Finally took the henna plunge!

Ok ladies, thank you for such descriptive posts. I bought Jamila Henna a couple of months ago, but I was too chicken to try it. So tonight I took the plunge. I'm going to leave it in for 3 hours total, cuz um scurrred. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

For the record, I've been natural for just about 20 years, and I've never dyed my hair. My hair is pretty healthy, and I only use all-natural products, so I hope to add this to my arsenal.

Will post pics when I'm done. Cross your fingas!

YEESS!! Another curly head on the henna train! I'm so excited for you, I can't wait to see pictures! My first try I didn't really see much of a color difference, but there was hella clumping!

Ok so here's what I did...
mixed 200gms Jamila Henna with cups of green tea and 1 squeezed lemon.
I stirred it by hand with a butter knife making sure all the pwder was
wet and absorbed into the mix. It should be thick like mashed potatoes
and will look dark olive in color.

Let it sit for 8 hours.

Washed, DT and conditioned my hair.

I wanted it a little but thinner so I added 2 tbsps of raw honey warmed
up in the micro, 2 tbp of coconut oil, and stirred that in until it was
more the consistency of guacamole. I also added several drops each of
peppermint oil and orange oil to make it smell a little better. (It
smells like hot wet leaves basically).

Then I applied it to my
hair section by section and put a plastic shopping bag on my head, wrapped my head in a towel and went about my business for the next 3 hours....

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Ok what I DIDN'T know was how long it would take to rinse this stuff out! I dunked my head in my tub and rinsed twice, and then rinse 4 MORE TIMES using Suave tropical coconut condish. Whew! I totally under estimated that part, cuz it was like 11:30pm when I put the deep conditioner in! The thing is, my hair felt softer, but it dried REALLY dry, especially at the roots. I used AOHSR mixed with a little castor oil as my DC, but maybe I should have left it in longer? So anyway, here's how it turned out...
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]can you see how it turned all my little gray hairs bright red! You have to get real close, but I look like I've got red metallic wire in my head! LOL!!!

How do other people combat the DRYNESS from this stuff? What kinds of DCs do you use after?

Hey Savvy! I love henna and what it does to my hair- The color !
now you got me wanting to do a henna treatment tomorrow!

I do a over night dc with the baggy! If I don't my hair will feel like straw!

THAT'S how my hair feels Nyla! Ok. I get it. Next time, I'll just put the DC in and go to bed.

Your hair looks great! I Dc'ed with Aussie Moist w/ coconut oil under a heating cap for a few hours. Then I cowashed again.

Hey Savvy

Glad you tried it, my grays look the same way like little copper wires, but i like it, kinda fun....

When i mixed mine i use honey and yogurt just because i was reading how drying it was, and when i wash it out my hair was super soft, I still DC afterwards, just cause my hair is dry and i am just beginning my transition...cant wait to do it again next month...it was fun to me.

Oh btw i had no problems washing mine out, the honey gives it a nice slip i suppose.

Also did you twist your hair after the henna or does your hair just curl like that. You have beautiful curls

@TeraD Thanks! i've gotta get me a heating cap. I usually just wrap my hair in a towel.

@Offandrunning That's interesting. I used to use honey and yogurt in a DC I used awhile back. I'll try that next time. I WISH my hair just curled like that. Naw gurl. I put about 9 or 10 twists in, then put rollers on the ends. I clearly didn't DC long enough, because yesterday my hair felt like STRAW, so I dampened it with my homemade leave-in and used Bee Mine pudding to braid it instead of twist it and put rollers on the ends. The braids usually keep it from shrinking so much. We'll see. thanks for the info.

Oh and by the way, I just looked at the time stamp on your message, 3:40am?! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Girl get some sleep!

I did my first Henna for color last night. I used the suave coconut conditioner to wash it out as well and when I did my DC I slept with it overnight and rinsed it out this morning. I kept the henna on for 3hrs, like you I was scared kept thinking I was going to get this bright red hair!! Here are my results the only product in my hair at this point is Cantu Shea Butter as my leave in I really like it and it smells so good. BTW its been said that the color will come through more after a day or two so I'll see.

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Now what to do with it. I hope to see some color come through I want nice sandy brown hair and this AIN'T IT!! But I will keep trying!! BTW I only see the color if I take may hand and smoothe my hair back it looks to be a soft burgandy color.

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@naturalhoney did you post a pic? Cuz I don't see it. They're right about the color showing up more a day or two later, cuz my hair looks more red today then it did when I took those pics above.

oh wait. my comp was actin up sorry. I see it. Your hair looks GREAT! Is it soft? That style you have in the pic looks fine as is.

@ savvybrown Glad you can see the pic and yes my hair is soft and thanks for the compliment. I'm thinking I'll wear it like this to see if color is going to show up. Do you know how long I have to wait between henna treatments? I have some free time and would take another go at it.

@naturalhonney Good question! I'm not sure. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

@Offandrunning @TerraD how long do you wait between henna sessions?

I am doing them once every 4-6 weeks. I may begin to do the henna treatments more often in order to see even better results.

@savvy, girl im up late all the time now since i lost my job when i do go back to work im going to be hurting, but i tell you i am ready for the pain.....lol...

this was my first time doing henna, I probably wont do it again for 6weeks, simply because Ooop2 told me to be careful cause its very drying....but then again since i had good results with my reciepe, i may do 4 weeks....I really like the way its thicken my sad limp hair...lol

@TerraD and Offandrunning good info I guess I'll hold out for 4wks until my next one. Can't wait but until then I'll keep looking for the right Henna and mix that will work for me. I seriously want color.

Just to chime in I usually DC overnight and then some of the next day. I'm a stay at home mom so getting up to go to work consists of getting up to get my son out of his crib. He doesn't care if his mommy has a plastic bag on her head lol.

If you work M-F I'd do it Friday evening and rinse Saturday. Also I've never used AOHSR but if it has protein in it I'd try a conditioner without it...IF your protein sensitive.

I would never be able to tell your hair felt hard just by looking at it. It looks soft and luscious to me! You are soooo not 38!!

savvybrown wrote:Ok what I DIDN'T know was how long it would take to rinse this stuff out! I dunked my head in my tub and rinsed twice, and then rinse 4 MORE TIMES using Suave tropical coconut condish. Whew! I totally under estimated that part, cuz it was like 11:30pm when I put the deep conditioner in! The thing is, my hair felt softer, but it dried REALLY dry, especially at the roots. I used AOHSR mixed with a little castor oil as my DC, but maybe I should have left it in longer? So anyway, here's how it turned out...can you see how it turned all my little gray hairs bright red! You have to get real close, but I look like I've got red metallic wire in my head! LOL!!!

Hi Savvybrown,

Lovely pictures! Your hair looks so healthy and full of shine.

Just a few thoughts. It may have felt dry because you used lemon juice in your mix. This is known to be extra drying and next time it might be worth experimenting with leaving it out altogether. You'll find that the green tea will itself be sufficiently acidic enough to help with the dye release.

Actually, all I use to mix with my henna now is warm coconut milk and that's it. I find the dye releases just fine and my hair is far more soft than when I used green tea. I've been told that coconut milk helps in the rinsing out process too.

With rinsing the henna out - I have found it really good to make up a big jug of water mixed with all the cheapo or disliked conditioner that you want to get rid of - a whole bottle I'd say. Then when you have done the first rinse in the tub pour the conditioner/water mix over your hair and massage it in. It should feel nice and slippy. Then rinse out again. I find that this not only makes my hair more soft, it also helps with getting rid of the residue henna. Then go on to deep condition. I add oil like grapeseed or EVOO to my deep conditioner.

naturalhonney wrote:

Now what to do with it. I hope to see some color come through I want nice sandy brown hair and this AIN'T IT!! But I will keep trying!! BTW I only see the color if I take may hand and smoothe my hair back it looks to be a soft burgandy color.

@ naturalhonney,

What was your hair colour prior to starting? If you had very dark/black hair then probably the most you could get from henna is some red highlights when under the sunlight. You can get more browns by adding amla or indigo to the henna mix.

The lighter your hair, the more colour you will see. I'm 30% grey so the colour change is quite obvious. Even when I slap indigo on top of the red hennaed hair, I can see see red highlights in the resulting black, which I love.

@ R2D2~ My hair is dark/black thanks for the tip!

My hair is dark black as well so the color does not show up since the only way for black hair to show color is to have it chemically lifted. If you're in the sunlight, you can definitely see the reddish burgundy tint. Sometimes now when I'm indoors the sheen of my hair has a red tone to it. It's been getting more noticeable the more I henna.

I use Jamila henna myself and get the red tone. If I add alma and indigo, it creates a warm brown tone.

I ordered "Persian Copper (Red Copper)" Henna from:

http://www.iherb.com/Rainbow-Research-Henna-Hair-Color-and-Conditioner-Persian-Copper-Red-Copper-4-oz-113-g/11554?at=0

Think I can get any good results on dark brown/black hair?

@amarise ok thnks! I also head that following your henna treatment with an indigo treatment makes your hair nice and black and is a good way to cover grays.

- savvy