Advice On Henna For Gray Hair

[nappiejean]

If you're wondering why I'm raising this question here and why I don't simply click over to the "Homemade Hair Products" section for the discussion there on applying henna to the hair, well...gulp...I wanted to cut through all the extraneous questions and banter over there and go straight to the women on the board who use henna not just to condition but to color the abundance of gray stray hair on their head.

At 55, I'm ready to take the plunge and dye my natural hair. I'm sick of it and sick of looking older than I am. But I'm clueless as to where to begin. I've read up on what folks say about henna over on the "Homemade Hair Products" but I haven't heard enough from women around my age who have lots of gray hair they are trying to dye. Will someone please walk me through your henna recipe and your steps.

By the way, I'm thin/nappy with shoulder length natural hair. I'd like to return to black hair, but I don't want that black black hair color (which I see a lot) that looks too black to be real or natural. I don't mind a hint of brown color streak here and there, but it's largely black hair that I'm after.

Thanks for your help!

[LetanyaG]

Hi nappiejean!

I was wondering what "look" you'd want to achieve once you henna? Do you want red, burgandy, brown, black, etc??? You have so many options.
I'm younger than you (32) but I've been gradually greying since my mid-20's....gotta love genetics lol.
From my experiance....if you use pure henna (not blending it w/alma, etc) your greys will turn bright copper orange. I've read on hennahair.com (an Excellant resourse) that blending w/alma will give a browner look and you'll still have great conditioning results. You can find many simple recipes on that website as well to get the color blend your looking for. Using indigo after you henna will give you a deep black hair but from my understanding you must use it directly after hennaing.


Hopefully other henna heads will chime in soon and give you more advise....

ETA: Sorry I'm blind! I just re-read your post and you plainly said you wanted black results....I'll go to henna for hair and see if I can find a easy recipe...

hth's :wub:

ETA : http://www.hennaforhair.com/gray/graycolors4.html

If you dye gray hair with henna, the Lawsone molecules will penetrate the keratin in the hair shaft and dye it orange. If you dye your hair with indigo immediately afterward, the indigo molecules will penetrate the keratin in the outer layers of the hair shaft with indigol molecules which will oxidize to dark blue. Powdered indigo leaves prepared for hair are alkaline and will react with the acidic henna to darken the orange. Your hair will be dyed near black as the result of this interaction. In Turkey, white woolen yarn was dyed rich, long-lasting black by dying it once with henna, and overdying that with indigo. Your hair is made of keratin, just as is wool.

If you use body art quality henna, which has the highest percentage of Lawsone of any henna, and leave the paste in your hair for several hours, the keratin hair shaft will become saturated with dye. If you use high quality indigo immediately after body art quality henna, you have the best chance of dying your gray hair a deep, natural-looking black color.

After you complete the dye process, it will take two days for the dyes to naturally darken to peak color. If you do not get satisfactory color saturation the first time, repeat the dye process until you build up the color you want. Henna is beneficial for your hair, you can dye as often as you like!

The indigo molecules are slightly larger than Lawsone molecules, so they stain the outer layers of the hair shaft. Some people find the indigo color fades slightly over several weeks, and the henna begins to show through. You can refresh the color by dying your hair with a mix of mostly indigo, and a little henna.

If you dye your gray hair with indigo, without the henna, you're apt to be a "blue haired old lady". If you're a lady. If you're old.

AND MORE...

http://www.hennaforhair.com/indigo/gwynindigo.html

It helps to dye your hair first with henna.

When you've rinsed out the henna, you dye over that with natural indigo.

Mix indigo with water and stir it up. The indigo paste should be as thick as stirred up yogurt, though it will be very lumpy like porridge. It will be a green mush that smells like frozen peas.

Lay plenty of newspapers, or a tarp, on the floor where you'll apply the indigo. Indigo will stain linoleum and cloth. Wear plastic gloves or your hands will have grey-blue stains.

Immediately after you stir water into the indigo, put it into a squeeze bottle to squish it into the hair, or just slather it in by the handful. Work it down to the scalp, and mush it in like you're trying to plaster a wall with guacamole. Try to get indigo evenly into all the hair. It's messy. It's stinky. Remember that women believed the uglier they got with their beauty preparations, the lovelier they'd be when they were done.

Wrap the indigo-laden hair with plastic wrap into a great mooshy sloppy peas-smelling turban and let it stay there half an hour. Wipe all the indigo drops off as they dribble down the neck, forehead and back! These will leave gray streaks if you don't wipe them away!

Rinse this all out of your hair. It takes about a day for the indigo to oxidize completely, and then your hair will be amazing black!

How much indigo do you need?
If your hair is short, 100g will do. If your hair is straight and comes to your collar, 200g should do. If your hair is straight and comes to your shoulders, 300g should do. If it's waist length, try 500g. Gwyn has very curly hair that stretches to mid back, and her hair is very thick. It took 500g to do her hair.

[Fedyfro]

Hi,

I'm about 70% grey at this point and I have been using henna and indigo for the last few months. I order the Brunette for Grey Bundles from Mehandi.com.

I have had to play around with my formula as it is not perfected yet. I have about 6 inches of hair and last time I used 100g indigo, and about 30 grams of henna along with 8g of amla, lemon juice and water. I find the indigo does fade as I wash my hair a few times per week leaving the reddish henna color. So I have been using it every couple of weeks.

I am not in love with it but at least it does not burn or cause my hair to break like the commercial colors did.

Good Luck!

[Mojito Chica]

Come check out the henna threads in the Homemade Products forum!

[nappiejean]

Thanks everyone for the heads-up on dyeing grey with henna, especially Elle who went over and beyond to track down specifics for me. I've been offline for months now, but I wouldn't dare embark on such a bold experiment with my hair without coming back on and drawing on the combined experience of sister nappies here on nappturality.

Gotta admit that the thought of waking up to orange and red hair, or some other startling hair color, frightens the heck out of me. Gotta admit also from the pictures i've seen henna hair dyeing looks daunting. A lot of work for hist or miss results.

Fedyfro, you sound less than enthused by the results. What went wrong?

Like I said, I don't like that black black, or ultra black, hair color look. Is it a matter of how much indigo and how long I leave it in?

[Fedyfro]

I am still never 100% sure what the final result will be. My current avatar shows the roots which are reddish brown and my ends which still have commercial color on them which are dark. Perhaps I will like it better when I have perfected my method and/or all the commercial color is cut off.

Typically, when I finish with my henna everything looks blended but because henna and indigo oxidize a few days later it may not look the same as it did initially. Like you, I do not want black hair so I have to play with the ratio of henna to indigo.

It is a learning process but I realize while commercial color was easier and the results were consistent, it was not good for my hair.