I disagree with the lemon juice or ANY acid for African hair.
It's way too drying for most of our hair; relaxed or natural.
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Naturalgurl, I don't use any acids in my henna mix and I still get the most vibrant color ever because I allow my henna to sit overnight for the color to release. Even Henna Sooq said she doesn't use any acids in her mixes and she gets wonderful coloring as well without the dryness. I don't know about the importance of the acids, but I obviously don't need it because my henna mixes are turning out great without it and I don't get that dry feeling some ladies are talking about.
ETA: I do use just a little bit of amla powder in my mix and I think that maybe that might be a little acidic so I guess there you have it, my acidic addition
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. So from what I have read, to obtain black hair Indigo should be applied to the "hair" once Henna has been completely rinsed. From several posts I have read that Indigo should be mixed w/ Henna after Henna releases...hmmmerplexed
Ok I am a little confused
This is correct on both counts here - you can do this either way. If you want your hair very black then you have to do the 2 step process of henna separate from the indigo application. If you want not so black hair, kinda like a dark brown, then you do the 1 step process of adding the indigo mixture to the henna mixture after the henna color has released, then apply immediately to your hair.
I mixed my very first batch of Henna tonight, took pictures of my hair.
Recipe: (I wanted to keep as basic as possible)
Henna
Amla Powder
Water
I mixed in glass bowl, w/ a silicone whisk for about an hour. Then covered w/ plastic and foil. The mixture is sitting in my room, but I wondered if I should put it in a warmer part of the house, like garage since my AC is running in my room.
The mixture turned out like yogurt, I hope its not too runny, we'll see. I made my batch about 630ish pm and will let it sit til tomorrow after I get off. So by the time I am ready to apply it will be 24hrs...will that be too long?
I had some harvested hair from a few months ago, when my hair shed really really bad. At this time I didn't know anything about Henna. I kept this hair in a plastic bag, why I don't know. Mostly maybe because I couldn't believe I was shedding hair in that amount. Well it dawned on me as I was mixing the Henna to get that bag out and put some mix on the hair. So tomorrow I will see what it does for the color.
Anyway thank you LADIES, for all the great info and tips. I hope to be among those w/ good results to share.....til then I'm going to bed.
Ok I am a little confused
AS AGGIE ALREADY STATED, BOTH METHODS ARE FINE DEPENDING ON THE RESULTS YOU WANT:
--BLACKEST BLACK = 2-STEP: HENNA FIRST, THEN FOLLOW WITH INDIGO. NOTE THAT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE DONE AT SAME TIME -- CAN HENNA ONE DAY AND INDIGO IMMEDIATE, OR WAIT A COUPLE OF DAYS
--SHADES OF RED/BROWN = AFTER HENNA RELEASES, MIX INDIGO, WAIT 10 MINUTES, ADD INDIGO PASTE TO ALREADY RELEASE HENNA PASTE, THEN APPLY TO HAIR. ALTHOUGH I LOVE, LOVE MY COLOR WITH STRAIGHT HENNA, OCCASIONALLY I LIKE SOMETHING DIFFERENT AND ADD INDIGO FOR DARKER SHADES OF RED/BROWN -- WHEN I MIX 50/50, MY HAIR COMES OUT ALMOST BLACK . . .
I mixed my very first batch of Henna tonight, took pictures of my hair.
Recipe: (I wanted to keep as basic as possible)
Henna
Amla Powder
Water
I mixed in glass bowl, w/ a silicone whisk for about an hour. Then covered w/ plastic and foil. The mixture is sitting in my room, but I wondered if I should put it in a warmer part of the house, like garage since my AC is running in my room.
YOUR MIX IS PERFECT SINCE YOU'RE JUST STARTING OUT -- KISS AT FIRST WILL HELP YOU SEE HOW YOUR HAIR REACTS AND THEN YOU CAN MOVE ON TO MORE COMPLICATED STUFF -- GOOD JOB! I KEEP MY MIX IN THE WARMEST SPOT I CAN FIND, BUT HEY, I'VE GOTTEN HENNA RELEASED IN 6 HOURS IN PRETTY COLD TEMPS, SO YOU'RE PROLLY OK IN THE BEDROOM, BUT HENNA LOVES WARMTH FOR FASTEST COLOR RELEASE.
The mixture turned out like yogurt, I hope its not too runny, we'll see. I made my batch about 630ish pm and will let it sit til tomorrow after I get off. So by the time I am ready to apply it will be 24hrs...will that be too long?
YOGURT IS WHAT I GO FOR -- NOT TO THICK SO THAT THE PASTE IS DIFFICULT AND NOT TOO SOFT SO IT DOESN'T RUN -- IF IT'S TOO SOFT, I JUST ADD MORE POWDER AND KEEP GOING -- IF TOO THICK, ADD MORE WARM WATER AND KEEP GOING -- EASY TO FIX! I'VE LET MY HENNA MIX SIT ON MY DRESSER FOR 2 DAYS AND IT WAS JUST FINE -- SAME GREAT COLOR, SAME STRONG, SHINY RESULTS.
I had some harvested hair from a few months ago, when my hair shed really really bad. At this time I didn't know anything about Henna. I kept this hair in a plastic bag, why I don't know. Mostly maybe because I couldn't believe I was shedding hair in that amount. Well it dawned on me as I was mixing the Henna to get that bag out and put some mix on the hair. So tomorrow I will see what it does for the color.
THAT IS HOW I DISCOVERED I LOVE STRAIGHT HENNA -- MY FIRST ATTEMPT, I HENNA HARVESTED HAIR, LET SIT 3 HOURS, RINSED AND WAS LIKE, OMG, BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL RED/BROWN! I DIDN'T EVEN USE INDIGO FOR FIRST 6 MONTHS CUZ I LOVE BEING A "REDHEAD" . . .
Anyway thank you LADIES, for all the great info and tips. I hope to be among those w/ good results to share.....til then I'm going to bed.
. WOW I'm impressed. I notice the hair was much stronger, not able to break it when I pulled, tad dry, but didn't put conditioner on it. I can definitely get down w/ that.
Ok I think I have it now. I covered it w/ plastic and then foil, so that may help. I did a strand test, let it sit overnight, rinsed the hair this morning and I could see highlights of burgundy...so very pretty...hmmm do I even wanna do Indigo
Right now I have the strand, more like a wod sitting outside in the sun, to see if any changes occur. I will check that later, it may not but still want to see..
Thanks for replying.
w/ it overnight, and i liked that cause then I wasn't thinking about it the whole time, plus my husband was at work so he didn't have to put up w/ the smell. I tend to obsess about things...hmmm.
thinking of that smell. It was just very potent smell, kinda like weed/marijuana..welll im juss sayin.
Hi All,
Ok here is what my results are....as I told you some of you, I would be doing my first Henna/Indigo this weekend.
My recipe was pretty simple
100g Henna
distilled water
a little bit Amla Powder (didn't measure just sprinkled til top of Henna was covered)
Covered w/ plastic, and foil, sat in garage.
I let this sit for a little over 24 hours
Right before I was gonna put it on my hair, I mixed some cheap conditioner, coconut oil, amla oil, and castor oil. Washed and DC my hair. Let it dry about 85%. Then w/ the help of my sister, and son I henna'd, it had an odor but not an offensive scent...like fresh cut grass, as a lot of you have said.
I applied while my sister parted my hair. After that my son and I took a long piece of saran wrap, I attached one end to my head, while he held it straight and I made a 360 degree turn and wrapped it as he held it, turning my body til my head was completely covered. Very tight fit, he did such a good job. Then I put a shower cap on, w/ a scarf and bonnet, I didn't want the scent to seep out and offend any of those children. They are so silly, they said it STANK
The next morning about 745ish I was ready to rinse, before I did, I mixed the Indigo w/ water....now I just threw up in my mouth
I rinsed w/ White Rain Coconut Condish in the shower, for about 30 mins, then I used Organix Vanilla Silk Condition for little bit, then rinsed it out...gave a nice soft slip feel of my hair.
Towel blotted, then put w/ the help of my daughter this time, put the indigo in. It was actually a better than I thought putting it in my hair, kinda crumbly so I had to add a little more water in between.
I left the Indigo on for an hour, then back in the shower rinsed w/ WRCC & OVSC about 30 mins, then put my deep conditioner Shikai Color Effects and sat under my dryer.
Got back in the shower to rinse it and w/ final rinse cold water....dang that was a tedious process....BUT SO WORTH IT
Here are my before / after
I am totally satisfied, my hair is so BLACK and SHINY, I LOVE IT!!!
Thanks to all you ladies for the support and helpful info.
And now that I think I'm an expert (jk) I am recommending to all my family and friends. BTW think I'm nuts.
so much Neroli for your helpful info.Wow, Tigget, you can see the difference in your cuticles in the after pics ! Your hair definitely looks shiny and smooth !
I am in research of finding a solution for that problem. The after pic is after I flat ironed my hair. But my family was impressed w/ the results, my husband kept calling me all night asking how my Hennaing is going, he knew how obsessed I was by the endless hours I put in reading on the forum 
