henna on hair photos : Henna Hair Dyes

Sunday, 4 August 2013

Henna Hair Dyes

Henna Hair Dyes Photo Images Biography 2013

source(google.com.pk)

Henna.

It’s such a pretty word, isn’t it? Such a pretty word, for such a mess I made. But we’ll get to that later.

If you’re looking for an alternative to chemical-laden hair dyes (in fact, I just read on cancer.gov that over 5000 chemicals are used to produce hair dyes … ugh) – or if you just want shiny, bouncy hair – stop and take a long look at henna. Just look at it. (It’s right up there.)

And in lieu of trying to write a fact-filled, informative post, please, please take a look at these two VERY well-written, VERY helpful posts by Hilda Blue. If you’re thinking about using henna hair dye, for the love of cheese, use her posts as reference.

Dye Your Hair Naturally Using Henna

Henna Recipes

She’s outlined the basics on henna in ways even I can understand.

I just wish I’d have tried to understand them all before experimenting. In the wacky, wonderful ways of the universe, my jacked up experience gives me authority to talk to you today about what mistakes you SHOULDN’T make while trying to dye your hair with henna.Â Because I now corner the market on making henna mistakes.

However, before we get to that, here are just a couple of quick facts about henna as a hair dye.

Quick Henna Info

The flowering plant called hennaÂ has been used for millenia as body art and staining leather. You may have recently seen a henna tattoo (a process called mehndi in India) on Vanessa Hudgens. I mention this because, of course, she’s the standard of ancient body art beauty. Ahem.

True henna dyes your hair a reddish brown color. The henna I bought wasn’t actually henna – it was a mixture of indigo, “neutral henna,” and other plants. There were no ingredients on the container, but I can only assume there was no henna in the mixture I used, because there were zero red highlights left after I finished. We’re going to call it “henna” for reading ease, though.

You can purchase henna at Mountain Rose Herbs (like me!), natural food stores, and Nepalese or Indian shops. It will be considerably less expensive than traditional chemical hair colorants.

Neutral henna is actually a plant called Cassia obovata – it’s not “true henna” at all. But it gives your hair incredible shine and bounce, nonetheless.

Henna seals the oil into your hair, leaving it super conditioned, and it helps close off the cuticle. After a henna (true or neutral) treatment, you can expect less frizz, more manageability, and a very healthy shine. (I’ve even read that it helps stop dandruff and gets rid of head lice.)

Henna color fades naturally within about 4 months, so it won’t leave you with weird-looking roots or otherwise scary streaks.

For even more information on henna, here’s this handy post I found on Mountain Rose Herbs – and the part I found most interesting: