Buying Henna Online

I am excited about my near future up and coming henna session. I have a very short TWA and I do not want to color my hair, but I feel color would give my tight coils more character! I am also looking forward to the conditioning properties of henna.

I live in NYC and can probably find a local Indian shop to buy henna, but who are some vendors and /or brands you would recommend buying BAQ henna from online?

Most curlies order from Butters and Bars or Henna for Hair. I think you'll be better off buying it locally. Henna locally is about $2.00 a box vs. $8.00+ shippling buying online.

LadyD, I buy mine from Hennasooq.com. I frequent several Indian/Middle Eastern stores, but don't see the variety of BAQ henna I see online. I prefer to use the Rajasthani Indian Henna. Also, I have had great experiences with this vendor and read great reviews by others. Also, she has an option of conventional or organic henna, which I prefer. Very fresh, dated, double bagged and foiled as such, the stain is A-1. So, I feel confident about what I am getting. I receive my package in 2 days and she is ultra responsive to phone calls and emails if you have questions. Good luck with whichever way you decide to go.

Thank you Ladies!

@naturallynola: What color does rajasthani henna give your hair? Have you ever done jamilla henna or another one that makes it really red.

My hair is dark and I have 4a/b hair and I want to get the deepest stain possibe-you referred to it as A-1-not sure what that means so if you can explain it please do! Thanks a bunch!

My local henna is still $8/box. I wish I could find it for $2...

@ Nola-OMG--thank you for the website hennsooq.com --it is amazing!!! I love it--I will order my henna from there definitely!

i get my henna from here www.mehandi.com i have been there a few times and i love it..... they have henna kits and indigo for hair... i paid $7.50 for jamila henna plus s&h

Not sure if you need additional info. Butters-n-Bars is great. In addition to henna they have other ayurvedic hair products. They are very patient and knowledgeable with all of the products. I put henna in for the first time this past weekend and was very grateful for information. Good luck!

www.butters-n-bars.com

Hennasoog.com has really fast shipping an great customer service. They get your order to you on 2-3 days and they provide info about the products. A+++

How do you know WHICH vendor to buy WHAT henna from? Are there certain qualities that are indentifiable (even for super-newbies) that would suggest that it's the "right' henna to buy? I'd like to add softness, shine/sheen, and a hint of color (indigo) to my hair, but where do I begin?!
Thanks!

~NeeC1

Sheri wrote:Hennasoog.com has really fast shipping an great customer service. They get your order to you on 2-3 days and they provide info about the products. A+++

hm, I may check this out. I went the indian store route for now because the last time i ordered from butters n bars it took almost 3 weeks for my order to get to me. And I live in Houston, so I don't know what's up with that.

I have ordered from butters-n-bars.com before too and it took them about three weeks to se send my order. This time I used hennasoog.com. I ordered Sunday night and received my order on Wednesday. The site also has plenty of info about henna and other natural products.

NeeC1,

I ordered henna based off of info provided on CurlyNikki's site. I ordered Family brand henna from butter-n-bars.com the first time I ordered. I ordered the Summer 2010 crop. It is in a foil bag inside the box. The bottom of the box says summer 2010 crop on it. The last henna I purchased this time from hennasoog.com.

Jamila brand....not family brand.(my phone's auto correct feature sometimes goes overboard.

@Sheri -
Thanks for the info! I text my mommy (M-I-L) the following brands: Jamila, BAQ, Mehendi, and Dulhan, so she'll be heading to the local store this evening. She's in NYC (Manhattan) so there's an ABUNDANCE of places she can explore ... I gave her terms, such as "super sift" as suggested by the site. I'm sure she'll send me a box of all kinds of stuff! I'm so excited! Again, I'm so leary about paying for stuff online, especially if it's just a few dollars or if S&H costs more than the actual product. I'll let you all know what she comes up with.

~NeeC1

Hi Neec1, what is your hair's natural color? If your current natural color is dark brown/black, henna will deposit red tones to your hair. If you want your hair to remain dark brown/black, you'll want to either add Indigo to your henna mixture or do the 2 step process (add the Indigo after you do the henna). As far as which type of henna to get depends on the amount of red deposit you want on your hair. For example, I got the Moroccan organic henna from hennasoouq which leave more of a reddish brown deposit. Also, the brand can be more of personal preference - I think, but you definitely want a henna and Indigo that are finely sifted so that you don't get twigs and other stuff in your powder that can happen from henna and indigo purchased at the local Indian Store. I bought Indigo from a local Indian store and it was soooo gritty and never did hit a good dye release, I ended up throwing it out.

Sorry for the long post, but at the end of the day, it really is a personal preference but the ladies are correct; Butters-n-Bars is good, and Hennasoouq does have great delivery time and they also have organic henna if that matters to you. I personally like hennasoouq only because of their quick delivery time and their outstanding customer service.

@aj -
I appreciate your response. It was VERY informative; I'll be passing on this info to my MIL (she's going to Harlem for me, she LOVES this kind of stuff). You've cleared up so much. I downloaded the free Henna book and I will be reading over it tonite like I'm studying for the finals! (LOL) This is serious!

To answer your question: My natural hair color ranges from a dark brown to auburn-y color. I may add indigo to it for the darker effect, but I'll stick with henna only, then experiment as I get more comfy with the process.

I really hope this doesn't sound silly, but how are add-ins such as indigo, marketed? Are they right along side the henna or is it something you have to search for?

Again, thanks for being more than helpful!

~NeeC1

if you're going to your local Indian Market, Indigo may be bagged as Black Henna. If you purchase it on-line, it will be listed as Indigo and is usually listed on the online stores under henna powders.

One question I forgot to ask; Do you have any gray hair? If so, the henna will make the gray hair a bright coppery color that will cool down after a couple of day. My first henna, it scared me so much because my gray hair which is mainly in the front hairline was almost organish. I immediately called Khadija at hennasoouq for help which she calmed me down because that is normal for gray hairs and Yes it did calm down after 3 days into a nice auburn color - thank goodness. I've have since started mixing Indigo in with my henna for more of a dark brown color and it covers my gray hairs wonderfully.

Wow! Henna is sorta "foolproof", I like that! (LOL) No, I don't have grays just yet ... My mother is 54 and she's yet to get a gray (I assume I inherited her hair genes; my dad has no hair). Either way, I'd do the "original" henna first, to see how I like it. Thanks again for all the info.

~NeeC1

Hey Y'all,

I'm late to this, but I just wanted to add AyurNatural Beauty to the list of online retailers. I ended up find in through googling Jamila henna--it only shows up on a few of the natural blogs for some reason.

Anyway, it's a BOB, the shipping is quick (ordered Saturday night, 2/12, and got it today, 2/16), and it has the best price I've seen on BAQ super-sift Jamila from summer 2010. She specializes in ayurvedic beauty supplies, so she has a few types of henna, all the mix-in powders you'd ever want, and a lot of other stuff besides.

Just wanted to share I don't have a hair blog to promote her, so I figured I'd do it here.

Thanks for sharing the link, it's always good to have 2 or 3 online stores to buy henna and other powders from.