Henna Results

Whew!  My first henna experience is behind me and I've learned a bit.  The results were quite good and I'll definitely do it again.  Here is the before shot:

Notice the very grey roots and the really faded dye job on the rest of the hair.  Ugh!

And here's the after -- sorry, it's really hard to take a photo of the top oy your head!  You can see that the color is much darker now and you can't tell where the grey roots were.  Here's another shot:

I think it's getting a little redder as time goes on -- they say it will become more intense over the next day or so.  I was surprised that it came out as brown as it did.  I really like it!  Pete thought it looked very natural.  You can see that there are some color variations -- almost like highlights. 

So what did I learn about henna?  Well, it is really messy to put on -- probably worse because of the long hair.  I could smear it on my roots easily enough, but trying to coat the length of hair was tricky.  Maybe adding an egg or oil as some sites suggest would make it a bit more easy to work with.  And I took some advice I saw online and wrapped my head in plastic wrap and heated it with the blow dryer every half hour or so.  I guess the heat makes it activate better.  I also used a spray bottle to keep my hair damp -- very important since this stuff did want to dry out quickly.  I think that helped to make it easy to wash out -- it was no trouble at all.  And finally, I was actually patient and kept it on for about 2 hours.  I would say my patience paid off, because the color was really quite good.

So that's my henna experience!  I'll definitely be doing it again.  Usually after dyeing my hair with chemical dyes, my scalp is itchy and my hair smells strongly of the chemicals for the next few days.  Today my hair doesn't smell and it feels conditioned (rather than stripped!)  And no itchy scalp or sneezing!  Yeah!

Comments

[Karen]

I think it looks great! I can see the variations in color which makes it look natural. I'm glad you had a good first experience. When my mother used to frost her hair she would first wrap her head in plastic and then wrap it in foil to hold her body heat in to keep it warm. That may be easier than the blow dryer.

[Oiyi]

It looks fabulous. Very natural looking.

[Tracey]

So did it cover well where there is regrowth and where the dye was? I am thinking about henna, but wasn't sure about the previous dye and the regrowth line blending well.

[Christie]

Very nice results! And love that it didn't leave your hair stripped and damaged.

[AmyP]

Wow, Julie, it came out great! And I know what you mean about the conditioning effect! I'm doing my mum's henna sometime this week, so thanks for the tip about the oil - I'll give that a go.

[tiennie]

Looks fantastic! Love the color.

[--Deb]

Looks good! Congratulations.

[Romi]

It looks *great*! :)

[jessie]

Looks great! I am thinking I will use a clear "henna" (I don't think there is truly such a thing) when I get sick of using semi-permanent dyes because I'm starting to think that the cuticle-sealing softness of the Level 3 dyes is what I like better than the gray coverage. And I think henna has that same property, but probably is safer.

Keep us posted on the growing out.

[Rain]

It looks great and definitely much nicer than all the chemical dyes =)

I dyed my hair black with pure black henna once, came out real nice and I know the conditioned feeling too =)

[Tsoniki]

Wow it looks great! I just bought a henna kit but to use on skin vs. hair. I've done it before and hope my kids enjoy it.

[Red]

It looks great! Henna is great for giving your hair a 'not-dyed' look. Completely worth the time and mess!