Henna hair lovers!

[Sunshine4you]

I love using henna for my hair. Not only for the color but for all the benefits it's done to my hair since switching from chemical dyes.
My hair is thicker, healthy, shiny and easy to manage.
I also use cassia, alma and sedr powder as hair masks and to mix in my henna mix.

I thought I would start a thread for us henna lovers to share our recipes and tips!

So who else is a henna lover?

Sounds like a good idea! I henna my hair but find it makes it very dry. Would love to know how to sort that issue out.

Same as pp, although I like henna shades it makes my hair dry and brittle. My hair is curly so naturally on the dry side.

I love it! I’ve bought a new packet but slightly worried it’s not the right colour! Plain henna is always a red chestnut rught ?

Plain henna is orange/red depending on the type of henna. Make sure you buy 100% henna and not those boxes as they have metals in them.

I mix mine with coconut milk - chamomile tea and Lemon (for dye release) - the coconut milk is amazing for dryness. Also when washing out use a load of conditioner - it helps all the henna come out easily and leaves your hair soft.

Any henna that is labelled as brown or black is mixed with indigo or katam. Which again if you want to achieve that color it's best to buy the pure powders and mix it yourself. You can buy from Amazon. I use Moroccan Jamila henna and mix it with cassia (neutral henna has no color but adds conditioning and also lessens the red of the henna) I go for a more lighter copper color so my mix is 75% henna and 25% cassia - I also add 3 tablespoons of Alma (great for hair strength and conditioning too and boosts the natural wave in your hair).

You can also buy aloe Vera powder and add that to your mix as that also helps with moisture.

I use black tea and a bit of milk, with a. Dash of lemon to hopefully bring out more red. I leave it on 12 hours + and sleep with a hot water bottle in the turban since it apparently helps develop the colour.
My hair is past my bum and not exactly the thickest so I’m scared of traditional dyes. It always feels amazing after dying it

That's sounds good. I keep it in for 3 hours with my head wrapped in cling film and with a scarf wrapped round it. Get the perfect color for me with that timing.

Ooh hello! My people! Been colouring my hair with henna for years. I have long hair so now I have a lovely hairdresser who comes to my house and does the roots for me. I use body art quality powdered henna and mix with lemon juice or vinegar and then wait for the dye release to happen. I have used the Lush henna blocks as well and they are lovely for the condition though a tad faffy to mix up. I’m going grey now and I love the way henna gives me bright highlights instead.

Hey @Craftycorvid welcome!

Yay I've found my people too.

Yes henna gives lovely natural highlights. I initially hennaed over bleached hair so my hair is a lovely copper color as my natural colour is a lightish brown. I love the vibrancy of it. Have you found it's made your hair thicker? What other benefits have you found from using henna regularly? Also how often do you all henna? Do you do full applications each time or just roots?

I hennaed for about 10 years before switching to a ginger box dye so I could grow it out & go a lower maintenance blonde. I was ready for a change but I'd be lying if I said I didn't sometimes desperately miss that colour!

Didn't miss the hours of dyeing time, or the needing to touch up every few weeks because my natural ashy colour looked grey in comparison, or the bleaching when it'd gone too dark 🤦🏻‍♀️

But it was so beautiful! Just can't replicate that with a box dye...

Thanks for the welcome! I used to dye my hair with henna back when the Body Shop sold it, then I went on to chemical colours. I we t back to henna about 13 years ago when I’d wrecked the condition of my hair with chemical treatments and it was literally snapping off at the ends! I remembered that henna coats and conditions hair and, yes, it helped the damage. In terms of roots/all over, I do the roots regularly then occasionally brighten the colour all over. I do find that adding too many layers leaves you with brighter roots and almost black ends, which can look good but it wasn’t what I wanted. I had hair loss at meno’ and it took some years to recover its fullness, and I do think henna has helped.

@Lellochip Woah your hair is so beautiful!

I've been hennaing for about 7 years now. When I started noticing greys I first had proper dye jobs done at salons, but they made my hair dry and it was so expensive. So I switched to henna. I dye every three to four weeks and I use pure powdered henna. Although I love it I've found that it's made my hair really tangled, so I've started washing it out with tons of conditioner and that's helping.

Does anyone have tips for achieving a slightly browner shade? I've read about indigo but I'm scared of using it

You can buy katam - it's different to indigo and is a brown shade and add that to your henna 50/50 @countrypunk

Your color is beautiful. Similar to my color actually.
Have you tried cassia as hair masks in between? It's neutral henna and has no color but gives you all the benefits.

Thank you @Sunshine4you! Gonna check that out immediately...

I'm about to do a cassia/Amla treatment - I like to do them weekly to keep my hair strong and shiny and there is no color deposit.

@Lellochip Woah your hair is so beautiful!

Thank you, this is an old pic - I'm now blonde, which is much lower maintenance and my hairdresser does an amazing job but I don't feel as 'special' as I did as a redhead! I feel my soul is ginger

I wanted to get started, but worried about a) layering it on during subsequent applications and going too dark, and b) trying to do roots only but ending up with stripes.

I do need to get back into reading up on it, though. It does sound a bit of a faff and I tend to talk myself out of all the options.

I found roots always blended surprisingly well, but did have to sometimes bleach the ends slightly when they'd got too dark. I used to apply to roots, leave for hours, then apply some to rest of hair for a further hour - probably shouldn't have done that all the time to prevent build up.

(It is a massive faff.... but pretty!)

I've been using the 'It's Pure' henna and indigo powders from Amazon. I was so impressed the first time I used it - not least because box dyes make my scalp itch like mad and I'm just not ready to go grey (and I really am quite grey). I wasn't quite prepared for how vibrantly orange my grey roots would be prior to the application of the indigo but it all worked out fine. The attached pics are via the 2 step method (3 hours of henna, rinse, 45 mins of indigo). Last week I did the 1 step where I mixed the indigo powder with the henna just before applying and it's not bad but definitely not as effective.

I meant to say, the overall end colour was a really nice brown - the longer you leave on the indigo, the darker it goes so 45 mins was perfect!

I’ve used cassia on my hair for years, it gives a very slight blonde colour but is only temporary. I used to henna it & am thinking of doing it again… my hair felt lovely & silky but I don’t miss the development time, devoting a whole evening to it every month. I’d want a chestnut rather than a flaming red, any recommendations? I used to use lush caca marron 50:50 with lush caca brun & I’m looking for something similar but less drippy/oily…

Yes cassia is lovely. It doesn't leave a stain on my hair as it is copper from the henna. For a chestnut I would mix Yemeni henna which is more red than orange with katam. 50/50. Lush products are loaded with unnecessary additives. Better to buy the powders pure and mix them up yourself. Add some lemon juice for dye release, warm water and anything else you fancy olive oil, coconut milk, some essential oils etc

Previously I've used chamomile or nettle tea for the liquid element, & raw honey in winter for a bit of lightening. I don't like Lush as it's expensive, messy (very oily) & like you say it's full of unnecessary rubbish. And I've boycotted them anyway which is actually why I stopped using it, but I never found a blend which was a decent match for the colour so I just let it grow out.
I always do essential oils, usually rosemary, chamomile & ylang ylang. Also a bit of aloe vera it a very nice humectant (it helps the hair retain moisture), it's also wet to start with but the gel dries a bit after a while so it's less drippy than oil.