Hair Henna
Hi Mom!
So Friday afternoon, while I was quarantined in my room with Pink Eye I opened my recent amazon purchase and got to trying out Henna for my hair for the first time. I'd been wanting to do SOMETHING to the color, since my bleh roots are growing out so the top of my head is like this pale yellowish brown, while the ends are a deeper reddish brown.
The main criteria when it came to coloring my hair was something I could do and something cheap. During my search, my friend Keely sent me a snapchat, and like most of them it featured her gorgeous, deep fiery, blazing red hair. This lead to a train of thought that arrived on a memory of her telling me about switching from chemical hair dyes to henna.
And thus the obsession began. I got her brand recommendation (Light Mountain Natural) and all the tips and tricks since she's been doing it for years. And then researched constantly for 2 days while I waited for my amazon package to get here.
The colors which range from Light Red to Black and all of the Natural line (as opposed to Color the Gray) have an animal on the box. Say whatever you will, but I appreciate a well designed box. The product in it being great is a bonus.
So, Henna. It's been used for thousands of years as a natural way to color hair...usually to color it red but still. It doesn't have those super harsh chemicals that most salon dyes and box dyes have, so you can reapply it as soon as you feel like it, meaning you don't have to wait 6-8 weeks to recolor if you don't want to. It's also a great treatment to fix damaged hair, so while you may not want to color, Light Mountain has a neutral tone that won't color but treat damaged hair. My Burgundy color has some indigo mixed into the henna as well, which darkens and is what they use to get that dark black. Forewarning: wait 4-6 weeks after having chemically died hair to apply henna. Since the last time I died my hair was in October....I think I was safe.
The process is just that...quite a process. You have to mix the powder and water beforehand, then let it cure. The Burgundy I only had to let cure for a half hour, but the bright reds you usually have to cure for a couple hours. THEN you can start applying, which is messy. Since I was SUPER cautious of my dorm bathroom surroundings, I did good, considering my history with hair dye and permanent colors. I put towels all around as precaution and worse clothes I didn't care about.
So after letting it cure for 30 minutes, covered, I began applying while being SUPER attentive to where each blob went. If any left my head I was wiping it up ASAP with a paper towel so it wouldn't set and stain. Security deposit is still in tact.
Didn't take a picture of the poop-esque look because I was too anxious to get it wrapped and going. So with a fair amount of plastic wrap AND the plastic shower cap of sorts provided in the box kit, I spent the next four hours keeping busy. Yes...four hours. That was the max of what the Light Mountain Burgundy recommended, but for most henna products, 4 hours is the standard. The longer you let it set, the better it'll set.
I applied vaseline around my hairline, ears and neck prior to applying with plastic gloves, so had no problem with staining skin or nail. I read nails were the worst if you stained it, it would stay the same orange for a good 3 weeks on nails. I dodged a bullet...this time.
(Observation: I look a lot like my Mom, but I notice it most in the nose. It's just so predominantly Mom's nose. 4 hours seemed way longer than I expected, mainly because the wrap gets quite toasty. Normally I could kill 4 hours EASY playing Dragon Age, but with my great Pink Eye I really couldn't stare at anything for long without my head hurting.
Added a towel when I had to go into the hall to throw away the henna clean up - since I didn't want to room to smell like Henna for days (I'm such a good roommate...). Also, I learned I can open the window! (I'm sure it's against SOME housing rule) But it's been so nice outside and having fresh air and outside sounds really keeps me sane when I've been indoors all day.
I forget how small my head is until I see a towel piled on top. Almost turban-like just vertical.
Since my shower head doesn't move, I had to take my 3rd shower today to rinse out the henna, 4 hours later. Everyone says Henna gets MESSY, but having maneuvered mixing and applying with ease, I figured the threat was over. I was wrong. The splash back of the henna in the shower was tremendous, and watching very dark dye splash all over your dorm shower stall makes the blood pressure rise. Everything turned out fine though. The longer I rinsed, the clearer the water ran from my hair and then splashed onto the sides, rinsing away the initial henna.
VERY grateful I did this with short hair for the first time. Rinsing did not take nearly as long as I was reading it would. Score for the short hair crowd. I applied conditioner, and rinsed one more time. I THEN added a leave-in conditioner once towel drying. My hair is so freaking soft.
It got dark outside LONG before I washed out the Henna, so an immediate 'post rinse' photo wasn't going to be great quality since my two light source options were a bathroom florescent or a weak desk lamp. It normally takes a few days for the final color to show up, Henna is mystical that way.
Hour after Initial Rinse (bad lightning) - the half-assed smile is because of the pain in my eyes. Being conscious was uncomfortable.
1 Day After (Saturday): My natural roots were definitely brighter than the rest, which is what I was expecting since Henna isn't about evening out, it more puts a glaze over the already existing color. Also the first few days after application tend to be the lightest.
(Taken in the car picking up Panera Bread since I wasn't feeling my normal canned veggies. New revelation: Asian Chicken Sesame Salad. That sesame vinaigrette is SO GOOD.)
3 Days After (Monday): I'm in love. I know the roots are a little more reddish than the rest, but I can barely tell and its such a rich purplish-red I don't care. ITS JUST SO SHINY AND SOFT NOW. I've never considered myself to have bad hair, every stylist who has cut my hair always comments on how thick it is. Well now it's thick and so so soft. And for a product that isn't known for evening out hair, it definitely fixed that straight line problem I was having around my temple.
Before: (Friday) After: (Monday)
I don't know about you, but I can definitely tell a difference. Before, the color was noticeably uneven, with my mega grown out roots being much more yellow-brown than the blue-black on the ends. It also didn't have hardly as much sheen as it does now. I've been converted, thanks Keely.
Shout out to my phone for having that 'Beauty Face' mode. No foundation needed.
p.s. Also a good before and after of my Pink Eye. Ofloxacin (my eye drop prescription) is the elixir of life.
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