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| completed hair, outdoors, partial sunlight |
Today I wanted to tell you guys my henna hair story, but let's get some things out of the way first of all... I am not a hairstylist. I am also not a scientist. I'm just a girl playing around with hair color that I believe is much safer and healthier for my hair than traditional dyes. Any information I give you is based on what I have researched online on various hair care and henna websites.
Henna or Indigo or any other natural dye you're going to be using to color your hair is going to turn out different on everyone's hair, please keep that in mind. If you have virgin hair that is of a similar tone to mine, you might come out with similar results, but it all really depends on your own hair color, texture, and whether or not it has been dyed before.
FYI
Henna-ing your hair can be a day-long extravaganza, much different from dying with traditional dyes at home. Henna needs to sit around for awhile to cure before it starts releasing dye. Indigo is the opposite, you need to pile it on your head as quickly as possible. The longer you let it sit on your hair, the better color payoff you're going to get. Henna is what gives the red color, Indigo gives a dark blue or black. However, the two black hennas I used contained a mixture of both, along with other ingredients as well. If you want to know more about the application methods I have used or the ingredients in each product, please see the links below.
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After helping my older sister dye her hair with henna, I decided it was time to take the plunge as well. I always vowed to never dye my hair because I loved my brown hair and didn't want to damage it with chemical dyes. However, after learning more about henna, I figured if I wanted to color my hair, that would be the way to go. I have always gone through cycles of growing my hair out and cutting it all off, then starting the process over again, so the idea of dying my hair and causing damage was not appealing at all. I took pride in my hair and didn't want to hurt it. I wasn't so much concerned about the chemicals in hair dye getting into my body or whatever, it was more of a concern for my hair's health than my body's health, if that makes any sense. lol.
So I dyed my long, virgin medium/dark brown hair last summer 2014 with Lush Caca Noir. I loved the results. It just darkened my hair about a shade or two. It definitely wasn't black. In the sunlight you could see a deep burgundy color because of the henna/indigo mix. I thought it was much more dramatic at the time than it actually was though. I never saw any roots, so I assumed it just faded out naturally.
The second time I dyed my hair, I used Caca Noir again and my hair was short. I also learned that by going back in a few days later to dye my hair again REALLY brought out the color more. That second layer of color was essential to getting the color payoff I wanted. I dyed my short hair twice with this method (Nov 2014 & March 2015). Still with this color, I never noticed any roots.
Then this summer 2015, I got the urge to dye my hair red. So I went to Lush and picked up Caca Rouge for my sister and I to try out. I was super happy with the color I got and thought it couldn't get any better than this.
But then I found Light Mountain Bright Red henna after doing some research and wanting to get the reddest red possible. I applied Bright Red to the crown of my head, just the top portions of my head as a test (I already had this idea that I wanted the top portions to be the brightest red with the under parts of my hair a little less red). It turned out awesome.
So now, with fall approaching, I got the random idea to add some black in with the red. This time I was sent Henna Dream Black from the company. This actually turned my hair about one shade lighter than black, unlike Caca Noir that just turned it a shade or two darker brown. With one application of Henna Dream, it was a very dark brown (still darker than Noir, but not quite black yet). When I went in one week later for a second application, it was definitely dark. It's not a midnight black, but like I said before, henna reacts differently on every hair color.
On the application day I used Henna Dream Black on bottom, and I went back in and applied Bright Red again to all of the rest of my hair that wasn't getting the black, since I was henna-ing my hair anyway that day, I figured I might as well henna it all.
My hair shows you the two extremes you can get out of Henna/Indigo dying if you have medium/dark brown hair to begin with. It does take some patience and it can be many applications before you achieve the color you desire, but the awesome thing about henna is that it's good for your hair. The more you apply it, the more intense the color and the shinier and prettier your hair gets overall, compared to traditional dyes that can harm your hair.
So the final product equals...
1 application of Lush Caca Rouge all over
wait 2 weeks
1 application of Light Mountain Bright Red on very top portion of hair
wait 1 week
1 application Henna Dream Black on very bottom portion of hair
1 application Light Mountain Bright Red on everything else (this includes the very top portion (which had Bright Red before (so top portion now has 2 rounds of Bright Red) and the middle portion (which only had Lush Caca Rouge))
wait 1 week
1 application Henna Dream Black on bottom again
Thank you so much for reading! I really hope this was helpful in some way or at least entertaining or educational. I am so happy with the results. They just keep getting better and better with each application.
Love,
Alaina
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TIMELINE in PHOTOS
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| before the red experiment (3-4 months after noir) |
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| after caca rouge sunlight |
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| after caca rouge indoors |
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| after light mountain red on top indoors |
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| after light mountain red on top indoors |
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| after light mountain red on top outdoors |
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| after light mountain red on top outdoors |
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| dividing up the hair |
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| after one application henna dream black, two (three on top) applications light mountain red |
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| after one application henna dream black on bottom, two light mountain red on top indoors |
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| after one application henna dream black on bottom, two light mountain red on top indoors |
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| after one application henna dream black on bottom, two light mountain red on top indoors |
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| after one application henna dream black on bottom, two light mountain red on top indoors |
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| after one application henna dream black on bottom, two light mountain red on top indoors |
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| after one application henna dream black on bottom, two light mountain red on top indoors |
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| process of applying henna dream black on bottom for the second time |
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| completed hair, outdoors, shade |
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| completed hair, outdoors, sunlight |
If you are interested in my other henna posts, here you go!
My first henna experience ever. Used Lush Caca Noir on my long hair 7/14
If you are wondering where you can find any of these products, here are some links for you.
Lush Caca Noir
Lush Caca Rouge
Light Mountain Bright Red
Henna Dream Black
Disclosure: I received the Henna Dream Black dye for review purposes, everything else I purchased with my own money. I am not being paid to talk about this product. My review is 100% my own honest opinion, as always.
