Progress & First-Time Henna Questions

[saanst]

Hello, all! I have been watching this community for almost two and a half years now--since I "officially" decided to grow out my hair. You all have really helped in my growing out process! I currently wash every other day with shampoo/conditioner sans silicones,SLS, and harsh chemicals in general, and I've never really used heat.

Comments

[lowellgirl]

I've henna'd a few times with different hennas, and each time I ended up with about the same color. With your hair color, I think it would look really nice :) you'll probably end up with a nice natural red-auburn. To my understanding it doesn't make your hair significantly darker.

I never tested my hair, I just went for it...but I do have dark hair so I knew it wouldn't change my color too significantly. I think it's worth it to test a sample, if you're unsure :)

[saanst]

Thank you for the advice! I always said I'd never change the color of my hair, but then I started reading about henna...and now I want to do it! I'm tempted to just say the heck with it, be spontaneous, and do my whole head, but more than likely I'm going to end up testing a sample.

Thank you again!

[azdesertrose]

It is totally worth it to grab a sample of henna and test it on your shed hair, because body art quality henna is VERY permanent. Collect some shed hair from your combs/brushes and test it first to see if you like the color. Get a good handful of shed hair so you have a good idea of what the color will look like.

I henna my hair; my natural hair color is a good bit darker than yours though (a dark reddish brown), and I get a nice deep auburn color with henna, although it's bright orange for the first few days until it oxidizes a bit.

Best wishes!

[saanst]

I think I will get a sample, thanks! I'm excited and nervous at the same time, haha. Deep auburn isn't the color I'm really going for for myself, so it's reassuring to know that your hair is a bit darker than mine in the first place. Thanks for the help!

[saanst]

Thank you so much for the compliment! I saw some photos that you posted when I was reading through the henna tag, and I love the color that you've gotten over your bleached streaks!

I think I will strand test. I've thought about cassia--I've even thought about doing just cassia to get the benefits without the color, and I probably will do that if I chicken out of hennaing my hair. But mixing is something I'll keep in mind. Thank you so much for the advice!

[amandapandapink]

My hair color is very similar to yours. When I first used pure henna, it came out a bright orangey-red. It does deepen with repeated applications. I didn't henna again after that though

[saanst]

My hair actually didn't come out a bright orangey-red! I mean, it was definitely bright the first couple of days until the color oxidized, but it settled into a beautiful medium red, I'd say? I've done two more full head applications since (well, "full head," but I used about 1/3 the amount of henna I used the first time, so it definitely wasn't as potent), and I'd say that the second was definitely needed. After the first application, the red was kind of translucent, and in certain lights it was even hard to tell that my hair was colored. But I'm very happy with the color now. I love it so much!