Henna Heads Unite

So if any of yall know me Im a major henna head. I generally henna bout once ever 4-6 weeks and mix my henna with warm water, about a cup of organic green tea and a tablespoon of ACV. Now I've changed my mixture so many times because I would find adding more ACV and leaving the henna in my hair for 6-8 hours would sometimes dry my hair out. I know some of yall use honey and other conditioning products so my question to everyone is, how often do you henna and what do you add to your henna mix?

Hello,

I see a lot of information about Henna and the frequent use of the product. Am I correct with I look at that as a coloring process? I would like to try the product, but I'm a natural with highlights and I was wondering if that would cause damage to my hair. I tried researching and can't seem to find the information I'm looking for. I would love to see if it will tame my curls

Henna does add light natural tint to the hair. It will not drastically change the color because it attaches to the bonds in your hair. So after repeated use you will start to notice a slight change in color(reddish to brownish) if your hair is dark. I use henna mainly for the conditioning/ strengthening properties because it does act as a keratin/protein to your hair. I notice if my hair starts to shed more then usual I do a henna and that usually stops the shedding right in its tracks. As far as I have read you can use henna or your highlights, just know depending on the color of your highlights it may cause varying color results.

Thanks for the insight. Do you have website(s)where I can find more information on Henna and educate myself more on it prior to trying?

Yes I learned a lot from www.Hennaforhair.com and Hennasooq.com were very helpful for me.

Thanks! I will check those out

I try to Henna every other month the last time I use henna which was last week I used green tea and coconut milk and notice my hair wasn't as dry I also used Shescentit honey rinse conditoner after rinsing the henna out.

hello,

i noticed that everyone uses honey with their henna...why? i thought was the cold weather one is suppose to stay away from honey...

I myself LOVE henna . I like to do it about every other week. No dryness at all. Then in the in between weeks I do a shikakai/brahmi/hibiscus hair mask.

My henna recipe is: henna, acv, essentials oils of tea tree and rosemary.


If I could henna every week ( i used to) I would. I had no problems whatsoever.

I've been using henna since 2001.

dajewel

I use henna for moisture, I'm in Las Vegas and was in New Mexico before that so its not as cold and also I henna at night.

I use my henna every two weeks (I have very aggressive grey). My mixture includes green tea and honey. I was told by the Hennaforhair.com folks that if I add any type of oil that may prevent my hair folicles from bonding with the henna properly so I stopped using any oils. I've had no drying at all.

I use the Ancient Sunrise Cinnamon kit which includes 100% body art quality henna and buxus. My hair was light brown with super light brown/blonde highlights, but when I used this combination I got red. It's very rich and I love it, but my hair color did change drastically. I think if you start off with dark brown/black hair then it's less apt to change colors...at least that's been my experience.

Overall, I absolutely LOVE hennas and I've noticed a major difference in the strength and thickness of my hair strands.

I guess it is because my base hair color is light that I have always hennaed with olive oil in my mix and had zero problem with stain, even when I only leave it for 30 minutes. It was to prevent the henna from being too intense that I incorporated it. Since olive oil is also good for hair, I still benefit from it in that way, even though it does nothing, in my experience, to de-intensify the color. My current shade is a rich, deep russet that look great in sunlight, but is a bit too dark in some indoor light.

For this reason, I've decided to start back using cassia, as in the early days of my henna use, with a bare minimum of henna mixed in. I figure a 1 to 7 or 1 to 8 ratio of henna to cassia should be about right for me. I may even start leaving it on overnight, or at least for several hours, so it can really do the conditioning job for which so many want to try it.

Hi for those of you who experienced dryness, how long before your hair returned to its normal state? Once you conition does that clear up the dryness??


Thanks

@actionactress...since your a henna pro/veteran what changes have you noticed in your hair over time? Has it grown? Gotten stronger? Did you have any hair "ailments" that have since disappeared?


Over time, my hair grows very nicely, I have no problems with growth. It is VERY strong and resists damage from heat (when I do use heat, I am not without splits but they are much less frequent--hence the growth accumulation).
The only hair ailment I had was itchy scalp(that spot on the crown). I have a calm scalp now, even if I go a while without washing during lazy times. The shikakai shampoo bar works well too with itchy scalp.

benefits I have are:

Shiny bling, bling hair
stronger hair
thicker
healthier
a nice mahogany shade in the light
nice growth along with the other Ayurvedic powders in assistance with no heat and applied moisture.

I'm wondering just like dajewel if I live in a colder climate, should I use honey in my henna (when I begin to use it). See the quote below:

"According to The Curl Whisperer, our resident curly expert, we should avoid humectancts in the winter:

In very low moisture areas, dry climates, or during the wintertime, humectants can actually dry the hair out further by absorbing water from the hair itself when there is no moisture in the surrounding atmosphere. Because the sole purpose of a humectant is to find and absorb moisture, it will find it and take it wherever it can get it--and that includes yanking out the moisture from inside your curly locks, leaving you with a dry, frizzy mess.--Tiffany, The Curl Whisperer"

Does this apply to henna as well? Thanks for your help.

On the hennaforhair site, I noticed that a lot of henna heads put sugar in their mixes. I don't know why they did it, but I know from watching Good Eats on the Food Network that sugar is scientifically considered a liquid in baking because of its properties in terms of moisture in the product. There is a relationship between sugar and moisture. Perhaps if you check at the hennaforhair forum, someone there will be able to tell you more about that.

Thanks, Cygnet!

Great question! I actually put honey in my henna because henna can be drying and adding oil to henna may inhibit color uptake. I use room temp green tea, honey, and cinnamon & nutmeg (to try to cut the smell of henna). Since you'll be rinsing the henna (with the honey) out of your hair and following up the henna treatment with a DC treatment, there shouldn't be a problem.

krenea wrote:Great question! I actually put honey in my henna because henna can be drying and adding oil to henna may inhibit color uptake. I use room temp green tea, honey, and cinnamon & nutmeg (to try to cut the smell of henna). Since you'll be rinsing the henna (with the honey) out of your hair and following up the henna treatment with a DC treatment, there shouldn't be a problem.

I agree with this. I usually henna my hair once a month (when i'm not being lazy) and I always add honey to my mix for extra moisture. I too find that since i'm rinsing the henna mixture out of my hair there are no affects of using the honey in a low moisture climate.

I keep my henna mix really simple: I add steeped chammomile tea to my mix with a few dollups of honey and that's it. I use the Jamila brand and always get fabulous results. I like to apply my henna and leave it in over night so I get really good dye release. Plus I find that breaking up the henna-ing process is much easier than trying to do everything in one day. Once I wash the henna out of my hair I follow it up with a good DT. I make sure to use a DC that doesn't contain protein and is just moisturizing since henna can act as a protein treatment.

I went through a period where I was losing hair due to stress and low iron and I was freaking out. I tend to shed a lot in general but this was on another level. Once I did a henna treatment the shedding decreased significantly! I used to mainly henna for the the colour b/c I like the deep burgundy/cherry colour it gives me but now I don't even care about that as much as about it's wonderful conditioning benefits. It has really improved the condition of my hair and I know it's what I can always turn to when things get out of whack.

Thanks so much krenea and Beautifully Human! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] I've been stressing over this so much--I always overanalyze (lol), but you both make a lot of sense. When I do henna, I'll use some honey in my mix and I'll report back. This community forum is truly wonderful!!!

NowIAmNappy wrote:I know some of yall use honey and other conditioning products so my question to everyone is, how often do you henna and what do you add to your henna mix?

When I first did my BC (Jan 29,2009) I henna every 3 days!! I had use honey/lemon juice/jamila henna/evoo at the time....Now I only do a full head henna on 29th each month (to celebrate my BC! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] ) and do henna gloss every 3 days. After my henna treatment..I do a deep treatment with just coconut milk under the dryer for 30-1hr (makes my hair really soft) I now onlt use Jamila Henna with lemon Juice..thats it!

Ok this might be a stuid ? to some - but what is a henna gloss? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
What does it do for your hair? What is in it and how is it prepared?

a henna gloss is diluted henna paste--you add in conditioner. Go to NaturallyCurly.com and check out the 4a forum. The first post is a thread I started 2 years ago. Spiral, a henna vet, primarily does henna glosses with great results.

You get less color, and the process is less drying in general. It's a great alternative if you (1) don't have enough time for a full head henna, (2) want a less intense color (but color nonetheless), and (3) want an easier rinsing process!

hth!

I'm not sure about mixes...but you'll find that in the thread. I know they mix it with cheapie, protein free conditioners (oil free), like suave.

Thanks I'll check that out. I really like to whole process so I think I'll stay with that for a while.