Hey, Knottysleeves!! So, I've also been using henna on my "unlocked" hair for years and years, too. Always used the boxed stuff from Whole Foods or whatever, and always got lovely deep auburn color. I'm thinking about using henna on my newly forming locs and will use the stuff from Henna for Hair (
www.mehandi.com ) that you recommended. Great site!! I totally see the difference between using highest quality, finely ground, pure henna vs. the other stuff that may have additives. My question is this. Will the pure stuff stain very differently than the boxed stuff? As I mentioned, I always got a great stain from the boxed stuff ... very rich color, long lasting, etc! It seems like the body quality henna is somewhat different in terms of it's longevity? Previously, with unlocked hair, over a period of months and months the color would fade slowly. Are you saying that the body quality henna won't fade? That it'll have to grow out, just like a permanent hair color would? I read about your dark brown incident ... how fun for you!
Thanks for any thoughts you have! It seems we keep you busy on this site!!!
Knottysleeves said: Henna's fabulous for conditioning, and balances your scalp too in case you have any dandruff issues. The downside is that you can only go lighter, not darker (though you can get a deeper, richer colour with repeated applications) and also you can't bleach it out or strip it, so doing a test dread first is VERY important to make sure you get the results you want.
True henna tints your hair (and skin!) shades of red & orange. So anything that's sold as "blonde henna" or "brown henna" or whatever is not really henna at all... it's usually haircolour made with other plants, and sometimes chemicals and dyes that can be really nasty to your health.
Henna is basically a translucent layer of stain over your natural colour, rather than a dye that covers your natural colour completely, so grey/silver/white hairs usually end up bright red or orangeish. So depending on how much grey you have and how it's patterned on your head, henna might not be the best solution.
