I picked up a bar of this as my first ever Henna. I had heard horror stories of people with carrot-red hair and the fact that this had indigo in it to tone down the red gave me just enough confidence to take the plunge. I had demi-dyed my hair with a violet-red brown (rather than orange/ginger-red) and I was tired of the commitment so I planned to use this to blend the chemically died hair with my roots. I was going to use it once and then stop using hair color forever. That isn't what happened though. This henna did blend my chemical color with my light ash brown roots very nicely. But the indigo washes out as the henna oxidizes and then the red tones eventually make an appearance. However, this is a pretty mildly red henna and good for nervous newbies like me.
As you can see in the photograph, it sort of resembles a chocolate bar. Short hair uses about 1 square. Medium hair needs 1-2 squares. Long hair needs 2 or more squares. It depends on how porous and dense your hair is. I have medium density hair and it was a little bit past my shoulders and 2 squares was perfect.
Grate the squares with a cheese grater. For best results, you want to wet the grated henna at least 8 hours before application. It is recommended that you include some acid such as a tablespoon of lemon juice or a cup of coffee or tea or something like that to encourage the "dye release". Only use enough moisture make a dough-ball out of the powder. You'll want to make it into a paste, but I recommend adding olive oil to take it from dough to paste. Then you apply it with a hair-dye brush as you would a chemical dye and then wrap your hair with plastic for a while. I leave mine on for 4 hours. I've heard of people mixing it with conditioner and leaving it on for less time. There really isn't a wrong way to do it - except for skipping the gloves! (you'll get red hands!) Because it isn't liquidy, it is more difficult to apply. If you don't add oil, it dries out like mud and then crumbles out of your hair. Coconut oil works too, but olive oil will leave your hair softer (so says my Deva hairdresser). Some curlies find that henna weakens their wave pattern. I have not found this to be the case for my hair. I ♥ it.
I highly recommend Lush Caca Brun, especially for your first time using henna. Make sure you read up on it. I believe there is a forum on the Lush website. __________________________ 2B - low porosity, normal elasticity
I picked up a bar of this as my first ever Henna. I had heard horror stories of people with carrot-red hair and the fact that this had indigo in it to tone down the red gave me just enough confidence to take the plunge. I had demi-dyed my hair with a violet-red brown (rather than orange/ginger-red) and I was tired of the commitment so I planned to use this to blend the chemically died hair with my roots. I was going to use it once and then stop using hair color forever. That isn't what happened though. This henna did blend my chemical color with my light ash brown roots very nicely. But the indigo washes out as the henna oxidizes and then the red tones eventually make an appearance. However, this is a pretty mildly red henna and good for nervous newbies like me.
ReplyDeleteAs you can see in the photograph, it sort of resembles a chocolate bar. Short hair uses about 1 square. Medium hair needs 1-2 squares. Long hair needs 2 or more squares. It depends on how porous and dense your hair is. I have medium density hair and it was a little bit past my shoulders and 2 squares was perfect.
Grate the squares with a cheese grater. For best results, you want to wet the grated henna at least 8 hours before application. It is recommended that you include some acid such as a tablespoon of lemon juice or a cup of coffee or tea or something like that to encourage the "dye release". Only use enough moisture make a dough-ball out of the powder. You'll want to make it into a paste, but I recommend adding olive oil to take it from dough to paste. Then you apply it with a hair-dye brush as you would a chemical dye and then wrap your hair with plastic for a while. I leave mine on for 4 hours. I've heard of people mixing it with conditioner and leaving it on for less time. There really isn't a wrong way to do it - except for skipping the gloves! (you'll get red hands!) Because it isn't liquidy, it is more difficult to apply. If you don't add oil, it dries out like mud and then crumbles out of your hair. Coconut oil works too, but olive oil will leave your hair softer (so says my Deva hairdresser). Some curlies find that henna weakens their wave pattern. I have not found this to be the case for my hair. I ♥ it.
I highly recommend Lush Caca Brun, especially for your first time using henna. Make sure you read up on it. I believe there is a forum on the Lush website.
__________________________
2B - low porosity, normal elasticity