I used Henna last night but I don't know if I am sold

[gymfreak336]

Well yesterday I decided to go ahead and take the plunge and henna my hair. I mixed 100 grams of Dulhan henna with about a cup and a half of STRONG black tea, a squirt of alma oil, a splash of lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of ground cloves. I mixed in a gladware container and covered it with plastic wrap and then foil. I sat the whole container in a hot water bath and then set it out side in the sun. I let it sit for about 4 fours even though I had dye release at two.

I did this at my parents house because they have a huge sink in the washroom so I could be messy if I needed. I sectioned my hair into four parts and started slapping the stuff on. After I was nice and coated I had my brother spin around as he held plastic wrap over my head to make sure that it was tight and sealed up. I sat under the dryer for almost and hour and then I rinsed. As I started rinsing all I could help thinking was "Oh no." My hair was soooo hard. I knew that it would be hard but I wasn't expecting that. I had to use some creme of nature shampoo to help get the last bit out and to soften it up a bit. Over all it didn't take me long to rinse the henna out. It was out in about 5 mins but I kept rinsing for ten just to be sure. I squeeze out some of the water in my hair and started to add my conditioner. This is where my problems started. I used the ORS orangy conditioner because it gives me alot of moisture. My hennaed hair just laughed at it. It still felt rough and matted even after two packs of the stuff. I just figured that I needed to let it work so I slapped on a plastic cap and headed back for the dryer. After 30 mins I rinsed and my hair didn't feel any better.I didn't know what to do then so I just added a squirt of creme of nature again and washed. After I rinsed that out I noticed a bit more softness so I decided to cut my losses and stop there. I started to detangle and rollerset. It took about 1 hour to fully detangle and set my hair even with creamy slippery leave-ins. I was so afraid about dryness that I dapped some nourish and shine on each piece before I set it on the rollers. I sat back under the dryer for another 45 mins and took out the rollers. My hair felt soft but still kinda hard. However, I did notice how strong my hair felt. Even with all that detangling I might have lost 20 hairs. I really didn't notice a color change at first because at this point it was 1 in the morning and my parents had already turned most of the lights of in the house so I was working in dimmed light. I just wrapped it up and when back to my place. This morning my boyfriend took of my wrap and my color is PERFECT!!! Before my hair was a mix of light caramel, copper, and gold ends, light brown in the middle fading to my dark brown roots. Where there was once copper and gold, there is now a warm, brownish red with a couple of golden highlights and overal my color is more uniform. My ends look thicker and the color looks better on my skin tone. If I could figure out how to post pics, I would so you all can see how beautiful it is. As far as the color and conditioning benefits henna offers, I am sold; but the detangling I had to go through was crazy. If it is going to be like that everytime, I don't think I can henna again. If there is something you all can suggest to help me out please let me know. Maybe I didn't use the right conditioner, maybe I need to do a moisture treatment last week in anticipation of my henna application, or maybe I should add more oil. For those who henna on a regular what should I do?

 

[sareca]

I would deep condition for 40-60 minutes with heat or overnight with a good moisturizing conditioner and skip the terps. Coffee and lemon juice are both acidic (they're called terps). Lemon juice is especially drying. I would leave them both out. The coffee may not have contributed to the color as much as you think and if you decide you like it better with coffee you can always add it back. Otherwise your mix looks good. I can't wait to see your pics!

ETA: Oh and up the oil. Use like a 1/4-1/2 of a cup.

 

[Mizani_Mrs]

someone said (I think it was MissLong?)that she used humecto cond after her henna and it softened her hair. I am definitely going to try that next time and maybe lounge around the house for a few hours. I am also going to try Porosity control and then try nexxus ensure.... both of these conds are supposed to be smoothing and softening the texture. I have never used them before but i recently purchased them, so i'll give it a try. I am also going to try to add maybe 1/4cup of moisturizing conditioner to my henna mix... (Or add henna to a conditioner???) just to give it a shot. heck i don't know...all i know is my hair breaks a little too easily so i'm willing to give henna a few more shots...or maybe only use it for 4 weeks when i got a fresh relaxer...

 

[MissYocairis]

OK. This post may have sold me on going ahead and using some henna that I bought and strand tested this weekend. Aside from the henna looking exactly like baby poop and being hard to rinse out, what the OP just described sounds like a decent enough trade off for the hassle. BUT, Sareca, are you saying that the terp is not a necessary part of the henna process when you are using it for COLORING? It's optional? I did my strand test with henna mixed in apple cider vinegar. I let that sit for about 16 hours. My strands came out dry, but pretty in color. Oddly enough, as the days have gone by, the color has remained pretty much the same. No lightening.

 

[MSLONG]

Yes I used Humecto to DC for 40 minutes and that helped to soften it to the point where I was able to run a comb down the length of it without problems.

I still havent gotten my moisture balance fully restored, but I am going to DC again tonight to take care of that hopefully.

I used lemon juice as a terp and I think that was the culprit. I will continue to henna, but like Sareca said in her post, I will not use anything acidic...just henna, oil, and water.

 

[gymfreak336]

Thanks for the help. I think I will reduce the strength of the tea I used and not add any more acid. The cloves created a beautiful color. I forgot to add that I added a small spoonful of paprika. I will increase the oil amount too. Over the next two weeks I am going to really kick up the moisture. I think I am going to do it again around the 15th. I might add some tumeric this time to pick up some more golden highlights. If only I could post a pic. to show you

 

[Cichelle]

I'm repeating myself here, but:

I urge people who are going to try henna to ease up on the acid/terp. Tea, coffee, lemon juice, ACV etc can dry the hair out like nobody's business. If you must use these things, use a small amount. For instance many people get great results just using a teaspoon or two of ACV and the rest water.

When I first got my henna I did three different strand tests and set them side by side on a white piece of paper. On the top of the paper I had a sample of my hair without henna, so I could see the color differences. Two of the samples had some form of an acid (one was my conditioner which has citric acid in it). The other sample only had henna and hot water. (I used hot water in all my sample mixes.) In all cases I got strong dye release in less than an hour and the color was the same in all three samples. IOW, even the one without the acid/terp released fine and gave great color.

I have used henna three times now. I used henna, hot water, a teaspoon of fruit pectin and a few squeezes of conditioner. Now, I should say here again that it might depend on which henna you are using, but I think you really do not need to use much acid.

 

[alexstin]

Yeah, I used alot of ACV the first time I henna'd and it was not pretty. The last I just used warm water and olive oil.

 

[sareca]

OK. This post may have sold me on going ahead and using some henna that I bought and strand tested this weekend. Aside from the henna looking exactly like baby poop and being hard to rinse out, what the OP just described sounds like a decent enough trade off for the hassle. BUT, Sareca, are you saying that the terp is not a necessary part of the henna process when you are using it for COLORING? It's optional? I did my strand test with henna mixed in apple cider vinegar. I let that sit for about 16 hours. My strands came out dry, but pretty in color. Oddly enough, as the days have gone by, the color has remained pretty much the same. No lightening.

Yep, that's what I'm saying. The terp is for "maximum" color penetration and probably really only makes a diffference on skin or light colored hair. Start w/o the the terp. If you think that's not enough red add a couple of tablespoons of ACV next time. Your hair is pretty light so it might make a difference for you. I was wasting time.

Oh and start with less time too. I've always used straight ACV (no water at all) in my mixes and it didn't make my hair dry, but I also only leave it in for an hour or less. The dryness is probably a combination of things, but I'm really, really sure it is NOT the henna itself.

ETA: Ok, last one... add a 1/4c of your favorite oil after the henna has released. That will definitely make it more moist.

 

[sareca]

Yeah, I used alot of ACV the first time I henna'd and it was not pretty. The last I just used warm water and olive oil.

That's what happened to me when I used lemon juice. NEVER again!