henna and gray hair?

[danysedai]

I would love to try to henna my hair but I have LOTS of gray hair, my hairline in front is white(I'm 35), I have a wide white streak in front and almost white patches on top and hidden. I use clairol in Black, have used bigen also but in 2 max 3 weeks the white hair is there.Do you think henna could help me?
and what about henna not being good for relaxed hair? is that a myth? can i use it on previously dyed hair or do I have to wait until it is gone? if that's the case I will have to keep using the clairol line because I hate to go around with my white hair.
My mom has beautiful silver hair, but she's 58 and I of course do not want to go her route yet

 

[sprungonhairboards]

What do you mean in 2-3 weeks the gray is back? Do you mean it wears off or you have new growth? I know bigen is permanent and doesnt wear off in 2-3 weeks. If you mean new growth then you will have the same problem with henna because your hair is (hopefully) always growing.

Henna will leave your gray hair reddish or orangy instead of gray unless you mix it with indigo or something to make it darker. Alot of relaxed ladies here use henna. Body art quality is said to be safe to use on relaxed hair and (I believe) safe to use over commercially dyed hair except hair dyed with bigen but I've done it. I've also used bigen over henna with no problems but that's just me.

 

[danysedai]

well, you're right, what I meant is that that the newgrowth is very noticeable when it is white, and I thought that maybe with henna is safer to color my hair more often.
I read about indigo but I'm still not sure

 

[dlewis]

I want to know also.

 

[Cichelle]

Be careful. Henna can turn gray hair BRIGHT red/orange. But like has already been said, you can use indigo. Why not try a harvest test that includes some of the white and/or gray hairs and see how henna makes it look?

 

[danysedai]

I'll have to do that, don't want to go around with orange highlights
I will have to resign myself to this premature graying I guess

 

[sareca]

You don't have too. I've used henna to cover my gray, but I'm only about 10% gray. Henna will make gray hair orange after the first (or second) application but each successive application will deepen the color to a coppery-red.

I use indigo now. It covers gray much better and keeps my hair conditioned and a natural looking blue-black (which I love).

You can use BAQ (body art quality) henna on relaxed or previously colored hair. I have a bunch of Q&A in my fotki that might answer some of your questions. Henna FAQ

 

[baby42]

i guess i will try some henna cause i look like my cat with a white line runing across my head and it ant cute

 

[WomanlyCharm]

Over time, henna turned my white streak a really pretty dark auburn...but I've covered it with indigo. Now my hair is jet black, and I love the color, it's a keeper! And for me, the color lasts longer than regular hair dyes.

 

[danysedai]

Thank you Sareca and Womanlycharm, I think a deep auburn color is much better than the white streaks I have.
off to find some henna... there are indian communities here in Montreal, someone must sell henna.

 

[sareca]

Thank you Sareca and Womanlycharm, I think a deep auburn color is much better than the white streaks I have.
off to find some henna... there are indian communities here in Montreal, someone must sell henna.

Stick to BAQ and make sure you strand test.