Would You Pay Someone $30 to Apply Henna and Rinse It Out?

I'm always thinking of a hustle (an honest hustle, of course) and I got an idea from another post in the Henna forum regarding paying someone to apply henna to her head. Everyone felt that anything was too expensive as it is relatively easy to apply henna yourself. I agreed and disagreed. Considering these recessionist times, applying henna yourself is by far the cheapest way to go (plus buying henna locally instead of over the internet). And I agree it is fairly easy to do.

HOWEVER, it is a lot of work. You've got to go to a coupla different places to get the stuff you need, e.g. market for henna, dollar store for inexpensive coconut milk and lemon juice or supermarket for lemon juice or yogurt. THEN, you've got to buy a boatload of utenstils: a coupla bowls with top, saran wrap, clips, gloves, cotton balls, towels, old shirt, etc.

That's ALL before you even mix the stuff, which takes me about 45 minutes to get it as smooth as pudding or wait the 6 to 24 hours for the dye to release.

THEN, there's the applying, which is a bear if you don't have a TWA. I have thick BSL hair and making sure every strand down to the ends is rough, especially as the load gets heavier and heavier on my neck. Wrapping saran wrap around your head tends to be awkard and messy. Then there's the cleaning of the utensils and space.

BUT THE WORSE: Rinsing HENNA and or Indigo out. I wish I could stand under a Niagara Falls-like power shower.

What if you didn't have do any of the above?

Would you pay $30 to-
1. have your henna mixed with your specifications, and take home any leftover henna?
2. have your henna applied within 30 minutes?
3. Have your hair completely saran-wrapped so that will last 4 to 12 hours?
4. come back later or the next day to have the henna rinsed out?

I'm grateful for any feedback as I am going to use your responses as an informal market survey!

Thank you,
Esti

Oh BTW, I would not style, cut, trim, braid, roll, blowdry, deep condition (except to apply it for the client to rinse it out at home if requested) or any other services.

I wouldn't pay someone to put henna in my hair. I've henna'd about 5 or 6 times so far, and each time it just gets easier. The first time was the hardest b/c I didn't really know what I was doing, but once I got the hang of it, it was not so bad.

Thanks for your response!

As a DIY'er I wouldn't pay someone to do a henna treatment. However, I could see some ppl that are a littler nervous about the process paying someone. You want to be careful with that too because if you put henna (with coconut milk) on someone's hair that is protein sensitive, they may be pretty upset with the results.

Given what I used to pay to have horrible chemicals put on my head, $30 is a bargain. But to be honest, the single step that would get me to do this every once in a while as a treat is:
2. have your henna applied within 30 minutes?
I'm a DIYer (changed the oil in my own car when I had one!) and I can't do it myself in 30 minutes (my hair reaches midback stretched) with complete confidence that I've thoroughly coated every strand. So yes, I would pay someone $30 for this step alone, but only as an occasional treat to myself. Steps 1, 3, and 4 I'd prefer to do myself.
HTH

I would pay, simply because I've never done it before, and I'd like to see someone do it before I'd try it myself.

I did my first henna today and it's sitting in my hair as I type this. I know a lot of people talk about how messy the application is but it literally only took me 15 minutes to get it in my hair (my hair is a little past apl in the front almost bsl in the back) and there was no mess...it's really like applying a relaxer. I found it to be easy so I wouldn't pay for it...but I am saying that before the wash out.

I would definately pay for the service. Let's be real, we pay for alot of things we could do for ourselves. What's so hard about painting our fingernails or toenails, having our hair washed and set, or for that matter, plucking our eyebrows? They're usually not difficult to do at all, but an expert may provide a higher quality and save the customer time and effort.

Personally I'm a little nervous about the quality and the amount of time it'd take me to complete. I'd love a little help in that department.

However, if its a honest hustle you're looking for maybe teaching or consulting a group of ladies at the community center, college or church basement would be more popular, as opposed to actually coloring hair for them. Whatever you decide you may want to make some calls first to find out if its legal to do that without some sort of license.

I think this would be great for the elderly or people who are sick and can't really do it for themselves. I'm a hardcore DIYer but I'm currently dealing with bursitis. So I'm visiting a locitian for some maintenance. That and sometimes I just like to have a little drinky drink and relax myself.

Thank you all for your responses – they are very helpful.

Tiashauntee: I’ve noted your comment about coconut milk. I’ve done some research on coconut milk since it’s so popular to mix it with henna here on CN and I’ve found that it has low protein content and high alkalinity. My hair is very coarse and I don’t use protein very much but when I experimented with henna and CCM it didn’t make it any dryer than normal with henna. Also, people seem to believe that coconut milk is acidic which brings the color out of the henna. But coconut milk is alkaline and so the color that is released from the henna when using coconut milk is simply the water in the milk. I don’t usually bring this up since so many people here swear by coconut milk with henna. Anyway, I would only mix it if the customer asked for it. Here's some info on coconut milk.

Gado-Gado Gal: Thanks for your response. Yes, I was thinking of it as perhaps an occasional thing too. I henna my hair every two weeks (whole head first of the month and touchup of white the 15th) and sometimes I just wished I could have someone do it for me because of all the preparation.

Shrinkage: Congratulations on taking the plunge. I hope you like it! Thanks for your response.

Natural one: Thank you for your response. I’m little curious as why an “honest hustle” would be “teaching” and rather “doing?” Anyway, I’m researching the licensing and facilities that I’ll need while at the same time testing demand so thank you for raising that point.

PaganWifey: Thank you for your response. I figure that my clientele would consists of nervous first-timers and DIYers who don’t want to be bothered are in a hurry to get their hair henna’d.

I definitely would NOT pay someone to do my henna treatments! Especially since I've been doing them on my own for almost a year now. Even though, at times the process can be dreadful, its not a hard task. However, I can understand someone that has never done it before wanting to pay someone to do it for their first time. But for me, no!

Nope! Once you get in you get a routine down it is pretty easy, you'll kick yourself for paying aomeone to do it. You can spend that $30 on more products LOL. Since I started adding conditioner into myhenna mix its been pretty easy to rinse out.

I would pay. I kind of miss having my hair "done". I hate the mess of doing a henna treatment.

Thanks, JoyCurl and Caroleann57, for your responses, they really help.