To Henna or not to Henna, That is the question

Hello all,
I've been contemplating to henna or not to henna. I found out about henna from stalking curlynikki's site and decide to do some research on it. I researched for about 5 months and went ahead and bought some Jamilla henna from BnB. I had decided to just go ahead and try curlynikki's mixture with the green tea and honey. I bought my henna a little over a month ago and have been telling myself every weekend that I'm going to henna. Ummm, still hasn't happened. I think it's because I'm afraid of what color my hair's going turn out and I also don't want the dryness that people keep talking about. I also don't want the front of my hair to lose it's curl because it's already looser than the rest of my hair. Now, I see people using coconut milk. It's just so much! But I want the conditioning properties(stronger, shinier, healthier) that henna has to offer. Now , I'm not sure whether to use green tea or coconut milk or add some ayervedic powders to it. I need some HELP PLEASE ladies!

KhemetQT wrote:Hello all,
I've been contemplating to henna or not to henna. I found out about henna from stalking curlynikki's site and decide to do some research on it. I researched for about 5 months and went ahead and bought some Jamilla henna from BnB. I had decided to just go ahead and try curlynikki's mixture with the green tea and honey. I bought my henna a little over a month ago and have been telling myself every weekend that I'm going to henna. Ummm, still hasn't happened. I think it's because I'm afraid of what color my hair's going turn out and I also don't want the dryness that people keep talking about. I also don't want the front of my hair to lose it's curl because it's already looser than the rest of my hair. Now, I see people using coconut milk. It's just so much! But I want the conditioning properties(stronger, shinier, healthier) that henna has to offer. Now , I'm not sure whether to use green tea or coconut milk or add some ayervedic powders to it. I need some HELP PLEASE ladies!

Hello I can understand your frustration, lol, we have all been there. I have tried both the green tea, honey mix and coconut milk mix, personally my hair likes the green tea honey mix. Its a trial and error. The henna will impart a reddish hint to your hair but if you hair is black it will not change the color to red. Also to combat the dryness dc afterwards with lots of moisture. I hope I helped you a little, lol

Now, I'm a real henna head but I think that if you don't want the curl in your hair to loosen any more then I would be very cautious about going ahead with it. It is definitely a common side effect.

I think this is more of an issue for you than the mix or the dryness. As naturalchic said you can change your mix through trial and error and can address the dryness but any change to your curl will be at least partially permanent.

There are other ways of conditioning your hair.

Thank you so much ladies for responding.

@naturalchic I'm sorry I'm responding so late but I've been having problems with my internet and everytime I tried to respond(3 times to be exact), it shut off on me. I just gave up and had to call Verizon. It took a couple of days but I'm back in business now,lol. You helped push me along a little more. I actually henna'd yesterday for the first time. Needless to say, I am loving the results [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] but not the headache [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] . Have you ever gotten a headache after hennaing?

@R2D2 I love the change to my curls! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] I just made sure I saved the front of my hair till the very last since thats where the curls are the loosest. I would love to be a real hennahead as well but I don't know if I can take the headache.

Oh, I left it in overnight and had dark green pee in the morning [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] . Is this normal?

Is henna the best alternative to coloring your natural hair? My stylist claims that it just lays on your hair and is hard to remove.

If you henna and then after that want to have a fairly big change in hair colour through conventional dye then yes, hennaed hair is very difficult for stylists to work with, since it permanently coats the hair strand and that is why they hate it so much. With conventional dyes, they can more easily remove a botch job or an unwanted colour.

However, if you are prepared to make a commitment to henna then yes it is a good alternative to conventional dyes, which can be rough on natural hair and also contain chemicals such as PPD, amnonia etc. I gave up conventional dye because of ongoing dryness and breakage. I have had better results with henna and my hair has thrived. However there are downsides to henna of course such as curl loosening, limited colour range, time consuming to apply etc.

KhemetQT,

I haven't used it myself, but I've read on mehandi.com (a site frequently mentioned in this Henna forum for the free Henna for Hair guide and high quality henna) that if you want to retain or enhance curls and waves, you can add amla to your henna mix or use it on its own. It is said to darken and cool the henna coloring; pictures and more information about amla are available here: http://www.mehandi.com/shop/amla/ I saw on a headache-from-henna thread that amla mixed with henna didn't reduce curl loosening for her, so perhaps amla-only treatments would work for you in between henna treatments.

Green urine sounds unusual. Did you happen to try a new multi-vitamin, or eat a very green meal, smoothie, or something with lots of chlorophyll in it around the same time you hennaed? If not, then I agree with R2D2's comment in the other thread that your body is likely waving a red flag of henna intolerance at you.

Take care of your head!

Maybe I'll go to a stylist who specializes in natural hair to do my henna treatment. I don't feel comfortable doing it myself. Thanks R2D2 for the insight on why some stylists don't do henna.

OK, I'm finally back with an update. Internet is still messed up so I'm coming to you from my HTC Hero. Ok, I found out why I had the really bad headache. It turns out it wasn't the henna after all, yeaahhhhhh!!!!!! I actually was developing a really bad summer head cold that took me almost two weeks to overcome.
Once I began to feel 100% better, I attempted to henna again. I just had to be sure because I so loved the results and wanted to continue to henna. So I henna'd last Friday and obtained wonderful results with NO HEADACHE! wooohooo! This time I decided to let the mixed henna sit overnight and applied it in the morning instead of applying and sleeping in it (just to be on the safe side I guess). I left it on for 4 to 5 hours then rinsed and NO HEADACHE! My curls are popping like never before! I LOVE, LOVE henna and the way my hair feels and looks! I guess I'm a henna head for life now, LOL
I also LOVE that I have a support circle within this forum. I've always been alone with doing my hair (5 years natural) until I discovered them. Thanks so much for the advise! It is much appreciated! I'm so excited!

Peace

Great news that you didn't get the headache this time! Was your pee also normal this time since you reported green pee last time? Perhaps leaving it in for a shorter period of time helps with that as well.

@ R2D2 Yes, my urine was normal. No green pee this time. I also think my urine was green because I left it on for hours overnight. I will never do that again. I'll just have to make sure I set a day aside just to henna.

KhemetQT wrote:Oh, I left it in overnight and had dark green pee in the morning [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] . Is this normal?

Whoa! I henna'd for the first time last night and noticed the dark green pee this morning too! But I'm a HUGE soda junkie so I just thought it was time to impart some water in my diet! lol hmmmmm

lol @gmAKA1709

I just did my first henna treatment and I guess because I started so late I ended up falling asleep. Needless to say when I went to the bathroom and my urine was green I was a bit concerned but immediately thought that it may have been due to the henna. I'm glad to see that I was not the only one. So next time I'll stick to the customary 2-4 hours instead.

OMG henna application on your hair turns your urint green if you sleep in in overnight!!!! WOW! I (hopefully) will be hennaing very soon for the first time. NOTE TO SELF!

Once more stick to the professional

I also experienced green urine after sleeping with henna in my hair overnight. I have since then used henna 2 more times during the day and have gone to sleep for a few hours but did not have the green urine those times.

Me too @ Sheri: I did not sleep overnight in it and had it in my hair for 5 hours and experienced green urine before going to sleep, but the 2nd time I did it, it did not happen.