Henna to Color Hair

Advise.
I was a hair dresser for 15 year and now I work for the state. Henna is NOT the way to go. It never comes out. It is a stain.

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D., I was a hairstylist for many years, and while I'm glad that many people on this site have had success using hennna, I can't recommend it. I did not work as a colorist, but I saw enough henna nightmares to tell you that henna can be a real problem. If you have very many greys the result may be much brighter than you like. The other problem is that henna can build up on your hair, causing it to look dull and brittle and to feel gummy when it is wet, because it works by coating the hair rather than penetrating it. If you are used to using regular hair color you should know that the results with henna will be very different. For people who want to avoid harsh chemicals I recommend that they stop coloring their hair, as unpleasant as that sounds. Sometimes greys can be very pretty. Think of them as silver highlights! You are getting a lot of good information here. I hope this helps.

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Hi D.,

Henna never comes out of the hair and it does not cover grey hair. You will have problems with covering up the grey once you start to use Henna and try to use other color on top of it. I am a hair stylist I know this as I see it in clients that try to take short cuts.

Have a great weekend.

N. Marie

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Hi D., Do not henna your hair until you have spoken to a very well trained colorist. Henna can react with the chemicals already in your hair. It has been known to turn green. I work at Di pietro Todd salon in San Francisco as a stylist . I have done hennas before but only on virgin hair.If you would like I could ask one of our colorists their advice and pass on the info. just contact me to let me know if you are interested. D.

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It's a bit like putting mud all over your head, but it definitely works and is much safer. Might take a couple of times before you see it "sticking" because of the chemicals you've been using, so try it a few times before you decide.

Take care, C.

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I used this brand on my mother about 4 months ago. It is green and smells like chicken poop when mixed. It takes a long time and a lot of patience. It is sort of gritty - like a mud bath or wet sand in texture. It is really hard to get on the hair and even worse to wash back out. The color was fine, but I'm not sure it was worth it. We spent almost 5 hours doing her hair. Check with your hair stylist, she may have the newer products from Paul Mitchel and other name brands that have less harsh chemicals. The color doesn't last quite as long, and you have fewer choices, but it is much less harsh and doesn't smell as bad. I've just switched. I used to have my hair done every 8 weeks and I do it every 6 weeks now. Good luck.

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They have hair color that they call a Rinse, or Cellophane and they are semi-permanante. Clairol makes a brand etc. They have no peroxide or ammonia and they wash out a little faster about 6-10 washes, but I noticed that my hair is stronger and healthier and it is worth the fact that I have to color a little more often and they really cover up the Grey's!! I have heard bad stories about Henna and good ones. It depends on who does it and what type of Henna but it seems more of a headache.
Good Luck.

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i think its great. the only thing is that if you've ever gotten a henna tattoo before, it mixes to be kinda thick, the hair color is the same was. also if you use henna you have to either keep using it or wait till it comes out of your hair completely before using anything else. i have tried this very brand and its kind of hard to apply. i eventually switched to a different all natural brand that uses plants but not henna called Naturtint. its excactly like regular hair color only it have tothing that harms your hair and accully make my hair look shiner and helthier.

i hope this helps!!

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Just an FYI regarding all the responses about ORANGE results. Lucille Ball used Henna to dye her hair... so that color could be the result you'd get.
Depends on your hair color though... I didn't get orange...

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Hey,

I've used henna and it works well...conditions hair, doesn't cover all the greys...they look like red highlights.
One thing is, if you you don't like it...you can't use chemical dyes for several months. Henna will react and make dyes look off. Also, depending on the brand, you have to leave henna in for a loooong time to get your desired effects.

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Hi,

I'm a hairdresser. If you already have permanent color on your hair, I would avoid the henna. It may have an adverse effect to the haircolor. There are natural haircolors that don't contain ammonia or peroxide. They may not give you 100% grey coverage, but neither will henna. Your hairdresser can advise you on the non-ammonia, non-peroxide alternatives. There is also a line of haircolor that is sold at natural food stores like Whole Foods that doesn't have the harsh chemicals. Hope this helps.

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I've have used it before my hair went more than 50% gray. It worked well and I liked it but it is temporary. My dsughter has used it and it lasts a long time for her but she has no gray hair. It is messy but fun to do.

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Hi D.,

I use henna a lot, on both skin and hair. It is a permanent dye, but makes a 'temporary tatoo' because it's not put under the growing part of your skin, like a real tatoo, so the dyed skin sloughs off over time. Same for your hair, it will be a permanent color until it grows out or you dye it again. For your scalp, it won't be a big deal because any skin that gets colored will slough off in about a week. The thing to be more careful of is the color. Natural henna will dye your hair something between dark brown, burgandy and orange, depending on how they've mixed the dye and your natural hair color. If you're pretty sensitive to your hair color, I'd suggest you find a brand you want to try and dye a small chunk of hair that's relatively hidden, then you can see how you like the color before going all the way. You can also buy henna powder online (Jamila is a great brand) and mix it yourself - using lemon juice and black tea or water. Usually cheaper that way but a tiny bit more work. Henna is a natural sunscreen and conditioner, so if you find a color you like, it will be great for your hair!

Good luck and have fun,
H.

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Yes, I've used or had henna put in my hair decades ago. It added a brightness and sheen my swimmer's hair lacked. It worked and faded out gradually.

Stephanie

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My mother in law...former beautician...says only use it if you like your hair to be real orange to red. (o;

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D.,

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! There is No (i repeat) no color correction for henna. And It will start to turn a red/orange color in time. Please find another brand.

good luck

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YES!!!!! to henna. I use the Light Mountain products, and at this point I have 25-50% gray hair. Henna is much healthier for hair, it nourishes it instead of giving it that fried look after 3-4 weeks. The henna for gray is a two-step process, and more of a hassle, but I found that the regular henna works just fine for gray hair; you don't need to use the kind for gray hair. I make tea and then use the tea water for the mixing process, it adds more color and seems to help the color hold. Maybe the tea is why I don't need to use the gray version any more. The only downside to henna is limited color choices. But you can mix.

Also, contrary to other opinions here, I have not found that it fades quickly at all - in fact I think it lasts longer. And if you want to keep your color rich you can do it every two or three weeks if you so desire, and it won't hurt your hair.

Just reading some of the other responses: and I'm sorry but they are wrong -- henna DOES cover gray hair, and I'm living proof of that. They may be right about using henna over previously colored hair, but the first time I used henna it was over colored hair, and nothing bad happened.

Also some people think the smell of henna is bad, but it leaves your hair after a couple of washings, and I don't see what the big deal is. Personally I don't mind the smell. And the grittiness too -- so it takes a little longer to wash out, so what. (But don't shampoo out the henna the first day you dye it, you'll lose the color.)

p.p.p.s - In response to people who say that henna never comes out -- so what? Isn't coloring your hair the whole point? And if you don't like the color you chose, you can instantly just color over it. And it does fade somewhat, so it's not entirely true that it "never comes out." Also, regular dye never comes out either and it changes the dyed part of your hair forever, so I don't know why people are making an issue of that.

Also - It does NOT take a long time, you can do it in a little as 20 minutes, but I leave it on 40 or 45, for stronger color. There's no way it takes 5 hours, per one response, I don't know what these people have been doing.

And MORE -- My hair is DARK BROWN, and it NEVER turns orange with henna, not even the gray strands. Over time the hair gets a little redder, but not unpleasantly so, and certainly less than what used to happen with regular dye.

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Hi D.,

I used Henna for years and love it. It is also a really good hear revitalizer- makes it really strong and healthy looking. the only catch is that it does not mix with recently bleached or permed hair - something about the chemicals. By recently I think it is like 2 years. Also I have not used it to cover grey so not sure how effective it is. Good Luck.

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Hi D.,

I've used henna about half a dozen times and I definitely recommend it, if you find a good quality henna. I was going to try a website which sells what it calls "body quality henna" because I'd like to go more auburn than I have gotten from the natural store-bought varieties. If you google "henna for hair" you'll find the sight is number one, and it gives testimonials and samples. Good luck!

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There seems to be a lot of negative opinion about henna, but I have to say I liked it when I did my hair with it. I used real henna from an open air market in Turkey, not a henna-based product. My friend and I made a thick paste of water and henna, boiled it, let it cool, then added a few drops of almond oil. My hair is naturally dark brown and it added really nice highlights and made my hair soo soft. The henna is a chalky olive green color, and it gets oranger the longer you leave it on. Also, it fades pretty fast (I think my hair looked pretty normal [aka not colored] after 3-4 weeks), so unless you have a special event or a particular reason to look "perfect", there wouldn't be any harm in trying it. You could, as others have suggested, try a hidden chunk o' hair first. Also, I don't know why it took the one responder 5 hours to do it... maybe she had really long hair? My hair is thick, and my friend rubbed it in like shampoo, left it for 30-40 minutes, then rinsed it.

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Hello, I used Henna on my hair, and while it didn't stain the skin, the parts of my hair that had been lightened by chlorine turned a greenish color. Sooo, just make sure you don't have damaged hair!

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If you already dye your hair..using henna will turn your hair green...or so I have been told. I use a product - ion
which is sensitive...I used throughout my pregnancy with my daughter who is now a year. I bought it at a trade beauty supply store..that sells professional products to the public.
You have to buy the hair creme and then the developer (20) separately. (you need 2 1/2 ounces of developer per tube of hair color. That is my recommendation. good luck bye K.

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A friend of a friend tried it and her hair turned orange (like a carrot). I did not see it, but she is passing the word to skip the henna hair color.

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My husband is from Morocco - a lot of older women use henna there to color their hair - it makes you a red head for sure. However, they use the actual herb ground up into a paste mixed with olive oil.
I have had my hands and feet decorated with henna - it lasts a long time - BUT it makes you smell like vegetables.
I would test the haircolor on a strand or two on the back of your neck under your top layers of hair to see what color you get and be sure to check if it smells. No good lookin' pretty if you smell like overcooked broccoli!

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It may be temporary but you can do it as often as you need to as it doesn't damage your hair. It conditions it. I think you need to check if you can do it over colored hair. One is alkaline and the other is acid and you might damage your hair. You might need to cut the ends off. Check first.

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Hi D.,

I've done a few henna dyes and they worked but were temporary. And I used them years ago before I had the amount of gray I have now (I'm 36). It was fun to do, but really messy, muddy etc. A group of friends did it with some wine etc so you might have a nice girls' night with it, but it's temporary. Good luck!

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One major thing to worry about/consider with henna is that using ANY other type of chemical process on the hair will give you very sketchy results at best. Perms and other hair colors tend to react VERY badly with henna. We're talking Carrot Top (the comedien) had a great color in comparison to one customer I had.

And as one other poster said there is no correction for it, if it goes bad. If you had had virgin hair I would have said go for it, but since you've already used other chemicals on it, I really wouldn't recommend the henna.

I would recommend some of the semi-permananet (the no ammonia/no peroxide) colors if you'd like to go with fewer chemicals.

Otherwise I'd say wait till the hair you've already treated completely grows out and is cut off before trying the henna.

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Hi D.,

My mother has been using Henna since I was a baby (I am 35 now). Before she had a lot of gray, it looked like she had red highlights. The more gray she got, the more red her hair became. I don't care for it because it looks orange.

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Dear D.,
I used to use Auburn Henna on my hair. It came in a can and looked very much like dehydrated dirt. I made a paste of it and let it set on my head for a while. But....I found the only way to rinse it out without making a nightmare of a mess was to get in the shower.
I don't know anything about the product you are speaking of, but the stuff I used didn't stain my skin or anything. It was just terribly messy and frankly, kind of muddy.
I didn't have any grey hair back then, but I was very happy with the color. And I moisturized really well - not that it dried my hair out, but it was really tangled afterwards.
So, give it a whirl. You might really like it.

Good luck!

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Hi D.,
Try a cellophane, it's a product that is less harsh. I use cellophanes, because chemical dyes cause too much damage to my hair. The cellophane comes in many shades and is healthy for your hair.

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Hi D.-
I know that eastern indian women use it. I had a punjabi friend who would color her hair with henna every so often. Just read the directions and try to keep it as clean as possible. I believe it is a powder...
Thanks
-E.

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