Dying My Hair With Henna

I have had henna hair dye sitting in my cabinet for about eight months...maybe more. That sad fact is that, for us brunettes, gray hair just stick out. I don't have a ton but I have enough that it makes me self conscious. And as if the color isn't bad enough, they seem to spring to life like some sort sort wiry banner screaming "Hey world, look at me!" So needless to say, I wanted them covered. After all, I am only 34.  But I also did not want to use chemicals in my hair. I found the henna hair dye on the Mountain Rose Herbs website. It was $12 and I should get 2 color treatments out of it. There are several ways you can create the mixture per the pamphlet included with henna. You can add different things depending on the kind of results you want. Here is how I did it!

1. I used half the 8oz container of henna
2. Coffee as the mixture. This is supposed to give a richer color. I added coffee until I got a "creamy" consistency. Though it didn't mix really well so next time I will probably brew the coffee then bring it to a boil on the stove because the directions indicated that if you use water, it should be boiling.
4. A few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar because that helps cover gray.

I must say I am pretty happy with the results. Because I didn't get a great consistency, it was a little hard to apply (according the bestie that did the application for me!). You also have to leave it on for over an hour, and when it was time to rinse, it was basically like rinsing a TON of soil out of my hair. In fact, I got out of the shower and saw granules still coming from my head and had to get back in and rinse again. Bottom line, it is all worth it for the ability to cover gray when you are trying to avoid harsh chemicals. I know there are dyes out there without ammonia BUT they still have other undesirable things in them so I am pretty happy with this alternative. Most of my gray is covered and I do believe my results will be even better next time when get the coffee hotter. Here is a visual of this HAIR RAISING adventure!

The Henna

I have never seen unmixed henna before and I have to say, the green made me a little nervous.

Heather, hard at work.

Not the easiest stuff to work with. I may use a bowl and brush next time.

It was quite the process.

 

 

 

Some Elijah cuddles while we waited for my hair to "ripen".

More cuddles while the henna does its job.

I got busy and forgot to do an "after" shot but this is a few days later. :)