Henna is an amazing conditioner for your hair. If you have thin hair, henna will also make your hair thicker and shinier. And, fear not you will not be left with orange hair I promise.
Make sure you have pure henna which is just a green powder. DON’T buy those henna box dyes, they have a lot of harmful ingredients in them. Just get pure henna from any local attar shops or supermarkets.
Things you’ll need:
- Henna powder
- 6 cloves
- Cinnamon sticks or ground cinnamon
- Black coffee or tea
- Tablespoon of lemon
All of these ingredients are beneficial for your hair and will not harm your hair in any way. Also, if you don’t have any one of the ingredients it’s okay, it will not affect your color as much. So, let’s get started.
Henna hair dye instruction
- Boil your water, just like you making tea or coffee. Make a dark black tea/coffee. To this add your cloves and cinnamon sticks. Let it boil for a few mins. After it cools down just a little. Strain this liquid into your henna powder slowly, a little at a time. You want the consistency of yogurt. So, don’t make it too liquidy or it will be difficult to apply to your hair. Now, add in a tablespoon of lemon and mix it in well.
- After you have made your henna paste, you’ll have to let it rest for about 12 hours or overnight. This is absolutely necessary because the henna releases its color.
- After you’ve let the henna rest overnight, get ready to apply it. Wear clothes you don’t care about spoiling. Get plastic gloves or plastic bags for covering your hands as this henna will stain anything and everything. Apply the henna mixture all over your hair and cover with a shower cap or plastic bag.
- Now, leave it on for as long as possible. The longer you leave it on the more intense the color will be. I kept it on for about 5 hours but you can keep it on for anywhere between 3-6 hours.
- Wash it off and don’t shampoo. Shampoo the next day or after 2-3 days as this way your color will get time to develop and not wash off. Use conditioner if the henna is difficult to get out of your hair.
How does henna hair dye work?
The result you get will depend on your hair color. Don’t panic if at first, your hair is super bright red, it will become darker in the next few days. Also, if you’ve darker hair like me you’ll get subtle highlights. Don’t get disappointed if the color is not as intense as you expected, sometimes you need to henna your hair 2-3 times to get an intense color. For me, I got auburn red highlights in my first try itself.
I really love henna and I’ll be doing this more often. My hair has gotten so thick and shiny with subtle red highlights! Absolutely love it!
How often can you dye your hair?
Henna is healthy for your hair and you can play around with it to get your desired color. It is much better than using store dyes that damage your hair and stunt their growth. Remember that henna color is permanent on your hair. You cannot remove the color, so make sure you really want it before you use henna.
renato