Oiling Your Hair

Hair oiling is so underrated and overlooked.  A complete oiling should be done twice a week.  For hair my length that means a good hour.

Tutorial: How to Cover Grey with Henna and Indigo, Part 1 and 2

It is not easy to color grey hair with brown shades using natural hair dye - henna and indigo.  It's doable, certainly, but time consuming.  If using plant-based hair color is of the ultimate importance, regardless of time, then by all means check out the following videos.  These videos demonstrate how to touch up grey by using a mixture of henna and indigo to achieve a dark brown color.  Only Parts 1 and 2 are completed (this is a long process, remember?) and they include co-washing and Part 1 and mixing henna in Part 2.  These are my first videos and I have a lot of room for improvement but I hope they are understable.

The following video is how I mix my henna which I did BEFORE I co-washed my hair....

Henna and Iron Pots

This is from the article How Henna Adorns India Women.  I found it interesting because  it recommends mixing henna in an iron pot.  Also, it has another recipe that might be worth trying.

 I've come across the iron pot recommendation on many a Middle Eastern or South Asian web site.  I'm doing more research to find out what the advantage is of mixing henna in an iron pot. The words that are italicized and in bold have been added (by me) for clarity.

"A specific henna mix is made in an iron utensil (pot) and applied as hair dye. A handful of henna is taken in an iron utensil and to it are added a cup of tea de(con)coction, 2 tablespoons of curd (buttermilk) , and one beaten egg. If the mixture is thick a little water is added to loosen it.  The mixture is left overnight and applied in the morning for at least three hours. A henna mix like this makes the hair shiny, prevents hairfall (shedded hair) and cures dandruff."

"Henna, Oh Henna, I Have Missed You"

I love the hair forums because the members provide real-life experiences that we can learn from.  Here is a nicely written article by a poster in the Curly Nikki forum named "OffandRunning."

One of the tips she gives in this article is simple yet extremely time-saving:

....I did discover a new applying tech that i will always be sticking to...the night before i applied i washed my hair detangled, and put it in several chunky twist. That morning when i applied the henna i undid each twist at a time apply the henna and move to the next one...it was soooooo easy.....i had my entire head done in 15mins top...... "Henna oh Henna, I Have Missed You..."

The sectioning of hair is helpful for any type, from 1a to 4c, and any length.

A Henna Recipe

There are so many henna recipes with so many different combinations of various items that first-time henna users can be paralyzed or overwhelmed.  Here is a basic recipe that comes from an Indian website:

Ingredients:  

Henna powder, 2 cups (about 200 grams)

Warm water, 1 cup

Lime (or lemon) juice, 1 teaspoon.

Simple, huh?  Well, this is a basic, no-frills, how-they-did-it-back-in-the-day recipe.  This is pretty much the recipe I use when I'm in a "get 'er done" mood and don't feel like being creative.

Stir the ingredients into a thick paste. The acidity of the lime or lemon juice and the warmth of the water help release the colour. Let it stand for at least one hour before application.

  

The site does recommend additives for those who want to get fancy such as ground cloves, coffee, amla powder.  It even suggests  mixing henna "in an iron vessel"  to help give a dark brown shade. I'm not vouching for that one (but I've read it on more than one Indian website), but I do know that you can mix henna in any type of bowl - plastic (will leave stains), glass or metal.  Think of mixing flour.

 

The site also suggests that for dry hair add an egg and a tablespoon of coconut oil/olive oil/mustard oil to your henna mixture.  I can say I've added egg and olive oil to my mix on different occasions.  The egg is suppose to make your hair shiny but it's hard to tell because my hair is so shiny from the Vatika Oil I use.  However, I've stopped adding any kind of oil to my mix because it may keep the henna from fully coating and binding to the hair.

 

Lots of people like to leave their henna on for HOURS but this totally unnecessary.  Most authorities say from two to four hours.  I know I have to keep it on for at least 3 hours because of my white.

Anyway, I'll be posting other recipes or at least links to them.

How To Lighten Henna'd and or Indigo'd Hair

I am still working on getting just the right dark shade from henna/indigo for my hair.  I have a tremendous amount of white in my hair and my hair very non-porous (hair shaft is thicker to penetrate) so with just henna my white becomes orange which is not flattering to my skin tone.  I applied henna and indigo combinations several times on my hair and new white growth but could never achieve a brown of some sort.  At that time I did not realize that my hair shaft is extremely non-porous and I would have to leave the paste in for much longer than recommended.  I could not go out with orange in my hair so the next day I applied indigo and the results were exactly what I knew they would be - jet black hair.

I rocked the jet black for a minute but I feel it is too harsh and now I'm looking for ways to lighten my hair without chemicals.  If you're like me and need to "lighten up" literally check out this fantastic article by a Long Hair Community Discussion Board poster, Ktani.  All you need is honey, water and coconut oil!

I will be trying it soon and will report back with before and after pictures.

Henna Gloss Recipes

From Curly Nikki Forum: "Letha"
This is top mop maven recipe:
200G Henna [two boxes]
1/2 Cup Hello Hydration Conditioner
1 Cup Lustrasilk Mango & Shea Butter Conditioner
1/2 Cup of Brahmi Oil added to mixture before applying the Henna on my hair.

200G Henna Jamilia Henna (2bxs)
1 cup of Lustrasilk Argan Oil Conditioner
1/2 Hello Hydration b4 the changed the name (can't remember the name)
1/2 cup of GrapeSeed & Walnut Oil ( applied the oil b4 I put the henna gloss in my hair)
I didn't have any Brahmi Oil so I used this mixture

I did let my mixture sit over night for color release. Most people don't do this so this can be your personal preference.

Only used 2 bxs according to length so with shorter length 1 bx will be ok.. I used 2 boxs and had some left over so I freezed the left over.

Testing for Color

Source: Butters and Bars

Jamila Henna Info

Jamila Henna Info

Indulge yourself with our professional grade Jamila henna powder freshly imported from Pakistan's Sindh and Punjab provinces. With its perfect sift and dark staining quality you will have a perfect paste for any type of applicator. Jamila henna powder is known for its deep stains (as seen below), and longer dye release time. It is also the least stringy henna powder we carry. Wholesale available in our wholesale category.

Jamila henna powder comes in two varieties.

• Stamped with Summer Crop and Year. This quality is used by professional henna artists, and is very popular amongst natural hair care lovers. This henna powder is the most finely sifted of the two varieties of Jamila henna powder available, and contains the best leaves of the henna plant that contain the most dye content. It currently comes in foil packaging that is marked in red "premium quality JAMILA henna 2010" inside of a sealed, shiny Jamila box.
  
• Henna for Hair. This henna comes packaged inside a clear cellophane package, inside of a sealed, plain Jamila box that is marked inside with "Henna for Hair". There will be no date marked on the box. The sift is a lesser quality, but still much better then store bought quality sifts. The henna leaves chosen for this quality are from leaves that are lower on the henna plant. The dye content is not as high as the premium quality Jamila henna. It is popular for hair usage. Click here to view this henna.