I Want Brown Hair Not Red

I am wondering if their is any special mixture that will give me a brown shade rather than red. Any suggestions/recipes?

hi there!!!
I am sooo glad you asked :-)
After all the talk about acidic mixes and things we put in for dye release (that you really wouldnt think were acidic like yogurt or coconut milk) My gears started turning and I thought..."hmmmm I wonder if I add some sort of choclate to my mix will it achieve dye release" so I set to my kitchen with my henna and decided to mix it with organic dutch cocoa powder (good in my cake why not my henna, lol) so I mixed the henna, cocoa powder, and water, sit it in a warm place overnight and rushed to see the results next day. To my surprise when I put a dab on my hand it left a georgeous brown dot!!!
So now I think "well will it effect the color" so grab my gloves and rush to apply. Waited about 5 hours with a heat cap on my head (not a heated electrical thing just a gold foil looking heat cap wrapped around the edges with saran wrap). Rinsed out and to my surprise it was BROWN! By next day it had deepened to a nice mahogany/chestnut brownish color which is kind of hard to describe but I was so pleased and so happy to share this mix!!
I do not post my own pictures on the web but if you'd like to see the results send me a message I'd love to share them with you [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
If you have any questions about the mix let me know.
Thanks so much,
Sharika

That sounds like an interesting mixture BQ. You've definitely piqued my interests. Is the brown darker than your usual color?

Actually my natural color used to be more reddish auburny probably because I was more exposed to sunlight and chemical, but since I bc'd over 5 years ago and all the color grew out 9I havent colored in 4 years)it's been more of an off black and the color change was clearly a brown. Love It!
You can always message me or email me at beauty4u@butters-n-bars.com
to see the results :-)
Sharika

LaToya28 wrote:That sounds like an interesting mixture BQ. You've definitely piqued my interests. Is the brown darker than your usual color?

Saw your fotki pics and that's the color I've been trying to get. I've been mixing equal parts of henna with indigo but that's not getting me where I want to go. I'll have to try ur chocolate recipe. Is chocolalate acidic? Please excuse my lack of know how.... [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Hi Catcurls,
chocolate is very much acidic which is why it works ;-)
One of the reasons we have to stay away from it when we want to lose weight or sometimes it wreaks havoc on your skin causing breakouts when you have a PMS overhaul, lol. I found that it (even though acidic) is not drying in the mix. It's a very simple mix and it will stretch you henna as well!
have fun [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Thanks ButterQueen!!! Will try it this weekend [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Butterqueen, where did you get the cocoa powder? I would like to try this in my next henna mix.

Hi Juice-N-Berries!
Actually you can purchase dutch cocoa powder at your local food coop or whole foods market. I havent tried 'natural' cocoa powder (like hersheys cocoa powder, etc) because the dutch processed is less acidic and I thought it would be best to avoid overdrying and it's lighter in color (natural cocoa can be very dark).

Thanks BQ. One more question. Sorry. How much cocoa did you use per how much henna? I only need 100g of henna for my hair. How much cocoa should I add?

Also, how does it compare with using cinnamon. I used your spice mix last time. Does the cocoa give a darker or lighter result?

ButterQueen, can I also add 25 grams of Amla powder or Brahmi powder to my mix? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] I would like to try the dark or extra dark organic Dutch cocoa powder for a darker result. I wonder if Whole Foods carries a similar brand. Here are some final colors of cocoa mixes on cakes and chocolate. Hopefully, they will have the same result on hair.

Dark Brown ... [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Extra Dark Brown ...
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Loving this thread. I can't wait to hear about other people trying cocoa in their mix. Great experiment Butterqueen

Hi All!!
Its been soo much fun!
Okay so I mixed 200 grams of Jamila '09 to about 1/2 c dutch cocoa power and enough water to make it the consistency of yogurt.
So if you only need 100 grams of henna then use about 1/3 c of cocoa and you'll probably have some henna left over (dont forget extra henna paste can be frozen so don't toss your leftovers!)
I definietly believe Envizion that the color of the cocoa will effect the color result. The dutch cocoa is lighter and less acidic so if you use a darker chocolate you may want to deep condition for moisture.
It is the same cocoa powder that we bake with.
I am so excited about this, lol, this go round I will be using rajasthani henna to deepen the brown even more I hope [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Juice-n-berries the spice mix really kind of heightens the reds in the hennas, this mix changes the color from reds to brown alltogether. If you'd like to see the results just 'pm' me or shoot me an email!!

I henna'd using coco this weekend. It turned out darker but my hair color usually adjusts darker after 3 days. I'm hoping I did the right combo of the products.

I tried the cocoa powder/ henna mix this weekend. It came out darker than the 1/2 indigo - 1/2 henna mix that I tried two weeks ago. My hairline has quite a bit of gray in it, so the grays ended up a coppery red. Still not the brown that I'm looking for, but it was quite promising. Here's a picture that I just took.

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My mix was 100 grams of Yemen henna, 1/2 cup of organic cocoa powder, and water (until it was the desired consistency).

Hi Kema,
Yemeni is going to yield a slightly different color result. If you want a lighter shade(more pronounced medium brown as opposed to a dark brown) I would say go with Jamila '09 or Rajasthani next time.

Thanks Butter Queen, I will try that next time. Do you think it would make the grays less coppery as well?

I have about 5 grays in the front that have actually been completely m.i.a Since i henna'd with this mix, havent spotted them at all (and I scoured lol) so it actually blended the grays instead of highlighting them.

I'm about to mix up my Yemen Henna and cocoa powder. Can't wait until tomorrow! I, too, have a lot of gray around my hairline...primarily over my ears. I hope I don't wind up looking like a red panda. LOL I will report back tomorrow, hopefully with blurry pix from the camera on my cell. ;~}

Very interesting thread and thanx ButterQueen for the info about the cocoa powder. I have some Jamila Henna that I'm going to mix with some cocoa powder tomorrow. I'll post my results.

This will be my first Henna ever, I'm excited and a wee bit nervous.

I'm the opposite, Ladies. I want red hair. Please recommend some henna that produce red on dark brown hair.


Peace and blessings

I love this thread! I'm going to try the cocoa with my next henna mixture. I don't like the coppery hairs around my face.

I add coffee to my henna mix! It works great. I also follow my henna with an indigo treatment and I get a pretty brownish red color like this:

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Cocoa powder sounds good too. Plus it'll help with the smelliness of henna lol. I'm used to it now but the first time I henna-ed I didn't know if I could handle it!