First Henna...just a few questions

[Chrissy811]

Ladies

It took the plunge yesterday and I must say that my hair does feel stronger and a bit thicker. I have dark brown hair so there was not a drastic change which is fine, but I was able to see some brown this evening so may be the color is starting to develop. My only problem was that it did not cover all of my gray hairs (I have been gray since age 12), a few were auburn but I parted my hair and still saw some white ones.

I mixed my henna with lemon juice and coffee water and let it sit about 12 hours and then added a little olive oil before I put it on. I let it sit about 2.5 hours with a plastic cap on. Then I rinsed with a conditioner did a conditioning and let air dry. Does it seem like I did something wrong? Or should I keep trying, other than the few left over whities, I like how my hair feels.

 

[JLove74]

you may need to add some indigo to the henna mix, to get a darker color and cover the grey a little better

 

[Nessa06]

Also, you should probably leave the henna on for a longer period of time, that might help cover up the grays.

 

[Lavendar]

Also, how did you apply it? Did you just glop in it or did you part your hair in sections mash it into the roots? I get a much better result now that I use a pointy-tipped applicator bottle.

 

[sareca]

That's completely normal. Just wait 3 days and repeat. Keep doing it until you have to hunt for them.

 

[Chrissy811]

you may need to add some indigo to the henna mix, to get a darker color and cover the grey a little better

I was thinking about I guess my hair is darker than I thought

 

[Chrissy811]

That's completely normal. Just wait 3 days and repeat. Keep doing it until you have to hunt for them.

That is good to hear, I am going to try it again and let you guys know how it goes, Dang my hair feels strong!!!

 

[Isis]

My main reason for doing the henna was to cover the grays (although I did love my grays and there weren't that many yet.). After reading through all of the main henna threads here, in Catherine's forum and site and on LHC, I knew I had to create brown for the grays. My natural color is dark brown with auburn highlights.

Usually for grays, if you don't want black (black is easier) it needs to be done twice, creating a brown. I used the 50/50 recipe with amla too:

225 g of henna (prepared the day before with water only--no lemon juice)
200 g of indigo
50 g of amla

This darkened my hair and grays but my grays were not as dark as I wanted.

After one day I did it again with 1/3 henna and 2/3 indigo for darker brown with a tablespooon of amla ( and honey). I am pleased with that combo and my hair color matches my natural hair color, including the grays.

Both times I used my gloved fingers to really work it into my roots and length, parting my hair ahead of time horizontally and applied it very thickly. It was almost like applying a relaxer on virgin hair. Both times I left it on about 3 hours under a plastic cap.

Actually, I feel it's good you started the way you did, lighter. That way you can gradually get darker by adding just a little more indigo to your henna rather get too dark from the beginning (unless that's what you want). Amla tones down the red and adds brown too.