Post by redwood on Sept 19, 2010 11:15:39 GMT -5
I have been using henna to color my hair for two years now. If you do use henna, I advise to get it from this website: hennaforhair.com as it's pure henna and is better than the stuff you buy in the store. This henna actually does not fade and I mostly just do the roots every three weeks. I do it that often as I have some grey hairs and the roots start to grow in and show. I do the whole thing every 3 or 4 months. Henna is translucent so it doesn't dramatically change your hair color and it doesn't show a line of demarcation if you ONLY do the roots and nothing else. My hair is much healthier looking than it was when I used conventional hair dye. I have medium brown hair naturally and now my hair is a rich dark auburn. The color looks different in various lighting - inside more brownish and in the sun more reddish looking. Overall it looks darker, but I like that effect. The grays show up as dark red highlights. I use the Yemen henna which is known to cover gray well and gives a dark auburn effect (although that one is now called Celebration). I also use it on my boyfriend's graying hair to make a dark brown using henna first then indigo after (he didn't want reddish hair). You can use henna, indigo, amla and other plant dyes to change the color you get (although depends on how long you leave it on too). You just can't lighten your hair with it.
If anyone has any questions about using henna, feel free to contact me. I got the mixing and process down, and I'd be more than willing to help others who want to try it. Keep in mind that it is a permanent color (at least the good and pure henna). For me, it fades much LESS than any permanent hair color I've used (the grays never show through, just grow in at the roots). It is time consuming though as I leave it on for 5 hours (to make sure those grays get darker - don't want orange hair!). The henna/indigo for brown hair is about 3 hours total.
Also, to respond to pretty's comment, with the pure henna you shouldn't have a problem using other color afterward (see the website for info about that). Although I haven't changed mine, so I can't speak from personal experience. Although my boyfriend has used other color when he was traveling and I couldn't do it for him and there was no bad effect from that, except for the fact that the henna/indigo looks better than the regular chemical hair color you buy in a drugstore. But of course, he didn't lighten it but used dark brown color.
If anyone has any questions about using it, feel free to contact me. There's also lots of info on the hennaforhair.com site. There is also a forum where people post their experiences and help each other out (kind of like this site).
If anyone has any questions about using henna, feel free to contact me. I got the mixing and process down, and I'd be more than willing to help others who want to try it. Keep in mind that it is a permanent color (at least the good and pure henna). For me, it fades much LESS than any permanent hair color I've used (the grays never show through, just grow in at the roots). It is time consuming though as I leave it on for 5 hours (to make sure those grays get darker - don't want orange hair!). The henna/indigo for brown hair is about 3 hours total.
Also, to respond to pretty's comment, with the pure henna you shouldn't have a problem using other color afterward (see the website for info about that). Although I haven't changed mine, so I can't speak from personal experience. Although my boyfriend has used other color when he was traveling and I couldn't do it for him and there was no bad effect from that, except for the fact that the henna/indigo looks better than the regular chemical hair color you buy in a drugstore. But of course, he didn't lighten it but used dark brown color.
If anyone has any questions about using it, feel free to contact me. There's also lots of info on the hennaforhair.com site. There is also a forum where people post their experiences and help each other out (kind of like this site).