Trying henna together

I think all people who have ever tried hair colouring already heard about henna, too. But hearing or reading about it doesn’t equal with trying. You may feel that trying henna at home can be something like a challenge. If you have ever read about it you know that it will get messy and getting the desired colour may take you long hours with the mixture on your hair. To be honest I think these are the reasons why a lot of women choose „normal” dyes. They are much more simpler. You can find an hour for it even if you’re busy. You can go to a salon or you can even invite a friend to make it for you while you both talk about all the week’s stories with each other. Why not, it’s fun. Nevertheless there’s still some really important benefits about henna. It’s natural with no chemicals so it’s worth a try for sure.

This post is rather sharing some experience with you about henna instead of just listing a few facts. After collecting some pieces of information my friend decided to try it and share this „adventure” with me. Some people make fast decisions while others think longer about making a change. Regarding hair colour, I think it’s always better to think it through twice.  If it’s henna, the reason is the fact that you cannot just switch to „normal dyes” after using it if you prefer another colour with less mess. So – get back to us – the decision was made, the dye was bought and we were ready for having fun.

Given we read kind of scary opinions about elbow-grease work of breaking henna bricks into pieces we chose powder for the first try. Also read about several natural ingredients that can be added to the dye like lemon, beetroot, coffee, tea, olive oil, egg and many more (It could be another, separate post) and we decided to make a mixture with lemon, beetroot and some tea. We didn’t do anything special in advance, I mean no mixture was made the day before. We used the cream almost immediately. Have I told you it was fun? Look at the nasty smiling face in the bowl:

So we tried to make the bathroom prepared and my friend didn’t forget about using some cream on her forehead, back of the neck, ears and also along the hairline. She wanted to avoid coloured spots on her skin for sure. Later it came out that it was a really good and effective act. Okay, so all was fine, rubber gloves were on and we were ready to make it. We didn’t succeed with applying henna with a hair dye brush so we switched to applying with hands very early.  Comparing the mixture with „normal” hair dyes it seemed to be less spreadable and a little dryer. (Maybe we didn’t catch the perfect percentages about the ingredients for the first time.) Well, small pieces of henna were all around the bathroom and my friend said to have a scary feeling after applying the dye. She had the impression that her hair will dry with the mixture and it’ll be like an old bough and can break into pieces at any time. Of course it didn’t happen.

We thought that we were very mindful about everything. Yes. Expect one little thing. We didn’t lock the bathroom door. Someone came in of course and turned out immediately with loud laughing. Another friend of us. Although he knew what was going on, he was not prepared to the view of strange and kind of suspicious spots all around the bathroom. After this shock … we covered her hair with a plastic firm then used also a towel to prevent even more pieces of hair dye anywhere and get prepared to the rest of the day (and night) with some snacks ’nd films together.

The mixture was on her hair for about ten hours and washing it out takes quiet long time but the result was soft, shiny hair with a thicker texture. I can understand that traditional henna applications are done in groups because it’s a long procedure with a lot of mess. While making it together is fun.

I’ve got to tell that later I found different opinions about adding more ingredients to henna. Just for an example while some think coffee can make the colour darker, others say it to be false given there’s no dyeing agents in it. You can read even more about henna in this post.
Find the dye that you’d like to try:

A little more about henna

I’ve been hearing the name Henna quiet often for many years now. That’s why I suppose there’s nothing new about this option of hair colour. Nevertheless I haven’t look any deeper into it so far. It happened that a friend of mine tried it recently for the first time so she gave me the idea to write about it a little more. What is Henna at all? Where does it come from? What is it made of? Is it all natural? Can you be sure that you do only good to your hair and scalp when you use it? How long we used it for this purpose? What other purposes can it be used. If you already know the answers for these questions you can stop and check another post. 😉 If not… stay with me and learn a little more about it together.

What is it actually?

Okay. Henna is a dye, we’ve caught that already. Natural, made of a plant, that has been used for such purposes since ancient times. All the same it became so popular in the Western culture only in the last 50 years. It’s said that even Egyptian mummies’ hair was coloured with it. It has been used not only for hair dyeing but for skin decoration, too. In some countries it’s very popular to apply it before weddings. It symbolizes fertility and they believe it can help about having a happy family. The dye itself is made of Lawsonia inermis. Maybe you have heard about henna tree or Egyptian pivet. Well, these are different names for the same plant that is growing originally in Africa, South-Asia and North-Australia.

How can it be used?

Lawsonia inermis holds lawsone what is the reason of the usability in colouring the skin, hair, nails or other materials that contain protein but only after mashing it. The whole leaves will not help you about staining. In regions where it grows they make a dry powder from it then add some liquid. Some essential oils – like tea tree or lavender – are able to make colouring more effective while others – like eucalyptus – are better to avoid because of skin irritation. If you decided to try henna you are in a simpler situation. You don’t need to make any mixtures because ready blocks are available on the market.

What hair colour can I have after using henna?

The result depends on the original colour of your hair but this solution is for you mainly if you dream about some tone of red. The lightest can be similar to orange and the darkest is auburn. I suppose you disagree now if you have ever checked it on the internet. Maybe you saw such dyes for blond or even black hair. This is true but those are not pure Henna. The colouring agent is not lawsone but other natural dyes. In some cases chemicals. I have always prefered natural solutions nevertheless keep in mind that there are experiences to claim that this solution will not completely cover grey hair and keep the highlights you had before colouring.

Is it all natural?

My opinion is that as long as you don’t live in a region where it’s grown and mixed you cannot be 100 percent sure. Unfortunately. It’s possible that you paid for henna dye but you got a product with another colouring ingredient. As long as these other ingredients are still natural – like cassia obovata – it shouldn’t cause a problem but some products can contain metal salts or chemicals. They can cause itching or allergic reactions. It’s better to be careful because you can find products with the name Henna although they don’t even contain it. The best example is neutral henna which is not even a dye but still a really good option as a conditioner. Or black henna which sounds really good. We could think: Finally there’s some healthy solution for black hair but you need to think it twice because of a possible extra ingredient, coal-tar. It contains PPD which can cause even lifelong problems.

And now you can tell about some companies who promise you to have black hair with Henna and still in a healthy way. Well, real henna will never turn your hair black. These products are indigo-based and safe but calling them henna is a mistake. These names can be confusing if one doesn’t read a little more about this topic. Choosing this option to have black hair is a good decision as long as it’s indigo-based. Clicking here you can read more about Clicking here you can read more about how can you achieve black hair with only natural solutions.

In case you want to use natural solutions as many parts of your life as possible you can do it also about hair colour.  I wouldn’t say that applying henna is as simple and fast as other dyes but keeping your health is a big thing. But what if after trying it you feel that it’s not for you? There are different opinions about using „normal” dyes after henna. Because of these opposite opinions I would suggest to wait as long as your hair grows out this natural dye.