First Henna Experience With 100 gm Yemen & 100 gm Indigo

I hennaed my hair with Yemen and Indigo over the weekend. I prepared my mix on Friday night. I used 8 ozs of freshly squeezed orange juice and 1 oz of freshly squeezed lemon juice to 100 gms of Yemen. I mixed it well and let it sit in a bowl in the microwave for 12 hours and then placed it in the fridge while I ran out to shovel snow. The dye release in the henna was wonderful. I used plastic wrap, a deep conditioning cap and an electric heating cap and left the henna on my head for 6 hours. I then washed out the henna with plain water, and the henna came out easy. I then mixed up the 100 gms of indigo with 9 ozs of water and almost passed out from the smell. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] I applied the indigo and left that on for 2 hours with the plastic wrap, conditioning cap, and heating cap. I should have just left on the indigo for an hour because the smell was nauseating and is still lingering. It took well to my hair although I missed a patch on the top of my head, but it looks good the same. I washed it out and then applied some Aussie Moist conditioner and let that sit while I showered.

My hair is well moisturized with unrefined shea butter and unrefined mango butter, and Black Jamaican castor oil, but my scalp is still itchy. Next time I may not add the lemon juice at all. I didn't want to add any extras since this was my first time and I wanted the color to take. My roots were bright coppery after I hennaed and toned down to jet black after I indigoed.

I have photos of my henna mixes. I'm just waiting for my daughter to upload the photos for me from her camera phone. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Well done! It sounds like your first experience was mostly a success It was interesting to read the experience of someone using yememi henna. I had heard it gave a coppery kind of red tone.

Just a few points:

1. Yes, you only need to put on indigo for an hour. I do and that does the job! You can add a little salt to help it cling to the strands of your hair.

2. You don't need to have two acids in your mix for the dye release - either the lemon juice or the orange juice will do the trick. Many of us don't use any acids at all. It sounds like you are planning on giving up one of them anyway.

Happy hennaeing!

Thank you for your R2D2. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I researched and got as much information as I could from our Henna Sister, Sharika at http://butters-n-bars.com She was very patient answering my emails and giving me advice. I didn't tell her I was going to use an electric heating cap, and I'm sure if I did, she would have told me I didn't need to sit 2 hours with that indigo on my head.

I will give up the lemon juice and just use the orange juice. Sharika advised me that if I didn't use an acid, my results of covering the gray was not guaranteed to last for 4-6 weeks. Sorry, I forgot to mention that I did mix the indigo with a tablespoon of salt.

I find that my head is still itchy although I washed it on Tuesday with Dr. Bronner's peppermint Castile soap, Suave Clarifying shampoo, VO5 Moisturizing shampoo and conditioned with Aussie Moist. I will wash my hair again on Saturday and use Nizoral shampoo this time. Nizoral stops all kinds of itching from the scalp and it is safe for color treated hair. http://nizoral.com

I have the photos of my mixes and application, but for some reason they are not loading up correctly. I will attempt it again when I go back to work on Monday since my computer seems to be acting up. I'm enjoying my week off on vacation just resting from a bad cold. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

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Yemen Henna mixed with 8 ounces of orange juice and 1 ounce of lemon juice.

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Henna applied to hair like you would a relaxer, only without a comb or application brush. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Note: Excuse the newspapers taped to the wall, but I have to protect my white bathroom walls in case henna goes flying.

Hi there,
you did a good job all things considered and you're definitely right I actually would have told you to forego the heat alltogether(thats why you have the heatcap) [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Now that I have the whole picture i think maybe you did an overload on the acids, a weak acid will work like Lina40 mentioned even using as little as 2 TBSP has gotten fab results for her. I have even used a diluted citric acid solution and I never get dryness.
Dont give up though we're with you [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Your "HennaSister"(thanks envision)
Sharika

ButterQueen [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] (aka Sharika), thank you for your feedback and continued support.

I will definitely cut back on the acids and incorporate water into my mix. Lina40's hair is so thick and lovely. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I'm not giving up at all. I have noticed that since my first henna treatment, my hairline is coming in nicely, unlike when I used the other toxic PPD hair colors. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

When adding an acid content to my henna mix wihch do you think would be better, acv or lemon juice? Also, what effect if any does adding amla play in the henna mix? Can I add molasses as oppose to honey to my henna mix?

This was very educational for me....thanks for sharing your experience!

My natural color is darkest chestnut with red highlights, but am looking to go black. I really don't mind my white hair, but I'm looking for that shine you get with black hair. I do have shine, but black shines even better..and to me just appears softer. I am probably about 20-30% white...not gray....snow white, mostly on the sides and top and I'm hoping that using the indigo after the henna will work. I am going to love it when I'm completely white, but in the meantime I wouldn't mind getting the benefits of using henna. I just don't want the white hair to appear orange! Do you think snow white hair will be harder to cover than normal gray?

I'm also worried about getting thicker. Can a person just go Indigo without using Henna?

Thanks

@ Ms Vera, I would not use indigo without henna because you'll end up with blue hair on your white hairs!

If you want black then the best way to do this is a two step process. First apply the henna to your hair and then follow up with indigo. The effect of the red and the very dark blue will blend into black. It's time consuming but it does produce a nice black!

My hair has thickened somewhat but not dramatically. You may also experience a loss of curl, since progressive coatings of henna tends to weigh the hair strand down.

Each and every Saturday without fail is my designated spa day; the official me day. As I was showering and shampooing my hair the doorbell rings, I was pissed, but to my surprise it was the mail lady with a package. Each and everytime that I receive a package I have a tendency to rip into it like a kid on Christmas-Day; hip, hip, hurray it was the henna, indigo and cassia that I had placed an order for just Wednesday, talking about quick customer service. Even though I was tempted to use it today I controlled the urge so that I may gather my thoughts and decide upon the perfect recipe for me, so that I'll receive the optimal results that I'm looking for.

I'm a henna virgin so I'm sending a call to all you hennaeologist to please send out those recipes and assist me upon my henna journey so that it'll be a smooth transition. My intention is to first use the henna from Pakistan and leave it on overnight then to follow-up with the indigo leaving that on for 90 min. I plan on doing the henna + indigo 2 step every other month because from my research I understand that indigo can be very drying. Inbetween doing the 2 step I plan on giving myself cassia treatments weekly so that I may build the stregnth and thickness of my hair. Any input positive or negative would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks R2D2!!

I don't know what I was thinking when I asked that LOL!! But hey, I could be down with the blue hair [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] . Don't think it would look too well on my wedding day though!
Ok, then I guess the 2 step treatment it is. I'd be amazed if it loosened my curl pattern when not even a relaxer has barely been able to do that much. I guess I'll find out.