Lush Henna Bars

Hello Everyone!

Just wondering if anyone had tried Lush's Henna Bars....

Any reviews?

*lol* [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] just sitting here having a whole caca brun henna bar on my head. I henna since 2002 with various mixes and blends and used lush "cacas" before (i tried the caca rouge, brune and marron) and was ok with them-until one day the my hair turned -ahem-green (i use to have blonde streaks back in those days and happened to pick up a not so good batch/bad crop batch). This caused me to stay away from the lush stuff-until yesterday when I decided to give them a try again and use them as a henna gloss rinse (throw it on and let it just stay for 30 to 60 Minutes for some color and mostly the conditioning benefits).
What can I say-the rinse yesterday turned out very well and now I am looking forward to the results of today. As soon as I have managed to upload pics (I am a tech-phobian) I`ll post the results. My unhennaed hair color is a dark brown, the previous henna treatments gave it an auburn/burgundy glow which is more intense in the sunlight. Yesterday after the henna my hair was -like lush promised- a rich dark brown like teak wood. lov.e it. Hopefully this one turns out good as well....

Hmm...I notice the two of you are in Europe. I wonder if Lush has these Henna bars in the US? I'll have to check. I'm interested in Henna, but the mixing and application are a bit of a turnoff for me. So it'd be nice if I could get the benefits (especially a little color) through a pre-made bar.

Hi traveljunkie,

yes, they have, at least in their online-store. One bar is 20.45 $, thats a lot more I pay over here...hmmm. The mixing is a little messy, though. The cocoa butter in the bar takes ages to dissolve and sometimes the mix has chunks left, I must admit.
This hasen`t had any negative effects on the outcoming color, but it can be exhausting to rinse out...in this moment my hair is drying and as far as I can say from now the caca brun has worked its magic.... [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Thanks for the info Oshunista! These look interesting. I think I want to try the CACA MARRON MAMA. They have a store at the mall here, so I'll see if they have it. If not, I'll buy online. Do you have any before/after pics?

...and here are the results of the caca brun...unfortunately I do not have "before" pics, it was a deep burgundy/chestnut reddish-brown...

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

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

Ohh very nice! Love it! Now I'm not sure which bar to try first. Since I BC'd a couple of months ago, I no longer have highlights, so my hair is back to its natural jet black. I'm really not used to it, so I want it lighter. Hmm...maybe I'll start with the caca marron, and switch to brun if I don't like it.

Thanks again for the info! BTW, you look way younger than your age states!

Very nice! Thank you! I may try it now....I'm still transitioning, so I hope the outcome won't be a negative one!

@traveljunkie08: thanks! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] . If your hair is jet black henna will not lighten it up but give it a red glow, especially in daylight. In this case the caca rouge will work best, I think. The lush ladies in the shops are normally very nice, just ask if they have a sample of the rouge and marron for you and do a strand test with some shedded hair. This should avoid some unpleasant surprises, hopefully.
@nadiyah.anesha: thank you [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

So I bought and applied (but haven't washed it out yet) a bar of the Caca Marron from Lush. Everyone talks about how messy henna would be to apply but I found a few tricks that helped me: I didn't grate the henna I just broke the squares in half into a bowl and covered them part way in boiling water. Then I placed my bowl in a shallow pot of boiling water to speed up the melting process. I mashed the bars up along the way. Now here's the part that really made the difference: I dumped the mixture into a plastic baggie cut one corner and squeezed the contents out of the hole in the baggie (kinda like the thingy cake designers use to pipe out the frosting for cake designs) and into one of those color applicator bottles and used that to apply. (The mixture proved to be too thick for the bottle top so I took it off.) I sat in my tub to apply the henna with my home made cape (a trash bag w a hole in the top) so that when it was time to clean up I could just turn the shower on. Clean up took me 5 minutes! I'll post pics when I'm done.

Hi Ladies,
So I've been doing research on the Lush Henna Bar today, I've got jet black hair and the greys are starting to take over. I've been thinking about using henna for a while, but am reluctant to buy any kinda herbs from my local Asian green grocer so lush looks like a good option. I wanted to go in full force and used the caca rouge, but thought even though the colour is subtile it might be a bit drastic. So my thought process now is to use the Brun or Maroon and then maybe try the rouge in a month or so when the sun finally decides to make an appearance in London.

Can I do the two so soon? and will the rouge show up after I've used a darker shade if it hasn't fully grown out?

if there are any other Lush Henna bar users it would be good to hear from you too.

Thanks for all the information ladies, I am trying to learn very thing that I can about keep my curls beautiful

I tried Lush's caca noir henna for the first time this weekend. It's supposed to be their indigo. Not sure how much of the color took, but my friends have notice that my hair is more glossy. I didn't grate the henna either, it was way too time consuming. I put the henna block in a large zip lock bag and commenced to hammer the heck out of it. After killing the henna I poured the tiny crumble pieces in boiling water and it melted nicely, hardly any lumps. But I wonder if I should have applied the henna over 'just wash' hair as oppose to weekly product hair.hmmm

you should apply to fresh washed hair

I used Lush and I have Jet Black hair, like the lady previously said, it did not lighten my hair. I used Caca Rouge and it did not take but it did relax my curls a little bit. After I did it like two times you can see the red a little in the sun. It does make your hair nice and soft though.

I just used the LUSH caca marron bar overnight last night and my hair is so much softer! I left it in for 6 hours (accidentally), then used Dr. Bronner's to wash it out, and Aussie 3 Minute Miracle to moisturize. Added some AOHC and Safflower oil afterward and did a braid n' curl... Ugh! My hair feels the best it's felt since I started transitioning!!! I will definitely be doing this again and probably try henna powder in the future. My chemical highlights were darkened to a very rich auburn brown. Maybe next time I'll use caca rouge for a more dramatic effect.

If you do this, please make sure you have a friend to help you and a lot of Saran wrap handy. I went ahead and bought a black towel also. Oh, and be prepared for a bit of a mess!!!

Hello all!

I used the Caca Marron about a year ago (summer 09) and my experience was awful Immediately after I rinsed the henna out of my hair it felt drier than usual, and I felt like I'd lost a bit of curl but I thought my hair just needed a bit of adjustment. That day when I went out I got a lot more compliments on my hair than usual so I thought things were probably going well. Wrong! lol Over the next few days my hair got even drier and more brittle, I ended up being afraid to manipulate it because it was so stiff to the touch--lots of breakage. I'm past all that now (went to Aveda a few times for deep moisture treatments) but like a glutton for punishment I want to try again!

Can any of you ladies be a bit more specific about your methods?

OUCH!
Ummm, I left mine on for 6 hours (nap), then washed it out under the bath tub faucet with Dr. Bronner's soap. It took quite a while to get all of the muck out of my head, so be prepared! Then, I used Aussie Moist 3 Min. Miracle for 45 minutes (covered with a shower cap) as a deep conditioner. Finally, once that was washed out, I put safflower oil on my ends and "sealed" (I think it was sealing) with Qhemet Biologics Amla Olive Heavy Cream. My hair seemed pretty dry when it was naked, but the deep condition really helped. If you're having problems with moisture, try using honey on your hair. It's a natural humectant, so it should draw moisture to your hair (and it'll make it shiny). I also immediately braided my hair up and put the braids on perm rods and left it alone for the rest of the day.

What EXACTLY did you do the first time you caca-ed? I didn't experience much loss of curl (only at the crown, and it's pretty much back to normal now, 2 days later), but then again, my mom said my hair was "rebellious", sooo... I've heard lots of people use amla oil in their henna mixes to combine curl loosening [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Aw thank you PolymerGirl! You're so speedy I left mine in overnight, probably for a little less time than you, maybe 4-5 hours I was way too impatient. Afterwards I washed my hair with Shea butter shampoo and condish (the Organix brand which I later realized has lots of egg protein!! which is bad for after henna-ing, I think?) Hmm, how else did I mess this up....I didn't DC right after! Instead I just combed some HE Hello Hydration in under some KCCC--normal routine, and off I went
Ok so next time I'll find a normal shampoo, DC for even longer than 45 mins (gotta do extra lol I'm paranoid) and then do a style more protective then a wash 'n go (which will include lots and lots of sealing and the QB Amla is usually too heavy for my hair so it should be perfect for right after the Caca)

I was kind of distraught at the curl loosening thing, so maybe I'll try to find Amla somewhere...

Hmm and I've been wondering about this for a while: what kind of honey are you using on your hair (or were you speaking from others experiences?). Every time I go to the store I see that yummy looking "raw" white honey. It's white/grainy and I can only imagine that it tastes crunchy and delicious and that my hair might like it if I mixed it with something....lol

LOL I just started using raw honey (the same white crunchy stuff) on my hair a few days ago and it feels oh-so-healthy and soft. WARNING: I use a little with oil or a leave-in, just to be sure my hair won't get sticky.

About the Organix after henna: that may have been what made your hair yucky. Too much protein is always a bad thing.

You seem to have the right idea now (from what the clerks in the store told me). I really liked how the castile soap worked for getting the gunk out of my hair because I could see when the suds turned white to stop washing, and it doesn't have SLS. Just sayin', that REALLY helped me out (considering I did this in a dorm).

Anywho, good luck with your next caca experience! I plan to get my mom on board when I go home for the break, but she's just recently stopped asking me if I wanted to relax my hair again, so... [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Haha I made a Whole Foods run with a friend over Spring Break and she mocked me for wanting the honey I'll show her...lol. What kind of Bronner's soap do you use? I've been eyeing the peppermint for a while now, but I hear people say that it's very strong and you have to mix it with ~stuff~.

Lol at your mom, mine didn't want me to do the henna at all, said I was doing too much--I realllly didn't want to tell her that it went poorly because I didn't want to prove her right [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Lol I just didn't tell my mom I was doing it. I didn't see the point in having to hear all of the "blah blah blah" about my "natural kick" and such. She's convinced it's just a phase. I feel like I'm gonna rock a big red fro at graduation (in three years) just to "p**s in her grits" lol.

But then again, I didn't tell my mom I was going natural until month 9 of my transition, so... [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I used the peppermint stuff that time, and about half of the 2 dollar sample bottle cleared my head. It IS a strong smell though! That's something I definitely noticed as soon as it hit my head. And God forbid you get that stuff in your eye! Since then, I went and got the "hemp rose" scented one, which seemed a lot milder in the store. Be advised though: the smell of the peppermint soap does not linger at all. Your hair will STILL smell like caca afterward (although the Qhemet did a good job of masking it).