Tuesday, October 26, 2010

After Pictures Of My Henna Adventure!


This is a picture of me BEFORE dying my hair with Red Henna!

This is AFTER my second bag of henna.
{the final shade I ended up with}

OK....here's the story!

For some time I had wanting to do something to my hair.
Not really sure what I wanted to do? Maybe a foil? Just a little something to jazz things up,cover some of the grey that is starting to appear and add some depth.

Well since I have been visiting the herb store close to my house, I spotted the henna isle. I had heard of the stuff but had never used it, so
I bought a bag of the RED
{they were out of the STRAWBERRY Blonde}

When I got home I threw the henna in my bathroom drawer.
{not sure how or if I really wanted to do through with coloring my hair with the henna?}
After a few weeks of pondering and waiting for just the right time.
I did not want a repeat of the time I dyed my hair "red" with an over the counter brand.
My nickname for a few months after that one was Ronald McDonald!
I'm sure you can picture how it turned out! To make things worst I had school conferences with my kids teachers the next day.
So timing is everything when choosing to dye your hair.

After a bit of research of HOW to use the henna I decided it was time and went for it.
I read: to use an egg in it to help the henna color stick to the grey.
I also did not know to use boiling water the first go round {I used warm tap water} and was possessed to add the juice of a lemon?
So you ask why lemon juice? I just told you! I was possessed!
I learned a lot when I went back for my second bag of red henna!
I also heard on the Internet to leave the goop

{it smells like creamed spinach} on as long as you can stand it.
I left it on for 2 1/2 hours!

.....Oh yah I forgot to mention the first go round with bag #1 of my henna did not cover all my hair. {I have long thick hair} I should have bought 2 bags for the first go!
So I dyed my hair again several day later.
When buying my second bag of henna down at the herb store, the store owner said adding the lemon might have been why my hair was orange not red??  I also should have used boiling water...that is what released the plant dye or so I'm told.
So bag 2 of my red henna was applied and only left one for 1 hour.


This is my hair after the first bag of red henna!
It was a bit brassy and dark....not what I was hoping for;(
I quickly bought more henna and dyed it again~
Used boiling water and no egg or lemon juice and left on for only 1 1/2hrs!

I did not get full coverage in the back at the crown and the underside
in the back {my hair is thick}. The ends in the back were not good either.

As you can see in the  photo at the top of the post, after the second dying, using boiling water (and no egg or lemon juice) and a week of washing,my hair has softened quit a bit and has a more natural look to it!

If I do this again I will:
buy 2 bags of Strawberry blond color
add boiling water
leave it one for 1 1/2 hours.

after the first 45 minutes
 I would add some water to my head and rub the goop around some more in case I did not get it covered the first time.

So have do any of you have a henna story you want to share?
I'd love to hear from you!
What color did you use?

Peace and Love,
Georgiann

6 comments:

  1. I love it!!!

    Like you I'm also starting to notice some grey and not enjoying the loss of my color. Most people don't notice it, but the color is seriously washed out due to the presence of the grey.

    I'm going to talk it over with the Hubster, but don't be surprised if I show up with a blog post showing my newly hennaed hair. :)

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  2. Oh I like it!! Although I think you hair was lovely to begin with - curly hair is so nice!!! I only used henna once as a teen and it smelled so bad I couldn't stand it!! It did make my hair shinier though. Every once in a while I get the desire to "do something" to my hair to so I will get a over the counter dye - the 6 week kind and give it a rinse - but I'm not very daring on the color - usually something pretty close to my real color :0) I'm kind of a chicken!! Have a great day!!
    Blessings,
    Christine

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  3. I have used henna in the past but it dried my hair out so much you could have stood me in the garden and used me to scare away the birds! Yeah - scarecrow hair was my result. I've given it a few gos with heaps of conditioner applied but after a few weeks the same result. A hairdresser I used to go to told me that he does not recommend henna for this reason. It will cause your hair to become brittle with regular use. So for me I now use ones purchased from the health food store which are not completely natural but do not contain as many of the nasties such as ammonia. I like caramel shades for my brown hair rather than more reddish colours which always look a bit unnatural on me.

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  4. Georgiann,
    Very nice!!! Actually I'm a fan of gray hair too. IMHO you look beautiful with each color, natural, orangy, and strawberryish. But I do like the strawberryish best I think. :-) I'm thinking I might need to do something with mine too. Someday soon that is. :-) I'll remember "NO lemon"!! Giggle.

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  5. I can't wait to see your before and after pictures if any of you gals do your hair!

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  6. I love it,I have a red headed daughter and I adore red hair,very nice!

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