in your hair for the desired amount of time only rinse with conditioner. Don't use shampoo as it can take the indigo out. It is far more unstable than henna but it does give good results if you get it right.

The hendigo mix can go on damp hair or dry hair as you would henna. I usually leave the hendigo mix on overnight. I apply it about 9pm or 10pm, wrap it all up and rinse with conditioner in the morning.

The colour will depend more upon how much indigo you put in the henna rather than the time in my experience. The time is more about saturation of colour - or it is on me and how much the dye uptake is on my hair. If you want more red, apply less indigo mix.
I put my hendigo mix on for only 5hrs last time and greys are quite resistant and the mix didn't do as well as an overnight job.

Ok, so I had a pack of Henné Brun left over, which was premixed henna, indigo and amla. So I mixed that with about 50g indigo powder, boiling water and a little acv. Then I added a tablespoon of coconut oil. Left on (nervously) for about an hour. This morning I have definitely darker hair with a copper flare. I figure I can always add more. How much does indigo oxidise over the next couple of days?

It's a bit of a shock to be this dark after over a year blonde and then six months copper! But if I want to grow it out I think this is the best way.

This stuff is addictive. Love that I can just do it as many times as I want :)

It had indigo in it already? I thought you just had a pack of Henna. That's why it ended up darker. What I was meaning was just adding indigo to just henna. Glad it worked out for you.
Don't know if indigo oxidises tbh. I think it can be the first thing to fade upon repeated washes.

Not sure about the boiling water - Unless of course it states it on your mix. If you add boiling water to pure henna or even indigo, it can weaken its effect and cause dye release to soon as far as I have read.
I usually buy pure henna from hennacat. There is lots of advice on there.

hennacat.com/

You can also buy henna from there.