You may recall my excitement earlier this summer, when I decided to try using henna as an all-natural alternative to hair dye. I’ve always enjoyed changing-up my hair color, and thanks to a good friend of mine who happens to be a very talented hair stylist, I’ve had the opportunity to change it rather often.
However, looking for a more natural hair-coloring option, I decided to take a chance and try a henna hair dye that you can use at home.
I had heard great things about Lush’s henna line, so while on a vacation in Palm Springs, my good friend and I decided to have a little hair-dying party in our hotel room–> where no one could see us make fools of ourselves!
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Here are a few things I learned from our experience:
1. Using Henna is pretty easy and straight-forward.
You simply melt the whole brick in a bowl with hot water, until a mud-like consistency is achieved.
It takes a little elbow-grease to break the brick down at first, but before you know it, you’ll have an earthy-smelling mix that’s ready to apply.
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2. It will get messy.
Really messy.
Like most hair dyes, you’ll want to use gloves when handling this mix. (Lush provided these for us when purchasing.) I also recommend standing in your shower while applying to your hair, so that any spills are contained!
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3. It will stain everything.
Again, a good reason to stand in your shower, to avoid staining your counters and floors.
It’s also a good reason to protect your skin! We used Lush’s Ultrabalm, an all-natural alternative to Vaseline, as a protective shield around our faces.
Apply to your forehead, ears and neck to prevent staining.
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4. This dye takes a long time to set.
Depending on the vibrancy you want, it can take one to six hours for the color to develop!
That’s a long time to have your scalp wrapped in plastic. (The plastic wrap keeps the dye warm, and therefore, more effective.)
I only lasted two hours before I couldn’t take it anymore.
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5. Henna will not even-out your hair color.
If you have roots or highlights when you start the process, you’ll still have roots or highlights when you’re finished.
I happened to have roots AND highlights at the time (you can see before pictures here)–> so you can see how the reddish color varies throughout my hair, where I had more blonde highlights. I was hoping for a more even color, so this aspect was a little disappointing for me.
However, if you have natural highlights (without roots) it could turn out very pretty!
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6. You must be careful when dying your hair AFTER using henna.
Only after using the henna hair dye did I learn that you shouldn’t use any permanent dye on top of the henna. In other words, if you don’t like the resulting color from the henna dye, you don’t have a whole lot of options in order to correct it!
Gosh, that would have been nice to know before we got started.
Luckily, you can safely use semi-permanent dye as a temporary fix–> which means going darker, rather than lighter with your color.
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I hope these tips prove helpful for anyone interested in trying henna, too!
Reader Feedback: Do you color your hair? Have you ever tried using henna hair dye, or would you like to? I think I would have been very happy with the results had I started with an even hair color… but thanks to my pesky roots, I see some some semi-permanent dye in my future. I may even try a “test strand” with highlights– just to see what happens! I’ve heard horror stories of hair smoking while applying permanent color after using henna, so that’s a scary thought! As I understand it, the henna dye is permanent, so you’ll have to wait until your hair grows out before making any drastic changes.
I have used henna for several years and have been very pleased with the results. I use Surya brand — it comes premixed, and takes at most 45 minutes. Coverage has always been very good for me — I’m a natural medium brown with lots more gray coming in than I’d like! It all gets covered, although the gray looks a little more like highlights than the same color as the rest, but it still looks good. http://www.suryabrasilproducts.com/hennacream.html
Yeah, unfortunately…not the best thing when you are trying to be all healthy and natural and green but hey….we are not perfect
. Your hair looks pretty, by the way 
.
THanks for these tips! I have seen that henna dye at LUSH before and was always curious about it, I would love to add a red tint to my dark brown hair. But I dye my hair quite often, so maybe not the best option. I’ll have to ask my stylist if she uses permanent or semi-permanent.
You are great for printing these tips for folks! I could have used them myself when I first tried henna (bright red, yikes!!). I think it’s funny that the color is called “Caca Marron”, which, as you may already know, is Spanish for “sh*t brown”…
100% Pure henna powder is the way to go! I used to use the lush bars, but this stuff is amazing:
http://www.hennasooq.com
I know that when using chemical dyes, sometimes the hair doesn’t return to its natural colour, and I was wondering if that happened with henna, or if it’s not a worry because it is 100% natural
I’ve never heard of that happening with henna. In my experience, my natural hair color grew back just fine, but the hair I dyed with Henna was very hard to change– it’s pretty permanent!
How long do you have to wait to start dying your hair with permenant dye
I think I waited 4-5 months, but the hair that was dyed with Henna was VERY hard to change, even after that amount of time. You’ll definitely need an experienced hair dresser to help balance out the color.
Can I use Henna on my hair that has been colored treated with a semi-permanent?
Since I’m not a hair dresser, I couldn’t tell you. I assume it would be fine, but I’d check with a professional to be sure!
Is Henna permanent or semi permanent ? and will it fade in the shower ?
In my experience, it is permanent. It didn’t fade, and it’s very difficult to cover with other hair dyes until it grows out.
I have been trying to dye my hair with henna for a while now and no results! what am i doing wrong?
My experience is with Rainbow Henna and the Surya mix that someone mentioned. For me Rainbow henna does wash out gradually and not leave a strong line – it has dif colors and does not make the hair bright orange – that may have happened since you had other permanent color already on your hair – which is different from coloring from natural with henna. What is nice about henna IS that it does highlights which looks more natural to me than all one color. Women in our culture have to deal with comparing themselves to media images of beauty and so many women touching up paying hundreds of dollars on hair and hair color. When I had my mammo done yesterday I had that thought – how many of our so called “beauty” products are actually making us sick. No guarantee either with the socalled natural products – hair dyes which I used to use. When I used the premixed henna from Surya – like the other woman mentioned it was much easier to use especially when you have long hair. For me tho it has been a more permanent color with a stronger line as my roots come in – and I did have more solid look when I first did it less of a highlight. With Rainbow henna you can choose colors/shades. My sister uses Light Mountain Henna which I think I want to try because they have a special pack to cover gray where you do two dif processes – one first on the gray then one all over. But truthfully henna is not easy to use and if you are sensitive it has a strong smell. I think it would be nice to live in a culture where we simply loved our natural selves more and did not have to live up to so many image of beauty that are made up colored over etc.
Hello there ladies!
I have some bad news but you were almost all deceived… ^^
It is as simply as the fact that you didnt use the REAL henna…
Lets start:
Henna is a plant and PURE henna you should use in your hair is in “dust” form and it ONLY colors one color: red/orange.
Lush henna is not real henna (and neither that recently cropped) it is mixed with plenty of other things. Stay away from Surya…it has chemicals, and henna should be done fresh.
I can suggest you ladies to give Jamila henna a try, it is 100% PURE HENNA.
That pure henna EVENS your hair, gives your hair strength, AND YOU CAN USE CHEMICAL DYES AFTER!!! ONLY IF IT IS PURE REAL HENNA!!!
Oh girls…I wish you would have known more before you did that to your hair xD
Give real henna a shot, I know that it saved my hair and other people´s too, but please make sure you use PURE HENNA!!!
I buy my natural hair cares from hennasooq and I am so happy now!
In fact firstly I had the same problem like you, I bought a henna box from France and my hair strand turned green…Be careful what you are buying (=.
PS: keep the henna minimally 6 hours to overnight for better penetration.
I use Jamila as well, and I love it. I mix it with apple cider vinegar (to release the dye, and for extra conditioning) and blueberry Pom Wonderful juice to give it a purple-red tint. It’s fun to experiment with tinting henna your self- you can add strong coffee or black tea to make it more brown, for instance, or mix it with cassia for strawberry blonde, if your hair is light enough- but you can’t go wrong if you start with powdered henna leaf. It’s added
metallic salts in commercially prepared henna dyes that react with the ammonia in chemical dyes, not the henna itself. Although I can’t imagine ever going back to commercial dyes myself.
I have dark brown hair and use a henna/indigo mix to cover gray and darken my hair. When younger, I used henna powder from a local co-op to just get a redder color. When researching for gray a few years ago, I found a website that sold mixes that have two parts, henna powder for the red, that you mix with indigo powder, which makes your hair darker and black if used alone.
I find that the henna red is permanent and grows out with a reddish line. (But better than the box mixes that fade from gray much faster.) The indigo is not permanent and lasts about 8 weeks. You can freeze the leftover mix to hit the gray hairline, but only the henna part will dye with it.
I really love it! The indigo gives a lush super dark color. I split the mix now as there was always leftovers. With short hair I can get 3x from a box and long hair 2x. The only drawbacks I find are:
- The dying takes some planning since you have to mix the henna with some lemon juice the night before (I set it in my slow cooker on for a bit to keep it warm.) The you mix the indigo the day of and put it all together.
- While I don’t mind how henna smells, it does make your hair smell like hay for a few weeks.
- Keeping the mix on for three hours under the plastic wrap seems long and I find the mix drips under the plastic
The color I like is: Dark Brunette Ancient Sunrise® Henna for Gray Hair Kit – Item # 2528
I just wanted to thank all of you for the great information on henna. I have been contimplating on trying it and now I can make a better choice!
I just wanted to say that not being able to dye over your henna is a myth. The only time you should not dye over your henna is if you are using an inferior brand like Harvest Moon, because they add metallic salts to their henna products. 100% pure finely sifted body art quality henna is perfectly safe to dye or even bleach. I have found that I get the best stain with Jamila’s super sift. When using henna on your hair you are going to want to use a small amount of an acidic liquid like lemon or orange juice. I also like to add terps (essential oils)and ginger root powder to combat the hayfield smell. Also, the longer you leave the henna on your head the more even/darker the stain will be. I sleep in mine. ^_^
I have just dyed my hair using completely natural henna. It was in a fine , powder form – almost like desert dust! I had both hi-lights adn chemical dye in my hair and then colour came out as a lovely orangey red colour. My hair feels very soft and not at all like it does after a chemical dye. I left the ‘med’ on my head for about two hours. The colour is not even – which I like as it looks natural. The hi-lights are a slightly lighter red than the darker coloured parts which are a darker red. Overall the colour looks lovely and I intend to keep repeating the process. I found that using a barrier cream (I used sudocream as it was what I had handy!) around the ears and hairline meant I have no stains on my skin. I have blue eyes and they really pop with the genger tones! I am VERY happy, but did make a point of using 100% natural henna. I am not saying where it was from because these other people brand naming just sound like advertorials to me!!
I have just dyed my hair using completely natural henna. It was in a fine , powder form – almost like desert dust! I had both hi-lights and chemical dye in my hair and the colour came out as a lovely orangey red. My hair feels very soft and not at all like it does after a chemical dye. I left the ‘mud’ on my head for about two hours. The colour is not even – which I like as it looks natural. The hi-lights are a slightly lighter red than the darker coloured parts which are a darker red. Overall the colour looks lovely and I intend to keep repeating the process. I found that using a barrier cream (I used sudocream as it was what I had handy!) around the ears and hairline meant I have no stains on my skin. I have blue eyes and they really pop with the ginger tones! I am VERY happy, but did make a point of using 100% natural henna. I am not saying where it was from because these other people brand naming just sound like advertorials to me!!
Hello
I am Jo …. my concern is since I have dry,frizzy, thin and weak hair I want to condition it using henna. My hair color is dark brown and I love it. I do not want to change its colour. Can you suggest me ways through which I can condition my hair using henna without dying it?? I also heard from few of my colleagues that applying coconut oil before applying henna will prevent the dying effects of henna… is that true?
Definitely use the coconut oil. My hair was quite dry and damaged, but after rubbing coconut oil into it several times, it improved quite a bit. I avoided rubbing it into my scalp, just the damaged ends because it was difficult to wash off my scalp, but I would rub it in the ends, then hop on my treadmill for an hour or so, then go shower it out. After doing this up to 4 times a week for 2-3 weeks, it had drastically improved.
Henna takes a very long time to deposit color- at least 4 hours, I leave mine in overnight- so I you only put it on for an hour or so you shouldn’t get any color, just conditioning. Also, if you want conditioning only I would use warm water only to make the paste- no lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. The acid is what pulls the color out, using water only will limit the amount of color by a lot.
I just want to confirm…. henna is totally safe, correct? I have naturally light blonde hair and I really want a vibrant red
i just dyed my hair bright black like three weeks ago n its turning purple with dark red in some places is it safe to dye it with henna the color red?