Henna hair dye. Any tips?

[russianoak]

My once lovely ginger curly hair is now turning a grubby ginger/brown with some greys thrown in and pretty frizzy.

I've been researching henna and would love to try it, but it seems so complex, with people creating nothing short of potions (mixing it with coffee, green tea, honey, yoghurt, protein) so I could do with some advice!

I'd also like to use a keratin treatment, which I use every few months to combat the frizz, but the internet seems to say that's a no.

Also - will the henna act as a super conditioner? As think my curls may come back if so, which will mean I don't need the keratin anyway?

Thank you!

Sorry - to add, I want to be ginger.

I know nothing about henna, but I did see this video recently... the bloke watching is a hairdresser

Although I have also seen a video we're someone uses lush henna and their hair ends up the most beautiful ginger

Ok, I've tried a few ways and this works for me -
Buy Moroccan henna powder on eBay. 100g does my long thick hair but try 150g for the first go to make sure it covers it all.
Make a cup of tea and let it go cold. Mix cold tea with henna in a mixing bowl (glass not plastic or you will get a browny green bowl). Cover with cling film and leave for an hour.
Put down an old sheet in front of the mirror. Wear gloves. Use a pointy comb to section hair and apply henna with hands. You may want to use clips to hold it.
Cover in cling film and leave for 2+ hours. Wash out in shower. That bit is a ball ache and takes ages.
Henna will probably make your curl pattern drop a bit so if you don't want that to happen maybe don't try henna.

Avoid lush henna - it's really expensive, a pain in the arse to dissolve the blocks and the shea butter they mix it with prevents the colour taking properly

Oh, I've used Lush henna successfully in the past. I found that grating it really helped it to dissolve.

Thank you!!

I wouldn't mind the curl dropping, it's more the frizz that concerns me. Would it help de frizz?

Do you use normal tea. A Yorkshire tea bag and that's it? What does the tea do?

Also thank you for the video - will watch tomorrow.

Also - will I have to wait until any existing box dye is out? I've got permanent ginger on it, but it's about 6 months old.

Any black tea is fine. Henna leaves my hair lovely and smooth. I've gone from wavy to pretty straight since using it and my hair texture is really nice.
I used it on top of old box dye and it was fine.

I’ve used henna on my hair for years: all sorts of henna. I’m not into mixing it with weird sh*t; there should be no need if it’s decent quality henna - you need ‘body art quality’ if buying powdered henna. You can add some lemon juice to the mix if you like a brighter red, and it helps the colour take. Mix your henna up with hot water until you have a thickish paste about the consisteny of thick yoghurt. Let it sit until you get a dark green coating on top - that’s your dye release. Put down a tonne of newsparer (in the bath is good - it’s messy) then dollop and squidge the henna on your hair as you will. It’s a good idea to put barrier cream or vaseline around your nevk, hairline and ears before you start - cos henna stains skin. Once you are adorned with a mud pie head, you can let it air dry which will give you a slightly darker colour, or rock the ‘pladtic bag tied atop the head’ look which is deeply stylish and will make for a brighter colour. Stay like this for a good 3-4 hours and then rinse....and rinse again, use a load of cheap conditioner. Dry, style, admire your healthy, shiny hair. Lush henna I find perfectly fine. Just dunk the bar in boiling water and squash with a wooden spoon.

Doh, that should be ‘plastic bag’

Be careful using henna on previously dyed or bleached hair as it may turn the hair green.

I used to use henna from The Body Shop which was fine. Just used to mix it up and slap it on. They also used to do a small "tester" size which was perfect for touching up roots.

Had to stop when I started going very grey as it started looking pink!

I've been using henna on my hair for about 30 years now. I started when living in India, where it was a pretty standard hair treatment.

It doesn't need to be as complicated as people make it:

The day before: mix henna powder with hot water till you have a thickish paste, cover and set aside. If you have it in a bowl that can go in the microwave, so much the better.

Next day, before applying the henna, do two things to help it effectively penetrate your hair:

-wash your hair. Shampoo only, no conditioner. Any natural oil from your scalp that is on your hair would act as a barrier between your hair and the henna. Towel dry your hair, but let it stay a bit damp. You now have the best condition to let the henna penetrate your hair.

-heat up the henna mixture that you prepared the day before. This is why the microwave-proof bowl was useful. Warm henna is far more effective at transferring colour than cold henna.

Now apply, and leave it on as long as you can put up with. If you can keep your head warm the colour will develop much better (e.g. put a shower cap over the hennaed hair, then wrap a towel over that, alternatively you can sit in the sun).

Then wash it out. The colour will probably still keep coming out bit by bit over the next few washes after the first time. Don't use a white towel to dry your hair during this time!
The henna in the hair oxidises after it has been washed out. As a result it darkens - the colour you see immediately after washing it out will be a lot paler than how it will look the next day.

Pure henna is simply the ground up leaves of a plant. Where I lived in India, neighbours where growing it as a hedge, and women used to come along and pluck the leaves and take them away with them. This means that your hair will have a fairly strong plant smell the first one or two days after application. It does go away after that!

I use henna hair creams, just pour it on, rub it in and leave it, then wash out. I've used, chocolate, red, mahogany and dark brown. My hair is dark brown though so I get lovely highlights on my greys. I've used both surya brasil and henne from Amazon.

Henne Color Copper Henna Hair Colouring Cream 90 ml https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002BU3YYG/ref=cmswwrcppapiii_KUf8Cb39BQ5JJ