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Once upon a time, my hair color was a rich dark brown. Then when I was 24, I got my first gray hair; more and more have turned gray since then. Over the years, I've had professional highlights, professional color, colored my own hair (medium ash brown), and sometimes just let the gray show through.
I don't like the gray color and all the color solutions I've tried before are tested on animals so I am looking for an alternative.
From what I've read, the best solution is henna. It seems more difficult and time consuming but I thought I'd try it the Friday night before Labor Day. That way I'd have a 3-day weekend to let it mellow or be able to fix it if need be before I go back to work Tuesday.
But I needn't have worried. It turned out great! Here's what I learned...
Buying Henna
Henna (lawsonia inermis) is red. Indigo (indigofera tinctoria) is sometimes called "black henna". It is a dark blue (think blue jeans). There's also a third plant you'll typically see referred to as neutral henna (cassia obovata) and it is a yellowish dye. You mix the red and the blue to get brown. Natural dyes will not bleach your hair so the resulting hair color will layer over your existing color.
I can't claim to have done an exhaustive search but I found something I liked at Henna for Hair. The next month I tried medium brown from the Henna Color Lab which I liked even better. Henna for Hair a lot of flexibility for experimenting with colors but I found Henna Color Lab easier to use. Here are the criteria I started out with:
- No chemical dyes; no animal testing
- All ingredients pre-measured in the box
- Medium brown color
- laboratory tested body quality henna
This is what I like best:
Mixing it up
I have thin, layered, almost-shoulder length hair. I typically use 1/3-1/2 package per application, just coloring my roots. This is extremely economical at only about $5/application once a month!
The green powder is double packaged and smells like hay and peas. I mix it with very hot water in a glass mixing bowl until it is like "yogurt". I don't measure it. It is simple enough to get it to the right consistency.
Application
I put away the towels and throw rugs in my bathroom to keep them from getting stained. I don't use hair clips but I do use a nice brush I bought on the Henna Color Labs web site that I like.
My hair is so thin I just start in the middle and use the brush to point the mixture onto my part all the way from forehead to nape of my neck. I use the pointed end to section about a 1/4" to one side and paint again. Again, my hair is pretty thin so this was enough. I go all the way to my ear on that side. Then go back to the middle and work down to the other ear.
The first time I did it, I spread petroleum jelly on my ears and around my hairline to keep my skin from turning color due to all the dye. However, I seem to have trouble dying the gray at my temples so I don't do that any more because I don't want to accidentally get the jelly on the hair and inhibit it dying. The dye on the skin doesn't seem to last more than a few hours.
Key tip: Use gloves! They came in the box. Use them. Don't touch the henna with your hands and if you do, wash it off quickly. It can last 2-3 weeks, especially on your finger nails!
When you're done, it looks like this!
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| Completed henna/indigo application |
When I am finally satisfied, I put on a plastic shower cap. If I think I might get it on something I have occasionally wrapped my head in plastic wrap but that's really overkill.
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| Wrapped in plastic |
At the end of the 3 hours, I get in the shower. It can have the consistency of dried mud caked into your hair. The first time I panicked a little as I tried to loosen what felt like matts. I work gently with the water spraying on it. You just need to be patient.
Once I get it mostly clear, I work a whole handful of conditioner into my hair until every strand is coated. I rinsed that out and repeated with more conditioner, this time leaving it on for 10 minutes.
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| Three samples of my hair. Before (dyed with Garnier medium ash brown), with indigo/henna, and with henna alone in a color test of hair in my hairbrush. |
Results
I am very pleased with the results. It takes a little longer than chemical dye but it doesn't seem to fade like chemical hair dye. The smell of plant material can still be strong the next day if you get it wet.
Here is a picture taken 3 days later. It is really difficult to show the color online as monitors vary. This was taken outside but not in direct sunlight. I think that the red has gotten a little more visible since the first day, although I think it looks very nice and I would have been fine going to work after the first day.
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| Henna/Indigo three days later |
Verdict
| Ease | Just a little more time consuming than using chemical hair dye myself. There are salons that dye with henna if this is too much trouble but I like being in control myself. |
| Color | Really good. I'm pleased. |
| Texture | My hair has a lot more body and volume. I even have some curls I didn't know I had! |
| Worth a repeat? | Definitely. It's been 2 1/2 years now and I will never go back to chemical hair dye. |
A few helpful web sites:
Henna Color Lab
Henna for Hair - Ancient Sunrise® Henna for Gray Hair Kit: My biggest problem with the Henna for Hair color is the mixing up of the henna 12 hours in advance. Then mixing up the indigo separately and adding lemon juice. With Henna Color Labs, your dye is premixed and you mix it up when you're ready to use it. The results were the same though.
Dye your hair naturally using henna by Hildablue
Henna recipes by Hildablue
How to apply henna to hair on WikiHow
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