Today I decided to try it again. This henna was only $5.29 at my local natural market. I don't remember the shade I used last time, but this time I chose Burgundy, which is a dark auburn. Henna, which makes the hair reddish, is combined with indigo to make more brownish shades. I used Darjeeling tea as the mixing liquid, which deepened the brown and toned down the red. I rather regret that, but it still looks nice.
The process was relatively straightforward; first I brewed about 10 0z of tea, and when boiling, added it to 4 oz of henna powder in a glass bowl. I used a plastic spoon to mix the tea into the powder, gradually. Henna, like bentonite clay, is not meant to touch metal. The instructions said that the mixture is ready when it is a creamy yogurt-like texture. 10 oz didn't quite achieve that, so I had to add about 1/8 cup of hot water left over from making the tea.
When the mixture was creamy, and still hot but not scalding, it was time to add it to my hair. My hair was dry, but you could apply it to towel-dried hair as well. As I remembered from last time that the application was a messy business, I applied coconut oil to my hairline and ears. I laid down an old towel in the shower and set the bowl on a step stool, and began the application. I wore gloves as well.
I began by glopping the mixture onto an inch of hair at a time, starting from the roots and working down, adding globs of henna as I went down the length of my hair. Once I had gone through my whole head, I repeated the process. After the second run-through, I took the last globs of henna from the bowl and liberally covered all my hair, making it stick to itself, and piled my hair on top of my head. I covered it with a shower cap and then with a towel made into a turban. I sat like that for an hour and 15 minutes, then rinsed in the shower with hot water and a couple handfuls of conditioner because the henna mud was so stubborn. I rinsed with apple cider vinegar and cold water.
What I forgot about was the frightful splattering of henna muck on the shower walls when it is rinsed out. It was EVERYWHERE. I spent a good ten minutes cleaning the shower afterward. I threw out the shower cap, realizing that I had cut a hole in it when I cut open its packaging. On principle I HATE single-use disposables, especially plastic ones but sometimes it just happens.
I am pleased with the results. My hair is naturally a light brown and now it's not quite a dark auburn, more like a dark brown with a pinch of gold-red highlight. Just a pinch, which is why if I do this again, I will use plain water and not the tea, so I can get the full effect of the red tones. You can't really see the final color until your hair is totally dry, but I always blow-dry my bangs, so I got a sneak preview. Another thing I will do differently next time is not take off the gloves until after I rinse off. My fingernails are stained brown from trying to scrub the mud out of my hair. I may as well have left off the gloves the whole time!
Henna is also a fantastic conditioner on its own, so if it had been easier to rinse out with just water, I would not have used any other conditioner on it. I smell like matcha; henna has that same delicious grassiness, maybe even more so. The package states that the color will last from 4-6 weeks. I really had so much fun and am so happy with the results that I think I'll do it again. Maybe I will try Mahogany, which is a more medium auburn. I remember that henna fades naturally, and it doesn't give you that weird grown-in-roots look that conventional hair-dye will produce. Cheap, easy, and totally natural. I'm getting crunchier by the day!
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