Whew! What a weekend! On January 26th, I did two henna/amla/indigo treatments back-to-back (with a day in between), then after another two days, I washed and deep conditioned again, without henna..
My hair feels so thick and strong--far superior than Keraphix plus my gray strands (yes, I had some) are brown.
First and foremost, many, many thanks to you wonderful LHCF ladies who hennnaed your hair and shared your experiences and tips, especially Neroli (where you at?!), VWVixxen, Godzooki (you both really inspired me!) and so many others who have done this successfully--relaxed and natural. Besides the great henna threads here, I read the
main henna thread and learned from all of your posts. :notworthy :notworthy
I'm so glad you did this too Babygurl! Your hair results are awesome!
I also thank some of the ladies at LHC who shared their henna successes with me as well as in their main henna thread.
BTW, I attempted to post pics in my album, but the Fotki tech people are working on my settings at this time. They say it won't be too long though.
I love my own hair color which is dark brown with natural auburn highlights, especially noticeable in the summer. However, grays were starting to appear,
and although I love those grays too, I decided to henna but keep my browns.
My Henna Treatment
Since body art quality is supposed to be the safest and best for relaxed hair, I chose to use Catherine's body art quality henna (found at
www.hennaforhair.com), amla and indigo recipe for cool shade of brown. I took notes along the way (with my stained, gloved hand
)
I used:
225 g of henna (prepared the day before with water only--no lemon juice)
200 g of indigo
50 g of amla
1. I added the 50 g of amla a little at a time while stirring it into the very thick, henna pudding I made the night before. I added just a little more water to keep the consistency while adding the amla.
2. Then I mixed the indigo in a separate bowl and added 2 cups of water a little at a time until it looked exactly like very dark green mashed potatoes.
3. I immediately added this "mashed potatoed" indigo to the henna/amla pudding a little at a time and stirred well, adding a little more water when necessary. Now I had a large bowl of creamy, thick, dark-green/brown mud.
4. With my gloves on, I put a portion of this mixture into a plastic ziplock, then cut a corner off so I can squeeze it into my hair. However, I soon realized I preferred scooping up globs of henna mixture and just applying it to my hair and scalp. I laid it on very, very thick, starting at my nape and working my way up to the front. I already parted my hair horizontally ahead of time and pinned up each section with hair clips, as I do when relaxing in sections.
5. It was like putting green/brown clay on my head, creamy but clay-like. I remember loving playing in the mud once as a child!! Soon my head felt heavier and heavier. When I was finished (and I had just enough), I wrapped the saran wrap around my green helmut head, put a plastic cap over that and then a shower cap.
6. What a heavy head I had! The smell isn't really all that bad (smells like some of my food
) but the mess!
I thought I had pretty good control of the mess (had all my paper towels, old clean towels, hair cape, etc.) but I was wrong! I set the timer for 4 hours.
7. I rarely get headaches but after about 3 hours, I got a headache from the weight. I waited exactly another 30 minutes, then I got into the shower to rinse after slapping on tons of Vaseline on my face, neck, breasts and body. I have a very nice directional shower head with different water forces so I decided to rinse this way rather than in my laundry sink (as I had planned).
8. I rinsed wearing gloves and after about 15 minutes, I took my gloves off to feel my hair. It felt gritty but soft. I decided to use my new Nexxus Phyto Organics Theratin Extreme Moisture shampoo and let it sit on my head about 5 minutes. It felt a lot better and cleaned out much of the graininess. My headache was gone too!
9. After more rinsing, I finally checked my color. My hair was the same except with deep, reddish highlights were my grays were. When the sunlight hits my hair I notice auburn effects, like my natural hair color. Very, very pretty but I want less red where the grays were..
10. I slathered on lots of Nexxus Phyto Organics Humectin Extreme Moisture conditioner, deep conditioned and finished my regimen.
I airdried my hair in a bun, no specific styling or anything. I loved my hair!! Incredible shine, color and thickness--just like everyone experienced.
After a day, I decided to use 1/3 Henna and 2/3 Indigo (per Catherine's recipe) to see if I can darken those reddish strands. They did get darker but I wanted it browner. I didn't want black though, just my dark brown color with my natural auburn highlights. I didn't have very much more amla.
Henna Treatment II
For this 2nd treatment, I used:
1/2 cup henna (this time after adding water, I let it sit in a bowl by a heater for two hours for color release, sealed with plastic)
1 cup indigo
1 Tablespoon amla
3/4 cup honey
1. Before making the main batch, I first mixed up a small batch with this ratio mixing the amla into the already color released henna first, mixing the indigo with water for mashed potato consistency, then adding the indigo to the henna/amla mix.
2. I then applied it to a test area where I have a few strands of grey together (now a few strands of dark red). I let it sit under a plastic cap for 3 hours. When I checked it, it was just what I wanted! Yay! Where my reddish "greys" used to be was now brown--and not black. I had to look closely since I couldn't tell a few feet from the mirror. I held up a lock of my hair close to the light and I could see dark auburn highlights on the dark brown, as my natural hair is. It looks like I kept my natural hair color! I'm so happy!
3. Since I didn't make up as much as I did for my very first batch, I did the rest of my hair after mixing in some honey to stretch it and to condition my hair. I stirred up the mixture while pouring in about a 3/4 of a cup of honey. I did a honey/henna/indigo/amla gloss! It was nice and creamy when I applied it and it seemed to stretch enough for my whole head, although not as thickly as the first time. No heavy head helmet, thank goodness! And not as bad of a mess this time.
4. It was easier to rinse out too after 3 1/2 hours under a cap. I love my hair color, thickness (and it was already thick) and strength. I know I don't need to do the heavy clay head again and may do henna glossing every four weeks or so, probably with honey. What a learning experience this was!! I'll post my henna experience in my album under "About Me" for now, since that part of my fotki works.
Thank you again ladies, I may not have ever done this without you sharing your experiences!!
Wet hair after rinsing 2nd Henna/Indigo/Amla
Airdried after 2nd Henna/Indigo/Amla treatment
I just love, love, love the results you received from using henna. I wish it came in a jar and all you have to do is put it on your head. It seems like it's very time consuming.
Congrats. It's a beautiful color.
Valuable information!!
Your hair turned out BEAUTIFULLY! Wow!!
I love this board!
Your hair sounds like it's growing very long and strong and gorgeous in all that heat and humidity, plus your Nexxus products, henna and indigo! Congratulations Neroli!
And do I need to buy something else with it or can I use a conditioner to mix with it.
