My Henna Process

Last weekend, I henna'd my hair using a different brand from the BAQ (body art quality) Jamila and Dulhan I've used. This one was a store brand and naturally I was hesitant but it turns out that it did my hair well. Henna can be very drying to the hair, but I found that this brand wasn't particularly that way.

Kulustyan's Henna-Indian grocery store in Manhattan

I mixed this henna with green tea and let it sit for a few hours to let the dye release. The henna powder is green but turns brown when the dye releases.

fresh henna

Some time elaspsed, mixed with green tea

I heavily coat sections of my hair with henna and then wrap my head in saran wrap and then cover my head with a scarf or an old t-shirt to keep it moist, or else the henna will dry up and crumble. Turns out this henna colored my old hi-lighted strands a really nice red. I used Suave Naturals Tropical Coconut Conditioner to help with the rinsing of henna (lots of mess and gunk!) and was pleased with the results. Remember henna doesn't "lift" dark color, but in the light the henna shows up hi-lighting dark hair...

Freshly henna'd hair

See the reds?

Henna can be very drying, but mine felt awesome. Even though my hair felt even silky and moisturized, I decided to DC overnight with the last of my Renpure Organics My Hair Is Parched Conditioner just in case and put my hair in four braids. I rinsed out Monday morning (my day off!) and my hair still felt awesome. Then I preceded to style. I'll go into detail with my little experiment in my next post...