Henna Question: Anyone got their hair a lighter brown?

[greight]

I saw this picture of Serena

in the ET Forum and I LOVE her color. I'm around her skin tone, too.

I'm not about to mess with dyes since I'm sure my hair will melt off my head, but I'm wondering if any naturals have tried getting their hair a lighter brown from a dark brownish tone with henna? I know relaxed hair takes henna better than naturals in terms of color.

I've researched henna before this for other reasons, but I don't recall anything in regards going lighter from a darker base.

If you have done this, can you tell me your process/measurements? Whether you think it was a mistake?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Nasdaq_Diva]

^^not possible. The henna plant will deposit a reddening color to the hair shaft. Depending on where it was grown, the year of the crop will determine just how deep the red will be.

eta: That is a nice color though.

 

[Pompous Blue]

^^not possible. The henna plant will deposit a reddening color to the hair shaft. Depending on where it was grown, the year of the crop will determine just how deep the red will be.

eta: That is a nice color though.

I'm going to disagree......The henna plant does not have to deposit the red color if henna is applied and rinsed from your hair before the color is released. I do this by steaming after applying henna to my hair. [I steam for 1 – 1 ½ hrs]

I use Katam. My hair was dark brown and using it and henna gives my hair a medium, warm brown.

From mehandi.com’s “Henna for Hair how-to” book.

Buxus Dioica, (katam) is a plant.

The powdered leaves have a gray/blue/ash dye, which mutes the colors of henna. Mix henna, cassia and katam to dye your hair a range of colors from ash blonde to milk chocolate color. The resulting color will be a combination of your natural color and these dyes.

Mix and apply Buxus, cassia and henna:
• Apply these to clean, dry hair.
• Mix henna, buxus and cassia in the proportion you desire with lemon juice, grapefruit juice, orange juice, rainwater, or other mildly acidic liquid, and let it sit for 12 hours at 75F or 24 C. You can mix all these powders together. Add enough liquid to make a paste about the consistency of stirred up yogurt.
• Section your hair, and apply the henna paste to your scalp, and gradually work it into all of your hair. Wear plastic gloves, because henna will stain your hands orange. Carefully wipe the paste away from forehead and ears, because it will stain skin orange.
• Wrap your hair in plastic and wrap a towel around that to reduce mess and increase warmth.

I got my katam from hennasooq.com. It is owned by Khadija.D.Carryl. She’s a member here.

 

[yaya24]

Wow that color looks nice on serena. I might get some weave in that color one day :scratchch


With my natural hair it looks the same dark brown/ black

My relaxed hair only looked lighter in pics and out in bright sunlight (a little darker than the color on Serena). But IRL/ indoors it looked the same (dark brown)

 

[Nasdaq_Diva]

I'm going to disagree......The henna plant does not have to deposit the red color if henna is applied and rinsed from your hair before the color is released. I do this by steaming after applying henna to my hair. [I steam for 1 – 1 ½ hrs]

I use Katam. My hair was dark brown and using it and henna gives my hair a medium, warm brown.
.

Katam is not henna though. It is a plant..but not henna plant.

ETA: More info on Katam

Henna for Hair - Buxus Dioica

How to use Katam <-- Henna Sooq

 

[Chocolatelove2010]

My mum used to ALWAYS put henna on my hair as a child, and I remember my teacher asking me if I was naturally ginger wtf!

That sh!t made my hair ginger in the sun. I hated it.. and I used to do all sorts of ducking and diving to avoid my mum putting that ish in my hair. As soon as I got older I dyed my hair Jet black.

But the colour Serena has is beautiful, I doubt that was achieved from henna lol. In fact I'm certain thats impossible.

 

[Pompous Blue]

Katam is not henna though. It is a plant..but not henna plant.

ETA: More info on Katam

Henna for Hair - Buxus Dioica

How to use Katam <-- Henna Sooq

I should have made my answer clearer. Just like one would use indigo to achieve "black" hair, one would use katam to achieve "brown" hair. Neither indigo nor katam work alone. You must use henna for them to "take" to the hair.

I believe OP's original question was how to acheive "brown" hair. She can by using henna + katam + cassia. But the henna must be a part of her mixture for the katam and/or cassia to give her a "brown" color.

 

[curlicarib]

You can achieve brown results with henna by adding either indigo or katam. Start here: http://www.mehandi.com/ and explore their various other websites and you'll find tons of info and recipes for getting various shades of brown. unfortunately it will be trial and error to get the shade you want, but when you get your recipe locked-in, you will love the results.

HTH

 

[greight]

I'm going to disagree......The henna plant does not have to deposit the red color if henna is applied and rinsed from your hair before the color is released. I do this by steaming after applying henna to my hair. [I steam for 1 – 1 ½ hrs]

I use Katam. My hair was dark brown and using it and henna gives my hair a medium, warm brown.

From mehandi.com’s “Henna for Hair how-to” book.



I got my katam from hennasooq.com. It is owned by Khadija.D.Carryl. She’s a member here.

Thanks! This was especially helpful and I'll look more into the Katam plant.

 

[greight]

You can achieve brown results with henna by adding either indigo or katam. Start here: http://www.mehandi.com/ and explore their various other websites and you'll find tons of info and recipes for getting various shades of brown. unfortunately it will be trial and error to get the shade you want, but when you get your recipe locked-in, you will love the results.

HTH

That's what I'm afraid of... I have fine hair and I'm not sure if I can do a lot of trials and withstand the errors

I should probably start keeping my shed hairs to do the tests... Hmmm

 

[greight]

I should have made my answer clearer. Just like one would use indigo to achieve "black" hair, one would use katam to achieve "brown" hair. Neither indigo nor katam work alone. You must use henna for them to "take" to the hair.

I believe OP's original question was how to acheive "brown" hair. She can by using henna + katam + cassia. But the henna must be a part of her mixture for the katam and/or cassia to give her a "brown" color.

Was the henna/katam shade significantly lighter (like 2 shades/3 shades) or did you design your proportions that way?

 

[curlicarib]

That's what I'm afraid of... I have fine hair and I'm not sure if I can do a lot of trials and withstand the errors

I should probably start keeping my shed hairs to do the tests... Hmmm

The beauty of using these plants to color your hair, is that your hair will be able to withstand the trial and error. These plants are MUCH more gentle than chemical colors. They WILL NOT damage your hair or cause you harm unless you are allergic to one of them - which is actually rare. Just make sure you are using quality, PURE products (I recommend Henna Sooq http://www.hennasooq.com/usa-store/ or Mehandi http://www.mehandi.com/). Also, mix small batches of each and do strand tests, to test for color results and spot tests on your skin, to test for allergic reactions. With patience you will find your perfect color.

I use henna regularly - sometimes every week. My sister, cousins and I have been using henna (off & on) in our hair (and skin) since we were little girls (Indian grandmother), we've never had any problems. One of my cousins is a Henna Artist. She's done hundreds of designs for hundreds of people and she's never seen a reaction either. In my opinion, it's safe. But don't take my word for it - do your reasearch and make your own decision.

Good Luck and I hope this helps.

 

[Pompous Blue]

That's what I'm afraid of... I have fine hair and I'm not sure if I can do a lot of trials and withstand the errors

I should probably start keeping my shed hairs to do the tests... Hmmm

My hair is natural, fine and c-napp. I did henna every week for about 6 weeks to perfect my mix and get rid of the red. It was trial and error. But no harm came to my hair from hennaing weekly. I once had a bad experience with hair-dye; all of my hair broke off at the line of demarcation. I left the salon w/a half-inch of hair, drove to the BSS and got a wig so I could go to work the next day. So, needless to say, I am VERY afraid of commercial dyes. I believe as long as you're using BAQ, you should not have any problems. Yes, keep the shed hairs to test to ease your mind, if necessary.

Was the henna/katam shade significantly lighter (like 2 shades/3 shades) or did you design your proportions that way?

Only about 1 shade lighter. But, I started out experimenting with 1 tbsp of indigo to try to tone down the red of henna and make my hair brown again. When I use katam once a month, my mix is 50g henna, 50g katam.

The beauty of using these plants to color your hair, is that your hair will be able to withstand the trial and error. These plants are MUCH more gentle than chemical colors. They WILL NOT damage your hair or cause you harm unless you are allergic to one of them - which is actually rare. Just make sure you are using quality, PURE products (I recommend Henna Sooq http://www.hennasooq.com/usa-store/ or Mehandi http://www.mehandi.com/). Also, mix small batches of each and do strand tests, to test for color results and spot tests on your skin, to test for allergic reactions. With patience you will find your perfect color.

I use henna regularly - sometimes every week. My sister, cousins and I have been using henna (off & on) in our hair (and skin) since we were little girls (Indian grandmother), we've never had any problems. One of my cousins is a Henna Artist. She's done hundreds of designs for hundreds of people and she's never seen a reaction either. In my opinion, it's safe. But don't take my word for it - do your reasearch and make your own decision.

Good Luck and I hope this helps.

Thank you for this answer. It is nice to hear from members who have been using henna for years. I like what henna does for my hair and only started using it in '09. Man! just think where my hair would be had I been using henna for YEARS! It's nice to have a resident expert weigh-in on these henna threads.