First Experience Using Henna on My Natural Hair

I’ve finally become a henna head. After months of contemplating, I decided to just do it. But, not before researching the pros and cons of using henna to dye natural hair. Here’s a quick breakdown of the benefits and drawbacks to using henna.

Pros:
It strengthens and thickens hair
Adds shine Covers grays
Less shedding
Natural way to color hair

Cons:
Can leave hair feeling dry
May loosen curl pattern
Can be messy when applying to hair

For me, the benefits outweighed the negatives. I began noticing grays popping up about a year ago. Recently, more and more of them have been take over my edges. It was getting ridiculous. Here’s a before photo:

flexirod I’d often hide the grays by wearing my hair towards the front. braidout The great thing about Henna – there isn’t too much of a contrast between the natural color and the color treated hair. It highlights the strands leaving an auburn or brownish hue. There are a bunch of companies that sell Henna. But, it was important to find one that doesn’t have contaminants or pesticides. I heard great things about Jamila. The site claims that this henna is triple sifted and allows for more penetration of the hair shaft which means more color. I purchased it online for about 7 bucks.

Products used: Cheap conditioner, green tea, honey, henna, water, hair clips, newspaper, shower caps, gloves. henna-tea-honey-conditioner

clips

shower-cap

gloves Here’s what I did:
1. Placed newspaper down EVERYWHERE. I heard this could get pretty messy.
2. Emptied the Jamila henna powder into a plastic container.
3. Boiled one and a half cups of water and added two green tea bags. Please note: I only had green tea with lemon.  Other tutorials I’ve seen/read didn’t use lemon. I didn’t notice this until after the application process. Ahhhhh!
4. Combined green tea with henna, then added 2 tablespoons of honey – both are great for adding moisture to the hair. This is what the henna mix looked like when I finished mixing the ingredients. henna-mixture
5. After putting on gloves, I separated my hair in small sections and distributed henna evenly throughout my hair. I used claw clips to pin newly colored strands in order to make the process manageable. henna-application
6. After applying the dye, I covered my hair with a shower cap for 7 hours. (I wanted to keep it on longer, but that’s all I had time for). The henna did a great job of coating the grays along my hairline. Henna2

henna3 I was surprised that the process wasn’t as messy as I thought it would be. I imagined dye mix dripping all over my face and neck. I even wore an old shirt thinking I’d get dye everywhere. But, it wasn’t so bad. I think it’s because I didn’t add too much water. I also applied the dye on dry hair.

7. I rinsed out the henna in small sections using A LOT of the less expensive conditioner I purchased at the drug store.

8. Then followed up with Shea Moisture’s deep conditioning mask mixed with coconut oil. I wanted to make sure to restore moisture back to my hair.

9. I proceeded with my normal hair routine, which involved applying a leave-in conditioner and sealing my tresses with coconut oil before braiding in small sections, letting it air dry.

Here’s the final look: Henna1

braidout1

It’s been a few weeks, and I’m happy with the results. As I mentioned, it’s s subtle difference from before. If you look closely, my grays are now an auburn or brownish color. My hair isn’t dry at all and feels healthy. I plan on doing this again.

Are you a henna head? Would you ever try using henna to dye your hair?

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Comments

  1. says

    Great results and love your various styles! I’ve always been curious about henna, but I’m more the type to just go to the salon and get a rinse! I definitely don’t have 7 hours for it to sit in my hair. Since going natural I haven’t had color and my natural color’s now coming through but so are those pesky grays. The silver lining (no pun intended!) is I think it helps keeps the young men who hang out on the streets in my neighborhood from cat-calling O_o

  2. says

    Lol! I’m sure that’s not the case with you. You still got it grrrl. Yea, 7 hours is a long time. I just did stuff around the house. If I needed to go anywhere, I would have thrown on my wig. I may sleep if it overnight next time.

  3. says

    Wonderful blog post I can relate I started to notice this year myself how gray my hair was beginning to look. It’s specifically in the middle of my head. Any way… I think I went prematurely gray when I was in my mid 20’s now 30 I am seeing more and more gray hair. Boo 🙁 Although, I tried dying my hair for the first time last year using Dark & Lovely I forget the shade, but it was a the perfect match–I don’t think I really like the way it made my hair feel it was as if it strip all the natural oils out of my hair, but I am thinking that’s with any hair dye. Its took everything for me to replenish my hair to it’s natural oily texture from using home remedies such as mashed avocados for hair masks to hair mayonnaises, too lots of she abutter conditioners to using only fortifying two in one shampoos but now my hair feels whole lot thicker and healthier. Don’t get me wrong…I was a natural since 2012 until early this year I started to relax my hair, but I am working to leave that stuff alone altogether.