My first henna - a henna and indigo mix

I'm a premature grayer. At 43, I have a lot gray. When I kept my hair short I didn't care about it, I, I actually liked it. But when I decided to let it grow again about a year and a half ago, I couldn't deal with the partially gray afro, and of course the majority of it is at my front hairline. The rest of my hair is a dark brown. I'd used Clairol semi-permanent for awhile to get it all dark brown and noticed that my hair was getting thin in my temple area on both sides. Figured out that it was probably the PPD that was the culprit. I couldn't not dye, so I switched to Tints of Nature (Darkest Brown) which costs a fortune but has a lower amount of PPD.

This past week, as I watched my gray headband return I started looking into henna more seriously. I didn't want reddish hair, and I certainly didn't want a bright orange headband, but after reading the Henna for Hair ebook (thank you CurlyNikki for recommending it and Catherine for writing it) I felt confident that I could cover my grays naturally. I ordered Jamilla 2009 henna, indigo, and ginger powder (to help with the henna smell) and watched Nikki's video about 4 or 5 times and then writing down her whole routine. I was so excited when my order came in yesterday that I did it last night/this morning.

I want a dark brown color, so I contemplated a 1 part henna: 2 part indigo mixture, but decided to try equal parts instead. Because i didn't get started until 11:30 pm and had to be somewhere at 10 am this morning, I mixed 50 g. of henna with the green tea and covered it and let it sit for 2 hours. I washed, detangled and dried my hair. I added a squeeze of lime juice to the henna and mixed it again, then I mixed 50 g of indigo in water, and added it to the henna mixture. Added a Tbsp of honey to it and mixed, mixed, mixed. I applied, wrapped and went to bed. This morning at 7:30 I rinsed it out, deep conditioned by 8 am for an hour, rinsed styled and was done.

So, what do I think? My gray roots are orange, the rest is dark brown with some reddish highlights. It's not clownish so I can live with it for a little while but next weekend I'm may try it again with a 1/3 henna 2/3 indigo mixture. It's supposed to take 3 days for the color to develop so we'll see. I also forgot to add the ginger powder to help with the smell so I'll try it next time too. I've been scratching my head and getting green under my nails. Although I rinsed with conditioner about 4 times even after soaking it out, I probably needed to cleanse my scalp of the henna better. I'll have to rewash in the morning. This was fun. I feel like a kitchen scientist. I'll try to post pictures.

I henna'd this past Tuesday and got more of a dark brown color. I want a brown black color....warm black but not jet black if that makes sense.

I used the Yemen henna and mixed with Indigo. Now, I was thinking about the Jamila or one of the mixes for African hair on Mehandi.com.

My question is how soon can I try to henna again?

I'm about 1% gray (actually I've had gray hair since I was 5) most of which is around my temples. I attempted to do henna/indigo with 2/3 indigo 1/3 henna. My gray turned a brownish/copper color. No where near dark brown. I just did a two step treatment last week and now my hair is a soft black. Not blue black, but a natural looking black with no visible gray. I use the African hair bundle from mehandi.com

AimWard wrote:I'm about 1% gray (actually I've had gray hair since I was 5) most of which is around my temples. I attempted to do henna/indigo with 2/3 indigo 1/3 henna. My gray turned a brownish/copper color. No where near dark brown. I just did a two step treatment last week and now my hair is a soft black. Not blue black, but a natural looking black with no visible gray. I use the African hair bundle from mehandi.com

@AimWard - Is that the Henna for African Hair bundle? I thought about getting that but decided against it - not sure why now that I think about it.

Thanks!

DvaAuNaturel wrote:I henna'd this past Tuesda and got more of a dark brown color. I want a brown black color....warm black but not jet black if that makes sense.

I used the Yemen henna and mixed with Indigo. Now, I was thinking about the Jamila or one of the mixes for African hair on Mehandi.com.

My question is how soon can I try to henna again?

If your hair is feeling okay and not too overly dry you can henna as soon as you like. I would either increase the indigo in the mix (what was your ratio in your application on Tuesday?) or do a two step if you already did a high ratio of indigo to henna. I do the two step process and get similar results to DvaAuNaturel, a natural looking but not jet black. I'm 30% grey I think.

DvaAuNaturel wrote:

AimWard wrote:I'm about 1% gray (actually I've had gray hair since I was 5) most of which is around my temples. I attempted to do henna/indigo with 2/3 indigo 1/3 henna. My gray turned a brownish/copper color. No where near dark brown. I just did a two step treatment last week and now my hair is a soft black. Not blue black, but a natural looking black with no visible gray. I use the African hair bundle from mehandi.com

@AimWard - Is that the Henna for African Hair bundle? I thought about getting that but decided against it - not sure why now that I think about it.

Thanks!

Yes it is. It's a finer sift (and higher dye content) in comparison to other hennas which is supposed to make it easier to rinse from kinky, curly, hair. I still find rinsing a challenge...
http://www.mehandi.com/shop/african/index.html

Thanks for the suggestions. I was going to try the 2/3 indigo 1/3 henna mix next, but it doesn't sound like it's going to make my grays any less orange. I think tonight I'll try the 2 step method. I'd rather have natural black all over than dark brown and Ariel orange.

Has anyone noticed any difference in color with the Henna for African hair vs. Jamila? I read somewhere that Jamila and Punjabi henna give off a red tint while the Henna for African hair gives an Amber cast. I was wondering if it would make a difference.

R2D2 wrote:

DvaAuNaturel wrote:I henna'd this past Tuesda and got more of a dark brown color. I want a brown black color....warm black but not jet black if that makes sense.

I used the Yemen henna and mixed with Indigo. Now, I was thinking about the Jamila or one of the mixes for African hair on Mehandi.com.

My question is how soon can I try to henna again?

If your hair is feeling okay and not too overly dry you can henna as soon as you like. I would either increase the indigo in the mix (what was your ratio in your application on Tuesday?) or do a two step if you already did a high ratio of indigo to henna. I do the two step process and get similar results to DvaAuNaturel, a natural looking but not jet black. I'm 30% grey I think.

Thanks. I used less henna than indigo, about 3/4 indigo to 2/3 henna so I am thinking I will try the two step. I think that is the only way I will get the results I want.

can anyone explain the two part step of the henna indigo mix. woud like to try it in 8hrs. i have a henna mix in the freezer(i have some remaing from doing my husband's hair : i have henna, coconut milk, honey, green tea and soem alma oil in the mixture) can i still use this as my first step and then use the indigo after the wash?

also do i have to condition my hair after the henna before applying the indigo?
and should i do a no-poo wash with baking soda before using the henna or does it not matter. i have some KCCC all natural shampoo it still has some oelifin sulfate in it so i am concerened about the stripping part before the conditioning.

can anyone help please.

This is how I do it, step by step:

1. Mix henna and ingredients, let sit over night for dye release, put on head for 2 hours.

2. Rinse out using bath/shower water - doesn't have to be 100% rinsed off but enough so you can't see any henna to the eye.

3. Mix indigo powder and warm water, add a dash of salt. Wait 15 mins then put on head for 1 hour.

4. Rinse that off with water.

5. Mix 1 bottle of cheapie/unwanted conditioner into a big jug of warm water. Tip over hair and massage in, paying attention to scalp. I find this helps me get rid of any left over henna and indigo. I have close to BSL hair you might want to use less conditioner.

6. Rinse.

7. Put on DC - 30 mins (sometimes less as I am so over it by then!)

8. Rinse.

9. Apply leave in and detangle and style.

10. Gasp for breath thanking your stars it's all over!

Yes, you can do a no poo wash beforehand and it's better for hair to be clean before you put henna and indigo on it.

thank you so much for your directions. It helps a lot. my las tquestion is that can still use the frozen henna with all the mixes(coconut milk, honey, alma oil, green tea) in it? do i thaw it off and then put it in my hair after the no poo wash?

Was the henna frozen after the dye released? If that is the case I would just use it by itself, since presumably you already mixed it with something before you froze it. I wouldn't mix it with more stuff.

Oh R2D2, if only you had posted your routine an hour earlier. But thank you for your step by step, it will help me develop my own system.

I tried the two-step process last night and this morning. I did the henna last night around 11pm and then got up at 5 am to rinse it out and do the indigo. I forgot to add salt to it. It was much harder to rinse out the indigo than the henna. It was quite a process and I finished at 9 am this morning. But I'm so pleased to see my all of my hair, including my grays look a really, really, really, dark brown. That's exactly the shade that I wanted. I think next time I'll try to do it all in the same day. Does that take about 4 or 5 hours?

Just wondering, can adding honey help with rinsing out the indigo or should you not mix anything else with indigo?

@powerpuff girl Yes, I'd say 5 hours. I would put henna on overnight if I didn't have to take DD to the school bus stop and DS to pre-school in the morning. So instead I find it more convenient to do it on a day off at home with no one around. So glad you got a great result!

I'm not sure about mixing other stuff with indigo, you could give it a try, I've never seen anyone say not to do it but it may affect colour deposit. Perhaps leave it on for extra time to compensate? I too find it difficult to wash out but find that by sticking my hair under my forceful bath faucet and then co-washing before the DC helps to get it out. My first brand of indigo was even more difficult to get out and I would lose hair in the process but I switched to another vendor and their indigo was more suitable for me.

Hi R2D2? Which brands for the henna and indigo do you use? I looked over the topic's posts before asking, if I missed the info - sorry? Thanks [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Hello Ladies. I tried henna for the first time this week. I used the Jamilla 2009 and my hair was definitely softer...my grays were also quite orange. My hair is a dark brown but I want it black so I'm thinking about adding indigo to my routine. This is a long process and I likely will not be able to do it very often. My question is how long does the color last?

Okay, so I tried my second henna treatment last night. I used the Henna for African Hair bundle from Mehandi.com. The package said Dark Brunette but I didn't mix the henna and indigo together because I was trying to get my color much darker this time around. I did the two step process. I noticed my hair was fuller after. I am not really in love with the color results but at least the gray is still covered.

Anyway, I was wondering since my hair is black this time if I mix the henna and indigo next time like a 20% henna 80% indigo mix will that help lessen the darkness of the black color results or do I need to let this grow out before trying again?

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DvaAunaturel, go to pages 29-30 of the Free Henna For Hair online book since you order from Mehandi for Catherine's mixes http://www.hennaforhair.com/freebooks/hennaforhair.pdf [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

It's been exactly 7 days since I did my first two-step henna/indigo process. I went from dark dark brown to black over the first 2-3 days. Also around that time my grays went from dark brown to flecks of red. This morning I noticed the new gray growth around my face so it looks like this will be a bi-monthly process..

Next weekend, however, but I won't leave the indigo on for 90 minutes, instead I'll leave it on for 45. I read somewhere that you will get a brown shade vs. black if you leave the indigo on for 30 minutes instead of an hour. From what I've read, even using Catherine's proportion mixes, several people still didn't get their grays brown with the one-step henna/indigo process. I don't mind the black, I can live with it if I have to, but I'd really prefer it not be quite this dark. I'll report back next week.

envizionj wrote:DvaAunaturel, go to pages 29-30 of the Free Henna For Hair online book since you order from Mehandi for Catherine's mixes http://www.hennaforhair.com/freebooks/hennaforhair.pdf [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Thanks. I read that booklet a few times and still missed some things. I plan to try a 30% henna and 70% indigo mix next time to try and get the dark dark brown color.

The fun thing about trying again is that unlike chemical color I am not damaging my hair. I love that part.

DvaAunaturel, here is a site that offers color combination results near the bottom of the page ... http://www.hennacaravan.com/shop/hair.html[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]