Henna Hesitation

I have been reading on henna and it properties and pros/cons for a few weeks now. I have gone through several blogs looking to see what the hair will be like after. I was really gung-ho about it in the beginning but now I'm kinda scared about having all red hair. I've had reddish highlights and loved them but I don't dye my hair... My hair is a brownish black and I like the color as is. I have read tons of articles on toning it down but Lord know's I am no chemist. Does anyone have any suggestions on this? I don't want a bozo fro...

Lol, thanks. What color is your hair? Mine is like a 1B (I know cuz I used to wear sew ins all the time). So you will be doing you r first henna treatment this weekend? Its prolly a good time to do it too since its all frosty out. Girl, when I kept seeing red, I just kept thinking clowns! But when I look at people's results some people's you really can't tell and some you can. I think I would better be able to judge if I knew more about their hair. Lol, I am so nosey... Have you read anything on indigo? I've read that cassia is supposedly very good to use and its colorless I think...

Yeah, If you don't want color, cassia is supposed to be good. It's like henna in all its conditioning properties but doesn't color your hair like henna. Indigo is to dye your hair black. I think it gets it BLACK black!!

Girl I have no idea what color my hair is as far as the 1B type color. It's just very dark brown naturally. The color in my pic it my natural color. Almost black but not quite. Where is your profile pic? Oh I see you just joined today!!!! Welcome!!! This site is SO addicting!!! LOL I see the same people on here EVERYday!!!! It's hilarious!! But you'll get some AWESOME ideas, tips and help from all the ladies on here. You'll love it!!

Ooooooo ok. Don't think I wanna go with the indigo. If your hair is barely black like mine, you're prolly are a 1B too then or at least somewhere in that neighborhood...

Thanx so much for the welcome! Lol, I am working on the profile pic. I have not even figured out how to do that yet... Man I am loving it already! Its been uber-informative and there's so much BEAUTIFUL, KINKY, CURLY, NATURAL hair to look at! Aaahh, I love it! Lol, addictive isn't the word. I got nothing accomplished last night cuz I could not get off this site! LMBO!

HAhaha!! if you go to "Profile" under the big Curlynikki logo at the top, click on that. Then under that look where it says "Avatar" and click on that. When you get on that page you'll see where you upload a pic.

Yeah this site is so addicting, it's sad!! LOL I have no job so I am on here like ALLLLLL day!!!! LMAO between that and facebook!!! So sad....lol

LMBO!! Girl I am about to get a connection card so I can get on at home. I am at work toggling here between calls, lol. I was trying to get on with my phone last night but I could get on the boards. Yeah I used to be addicted to FB when I could play the games. **sigh** I miss sorority life, lol.

Ok. Let me email myself a pic and try to put a face to the name, lol.

Good Morning ladies!
@misskris, we are in the same boat. Im not workin right now either. right now my day consists of this, wedding websites, emailing jobs and facebook.

@ambitious_tiff I am also 1b. Henna doesnt make dark hair lighter, it just enhances the color thats there and adds a nice glow. It looks kindof like a cellophane (hope i spelled it right). I'll try and find a pic for you to see. Your highlights will prob get a lil brighter, but overall it shouldn't be to bad.

Good morning Courtface! Lol @ cellophane. I would like my hair to be shiny like that. So you have tried henna? How often do you apply it? Do you sleep in yours or add any oils, conditioners, etc?

ive done it 2x now. 1st time i mixed with evoo,coconut oil lemon juice,and a lil paprika ( i heard that helps color).I let it mix over night. i left it in overnight and washed it out with conditioner. This time i used chamomile tea and let that mix over night then added evoo before application. that time i applied at 11 am , did house work and rinsed at 6pm. Both times worked out well. The only different thing i would do is use less lemon. Maybe a Tea with a little lemon added

@ misskris IT'S ME. As you see you gave excellent profile pic directions.

@courtface Paprika? Lol, sounds like you were seasoning a chicken. Do you have any pics of how it turned out? How often are you supposed to apply it? And what about the smell? Does additives like the teas, and conditioners, and etc make it any better/worse?

Lol funny you say that. My fiance thought i was gettin ready to throw down .He know betterr now.I read that somewhere(paprika). I was very hesitant before i did it the 1st time so i did tons of research (google, hennaforhair.com, mehandi.com, and dif hair sites). The process is actually really easy. Only takes 15-20min to apply. Its the preparation and the research thats a mess.lol. Mehandi.com has a henna ebook that you can read online thats a lot of help. Even youtube. im gonna go find some of my pics

this is after my first henna. Im 1b color and like 4a but it loosened my curl a lil bit. I hope the pic appears

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

OH EM GEE!! I am so excited! I don't really see the color. Your hair looks so lush and touchable though! Lol, how did the additives affect the smell? Does you hair have that hay smell folks are always talking about?

@Ambitious_Tiff - just like you I read so much about henna here and on the henna for hair page for months. I've always wanted to try henna but was scared...though I have a thing for red hair, I didn't really want the red highlights so after several months, I finally tried the henna/indigo mix. It's in my hair right now as I type and we'll see what it turns out to look like tomorrow...a bit nervous...hope it turns out alright.....

Giiiiiirl... I hope it comes out good. What all did you mix in there? Please post pics to show your results!

Because there were so many mixtures, I was like what do I do. So I just went for it...added a bit of green tea, conditioner (aussie moist), EVOO, castor oil and jojoba oil...I just eyeballed it. After I mixed it and left it sit last night, I was online earlier today and came across a post saying not to mix conditioner containing silcones with it b/c it will dry out your hair....I was like OH NO, aussie has silcones, I panicked a bit, but I guess the oils will counter the silcones, well at least that's what I'm telling myself LOLOLOL. I'll post pics tomorrow when I'm done.

Lol, we gon pray on it. You'll prolly be fine though. Girl you put all the good oils in!! Taking no prisoners!! That's one of the things I tend to forget about, cones. Might have to start putting that on paper when I go hunting for products so I can skip those all together.

haha @ hold no prisoners; I read a lot about how it can make your hair really dry etc, so I figure it won't hurt too bad...hopefully...well this is my first try so maybe I'll get better at it...thanks for the prayer

Ambitious, feel free to contact Khadija at Henna Sooq or Catherine at Henna for hair with any questions. You can email or call. I too am positioning myself to henna, but not yet. I am harvesting hair from my comb so I can do a test run (slow process b/c I barely lose any hair). The recommendation is that you do a skin test to ensure you are not allergic (use the bend in your arm/inside elbow) and you can apply the henna to hair you have harvested, making sure you do every step you will do on the real henna treatment. This way, no real surprises and you will know the color change, if there is one. You can purchase the sample of the type of henna you wish to use.

Note, people will sometimes do a couple of henna treatments back-to-back to see color quicker. It is a cumulative buildup of color

@ ambitious_tiff- there was a reddish glow. Believe me , its minor color but u will notice it if you know ur hair. Girl, I was too excited. After DC'ing, it was SUPER soft. Its so worth it . Good luck ladies and get creative with ur mixtures so i can steal ideas. lol Im still workin toward my good mix

I'm so excited! What all did you mix in yours? What does it smell like? Where'd did you get your henna from and what brand is it? How long did you leave it in? OMG!! I'm so pumped!!

@ Ambitious, so I washed the henna indigo out of my hair...man all I can say is a sister was rinsing like forever...then I used conditioner to wash it out more; I noticed it got darker and the grays in my hair turned like a burnt brown/red color which is fine; I then combined EVOO and coconut oil and it in and sectioned my hair and put a plastic cap on and went out for about an hour or so to run errands; returned, rinsed it w/a bit of conditioner; still had a bit of henna color in the rinse; then put in my leave-in conditioner mix and put it in mini-braids to air-dry; which I'm doing now - a sista needs a nap ;o)

As promised here are the after pictures (hopefully I've done it right):

-- first two are after rinsing out the henna and conditioner
-- last two after the oils treatment

no pics showed up AfricanaCurly...