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  1. #31
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    It probably depends on your hair . My hair is fine & soft ; both my parents had fine hair, too & I've always had to be careful with it. When it came to pressing, the comb couldn't be too hot, the one relaxer I had as a teen took mine out but not my friends', & curly perms worked best of all. Bigen or KISS worked fine for
    other folks I know, but it messed up my edges.
    Did BC Feb 2009 after 28 yrs of curly perms. Ditched wig June 2010 ,wearing flat twists & puff.Avatar me & my new BAA. Use Kinky Curly in summer & Qhemet or Shea Moisture Yucca in fall & winter. This winter is very harsh & caused dryness & breakage so I went back to wigs as protective style & using grease for first time since the 70s : Dax & Blue Magic.

  2. #32
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    So I am now sitting with conditioner on my hair after the 1st rinse attempt with the indigo. As of right now, I don't know if I will do this whole process again. The henna application went OK. I followed olympia621's advice and mixed in a big zip lock back, so the application was not too messy. I added a little amla powder to tone down the red (in case the indigo didn't cover it all) and to add to the conditioning effects. I slept in the henna, and had to rinse 2 times to get it all (or most of it, anyway) out. Ended up with defined curls and the greys were reddish-brown, with the rest of my hair looking unchanged in color.

    The indigo application was another story. It made the biggest mess I've ever seen with any hair process. EVER. Even though I mixed the paste really well, clumps of it were falling off my hair and popping all over my bathroom. It was awful. And it looked so green on my hair, that I was afraid that I would end up with the greys being green. I didn't even cover my whole head, because the mess I was making was so huge, I just couldn't continue. I left the indigo on for 1.5 - 2 hours, rinsed as well as I could until the water got cold, and added conditioner. In about 30 minutes, I'll rinse again, hoping that the conditioner helps the rest of the indigo to come out.

    As I said earlier, I'm not sure if I'll do this process ever again. Maybe I had bad/old indigo or something, but it was waaayyyy too messy to deal with again. A lot of it didn't even stick to my hair, just kept falling off in clumps and specks. Thankfully, I don't think any of my greys look green, but some of them are definitely still reddish-brown. I did like the fact that the henna gave me nice curl definition without any product on my hair, so if I was to do this again, I might try a 1-step henndigo process so that I can still have the conditioning benefits of the henna. Maybe combining the two powders will make the process easier and less messy, and if the greys don't get dark enough, I could just go over them with a commercial dye that is as close to natural as I can get. And who knows, maybe in a few months I will try this whole process again with an indigo that I know has received good reviews. We'll see.
    Last edited by CCmomof5; 01-06-2013 at 10:08 PM.

  3. #33
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    Mixing the two together is easier than trying to use the indigo alone, indigo is known to be difficult to use alone. I use it around the front edges mixed with henna.

    DeBe

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  5. #34
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    How dark are your results, Debe?

  6. #35
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    Where did you get your henna & indigo from? I've never had my indigo get all clumpy. I just mix it with enough water to make it like yogurt or mashed potatoes & stir any lumps out; not too thick & not runny. Enough to go on your hair like plaster & not run down your neck. I use a hair color applicator bottle like they sell in Sally's for both dyes & apply a little at a time till hair's all covered. If the indigo is too thick to come out of the nozzle I cut the tip down.My first time was a bit messy but with analysis of what made it messy ( dye too runny,not using applicator bottle,better to apply dyes standing over bathtub,not having a plastic cape like salons use to catch any spills, doing a lousy job wrapping hair in plastic) I've been able to plan ahead & avoid most of the mess. How did your hair color turn out?
    Did BC Feb 2009 after 28 yrs of curly perms. Ditched wig June 2010 ,wearing flat twists & puff.Avatar me & my new BAA. Use Kinky Curly in summer & Qhemet or Shea Moisture Yucca in fall & winter. This winter is very harsh & caused dryness & breakage so I went back to wigs as protective style & using grease for first time since the 70s : Dax & Blue Magic.

  7. #36
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    I got my henna and indigo from a local Indian store. The henna brand was Reshma - which had gotten really good reviews on some different threads and sites I went on to research it. The indigo brand was Sadaf, and I could only find one review on it, but it was good, and the woman at the store assured me that it was pure, high quality indigo. Like I said, it could have been old (there was no date on the bag it was in). If I do this again, I'll probably order some from the site you recommended.

    @DeBe - in addition to my above question about how dark the henndigo gets your hair, I was also wondering - how do you mix it? Is it a 50/50 ratio?

  8. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by CCmomof5 View Post
    How dark are your results, Debe?
    A little background on my hair colour: from doing AVC rinses every wash, with no oils or other products, over the course of three years, I have a fair amount of lightening from this and general weathering. Given that I do like the lifted colour I use only henna on most of my hair which intensifies the darker new hair, makes the older lightened hair redder and the sprinkling of greys henna red. A big plus is it colours the white bulbs that are visible in my locs if I don't henna. The bulbs are my primary reason for using henna.

    From the first few applications, using the henindigo mix at the front only, with just henna on the rest, I found I had a black strip at the front of my hair, using a 50/50 mix. I now use a 75/25 mix with henna being the larger portion. The result is a dark reddish brown on the hair that had lifted in colour and a lighter reddish brown on the grey hairs.

    The first application of indigo (for most people) doesn't take as well as subsequent applications so usually the black effect often fades on the first application. That's part of the reason I henindigo the roots only of the front and parting in between full head applications (once every 4-8 weeks), which I do every 3-4 months.

    I hope I've explained it well enough...

    I've also grown used to the lovey gloss that henna gives to my locs

    @ NubianPrize I'm wondering about the indigo. When I've mixed it alone I've found it crumbly so I've never risked trying to use it as a two step process. I've found that coarsely ground henna is also more prone to that crumbly texture, so I don't know if my indigo is coarse ground causing the crumbling texture. I never worried about it as I'd heard the same reports from others. I use so little that a single purchase lasts a long time, but maybe I'll hunt for a different outlet for my next batch, to see if its any different.


    DeBe
    Last edited by DeBe; 01-07-2013 at 07:35 PM.

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  10. #38
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    The website henna for hair recommends mixing henna and indigo together. She also recommends using spices like cinnamon, cloves or nutmeg to tone down the brassiness of henna. I don't use indigo, but I've used the spices and they do tone down the henna.

  11. #39
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    OK, so I'm STILL rinsing indigo out of my hair!! 2 weeks later! I do have very dense hair that tends to hold onto stuff, but dang!!

    I am pretty certain that I will never use indigo alone again, but I will probably eventually try a mixture with henna, amla, indigo, and/or some of those spices at some point. I do prefer my hair black, though, so I think when/if I do it, it will be more for the conditioning affects, with the understanding that I may need to go over my hair with a black dye.

    ETA: I think I finally got it all out!! Took me a total of 6 rinses (with 3 of them involving a wash with shampoo as well).
    Last edited by CCmomof5; 01-20-2013 at 02:52 AM.

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