Calling Those Who Despise Henna...

[GGsKin]

...Please tell me what were the negative factors that made you stop using it?

I tried henna once back in November, shortly after joining this board and discovering a wealth of information.

I've read a few threads where people mentioned that henna dried their hair out. I've also read a few older posts where folks were using it every two weeks.

How long did you use henna? How often? Why will you never use it again?

 

[NaturallyATLPCH]

*raises hand* MEEEE!!!
Yes I jumped on the henna bandwagon. I used it once a month. My hair turned a nice warm orange color but over time it dried my hair our horribly, especially my ends. I cowashed it out and used a super moisturizing deep conditioner afterwards. I ended up having to get two inches chopped off.

Looking back, I think if I would've touched up my roots instead of hennaing my whole head each time, I may have had some success. But I just don't feel like going through that again and my hair is just fine. There are other gentle alternatives to covering gray if that's what you need it for. I just wanted to try it.

It appears that in my four years, things that curlies swear by, my hair doesn't do well with. I've finally learned to just do me.

 

[MilkChocolateOne]

Henna removed all the elasticity from my strands. My hair started to snap. No amount of deep conditioning and moisturizing could return my hair back to normal. I had to slowly grow the henna out with quarterly deep trims.

 

[ajargon02]

I only henna 4-6 times per year. This is a protein packed treatment, so using it too often can cause breakage. I ALWAYS follow up with a moisturizing dc with heat or steam. Then for the following 3-4 weeks I only use a moisturizing condish.
After that I rotate a light protein condish then moisturizing condish.

This has helped me avoid any breakage.

 

[yaya24]

Henna made my hair brillo pad rough like dried straw. Even after many many conditioning sessions.

I used henna every 8 weeks or so.

This go at natural im skipping the henna.

 

[PinkSunshine77]

The fact that I prefer my hair jet black and this puts hints of red/reddish brown was enough to make me say no. I know this isn't always the case.

It's messy as hell and your mixture will never be exactly the same every time you Henna.

 

[GGsKin]

Henna removed all the elasticity from my strands. My hair started to snap. No amount of deep conditioning and moisturizing could return my hair back to normal. I had to slowly grow the henna out with quarterly deep trims.

Would you say you have thick/ fine strands? How often did you use it? And how long would you guess it took you to notice the damage?

 

[GGsKin]

*raises hand* MEEEE!!!
Yes I jumped on the henna bandwagon. I used it once a month. My hair turned a nice warm orange color but over time it dried my hair our horribly, especially my ends. I cowashed it out and used a super moisturizing deep conditioner afterwards. I ended up having to get two inches chopped off.

Looking back, I think if I would've touched up my roots instead of hennaing my whole head each time, I may have had some success. But I just don't feel like going through that again and my hair is just fine. There are other gentle alternatives to covering gray if that's what you need it for. I just wanted to try it.

It appears that in my four years, things that curlies swear by, my hair doesn't do well with. I've finally learned to just do me.

My one time try was for colour more than anything (to make my dusty brown a little warmer) but I hadn't used any proper protein in a good while before that time, so I figured that would be on my side. I didn't use anything acidic in my mix but I did notice it was a little drying. Nothing that wasn't remedied in a few days with some intensive baggying.

I am thinking about trying it again some time for a slightly darker colour. Not sure.

 

[MilkChocolateOne]

Would you say you have thick/ fine strands? How often did you use it? And how long would you guess it took you to notice the damage?

I have fine strands and normal density. I used henna every 10 - 12 weeks. I started with full head applications. Then I switched to roots only. I noticed the lack of elasticity immediately. I had noticeable breakage and thinning around six months. I used henna for over a year before I accepted that my hair just didn't like it.

 

[greenandchic]

I got sick of the color. I thought the color of my hair in the light was horrible. I'm not a fan of red hair on me.

 

[BrownSkin2]

I lost elasticity and curls. It was making my hair straight. I didn't like that. I was using it about every 8 weeks.

 

[faithVA]

I used it about every 8 weeks to try to cover grays and it just didn't take well to my grays. Within 3 days it would just start wearing off my edges. And within a few weeks it needed to be redone. My hair is low porosity and things don't bind to my surface hair easily.

After I used it for a year my hair was all different shades of colors which looked a mess. So it was messy, time consuming, ineffective at coloring grays and looked a mess so I gave it up.

 

[Honey Bee]

I used henna while I was still relaxed/ texlaxed. I wasn't about risk-taking, so I bought a packaged blend. I did my research and chose Surya cream henna. It was so easy to use, the consistency was great, and I was so happy not to have to mix it. I used 'Mahogany' and loved the color. I only stopped using it because I was transitioning and wanted to play with 'real' color. Oh, and I never experienced dryness or any negative effects.

I know people like to mix their own, but its so hit or miss, and when you 'miss', you lose 3" of hair.

 

[crazytrish75]

I guess I'm the opposite of the ones who have responded. In the beginning, I used henna every 6-8 weeks and ayurvedic cowashes 1- 2 times a week. My hair thickened a mile and grew like gangbusters. Then I had a lot of life circumstances change (divorce, depression, illness) and I got sidetracked and lazy and just did the minimum with wash/cowash/dc weekly. My hair thinned back out and crept back up to APL when it was brushing MBL. I have been back on the Ayurveda train for the last 2 months with henna every 6-8 weeks and weekly cowash x1-2 of brahmi, bhringraj and amla. My hair is growing and thickening back up again, so I definitely wont quit it this time! HTH!

I am relaxed by the way.

 

[Napp]

It stank, was messy and I didn't like the color

 

[ForestRose]

I bleached a section of hair and now it's orange! I hate it

Lol joke . I don't plan on using it again though. It didn't make my hair any better. It's only stopped me from being able to dye it effectively any time in the near future.

 

[Ogoma]

It ruined a few towels, and was time-consuming and drying. Just not worth the effort to me. Prefer to just use a protein conditioner.

 

[TwistedRoots]

My hair had no curl pattern just fluff made twist outs and coils difficult...although I wil say that I did love the color.

 

[KiWiStyle]

I loved the color on my relaxed hair; I would do a henna/indigo one step. When I BC my patch of henna colored grays looked terrible so I stopped using it!