Henna on Transitioning Hair

vgreen350 wrote:I have a question. I have been transitioning for a little over a year and I have strongly been considering henna treatments. But, I have a few questions:
1. Can you apply henna to relaxed hair?
Pure Body Art Quality henna can safely be applied to relaxed hair.

2. Will you have two different colors on your hair (a more muted color on your natural hair and a deeper color on your relaxed hair)?
I don't know the answer to this, but the best way to check is to save your shed hair and do strand tests to see what the color will look like. Relaxed is usually more porous, so it would probably take color faster. Henna does build up to a saturation point, so the more treatments you do the darker the final color. It will not lighten dark hair, though. So if your hair is dark, you will likely get just a reddish glint in light.

4. Is Cassia a better option?
Cassia is a good temporary option. It is sometimes sold as neutral henna but it is a completely different plant. But the strenghtening and conditioning benefits are similar to henna. Cassia only lasts 3-4 weeks, while henna is permanent. Cassia will not color dark hair, but it will dye light blond and grays a blond color.

5. Is it better to get henna applied professionally? If so do you know of any NC salons.
Henna is messy, but it is so easy to apply. You could go to a salon. Maybe one of the other NC ladies will know of a salon that does henna.

I am really looking for something to manage the two textures because I do not feel ready to BC yet.
Any advice is welcomed. Thanks in advance for your help.

vgreen350 wrote:I have henna on my hair right now I've been transitioning for about 8 months but I also used henna when I was completely relaxed with no problems. Here are responses to a few of your questions:

1. Can you apply henna to relaxed hair? Yes, as another member mentioned just make sure it's pure henna (Jamila is good).
2. Will you have two different colors on your hair (a more muted color on your natural hair and a deeper color on your relaxed hair)? I have found that the henna takes better on my natural hair, but it's not a huge color difference; I also add cinnamon to my henna so that gives it more color.
5. Is it better to get henna applied professionally? You can apply it yourself, just make sure to take your time and cover your floor when you apply just in case you spill any. Just an fyi, I have spilled some on my bright pink rugs in the bathroon and it cleaned up with no problem, but just to be safe, put newspaper down until you get the hang of it.