Celebrating the 4th with Henna!

Ok...so, with nothing really to do today (I've eaten all that I can, trust me!) I decided to do a Henna treatment on my hair. I looked at Nikki's tutorial and read a little on the Henna forum, but I was ready to go, so...I did. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I used 100 grams of Jamila Henna and mixed it with green tea, 2 tablespoons of honey and a little cinnamon (to try and add color). I pretty much followed Nikki's recipe on her tutorial. I had read somewhere about adding cinnamon for color, so I tossed about two tablespoons in there - I'm guessing on the amount.

Here are some pics of the Henna in my hair.

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I have to work in the morning and don't have time to leave it in overnight, so I'll be washing it out around six this evening. I'm planning on doing a DC with AO HSR and...we'll see from there! I'll post pics and how I'm feeling about this later tonight.

Ok, I've rinsed the henna out of my hair and....well, my hair feels fine. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] I'm throughly confused because I was expecting very dry, if not brittle hair since everyone advised that henna dries your hair.

I guess my disclaimer is that my hair is EXTREMELY soft. Like, soft to the nth power. So, usually when everyone is aiming for soft hair, I just want curl definition and/or length.

But, since everyone else seems to DC after henna, I am continuing on (when in Rome...) with a DC. I have slathered AO HSR in my hair and believe there is a Kroger (checking mirror - yes, beige Kroger bag, he he) on my head and will sit here with it for about an hour or maybe a little longer.

Now, my curls in the back of my head (the "looser" ones on a regular basis) seem to be hanging a bit more, but other than that, I haven't really noticed a difference in my hair. My goal is to try a henna treatment once a month until the end of the year.

Anyone experienced that henna did NOT dry their hair out? I'm wondering if I left it in long enough (about 20 minutes shy of 4 hours) or if my mix was right (see above).

Thanks ladies.

Ok. So, I've DC'd with AO HSR and have twisted my hair for the night. After rinsing the DC out of my hair, I began to notice that my hair felt, well - different. I almost want to say stronger. Usually, my hair (which is fine and thin) feels weaker when it's wet and this was definitely not the case tonight. I did kind of a dry twist on my hair and had to go back and redo a few. When I took them down, I noticed my hair felt coated for lack of a better term, and my twists were more of the solid more chunkier than the wiry curly ones I usually have. Also, my hair, which usually breaks a little (literally, I can hear is snappp when I twist it sometimes) has not broken or felt weak at all.

I know this does not sound very clear, but I will post a pic so you can maybe see what I'm saying.

Overall, I'm very happy with how my hair feels after doing my first henna! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Again, my goal is to do this at least once a month, if not more, untl the end of the year.

I want to document my hair growth with pictures, but I am trying to get away from assessing my hair health by length and instead, using how it feels to judge how healthy it is. So, I may take one picture now and then another one at the end of the year. It will help me stay encouraged and not discouraged.

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I had a very similar first henna experience. No dryness, just baby doll soft. It's hard to say, but I think people with hard water might be more prone to dryness after henna.

LittleOne - did you hair remain soft after more henna treatments?

No, not after every treatment. I still had henna residue for days after the first 2 treatments, so I decided to wash my hair after rinsing the henna out. Before that, I was just rinsing and co-washing. Washing with shampoo can be really drying though, so my hair was "straw like" after the 3rd treatment. Now, to make sure I get softness, I don't skip/change these steps:

1)Clarify with shampoo before the henna,
2)Use orange juice in my henna mix (instead of lemon juice)
3)Co-wash 2x after the henna is rinsed out and then do a really quick (not thorough) shampoo with a conditioning shampoo (Pantene)
4)Use a deep conditioning mask. Pantene R& N Mask or Pantene Curls Deep Moisturizing Treatment are must haves for me.

I use Pantene because it works well and they have it at Costco. I'm doing another henna tomorrow, so I'll let you know if I have any issues!