After so many years of doing henna and natural herbs for hair, and getting all sorts of questions, I really felt we could use a good post on common mistakes and errors, when it comes to henna for hair (and herbs). We’ve included some amazing tips that everyone should know.
This list will never be complete, and we’ll need all of you to help add to it. Henna and natural hair care is all about being open, having a good vibe, being natural, and accepting each and every recipe as special, and unique to every person.
- Henna is a plant, not a chemical, or ink. Henna is a natural plant, and it grows in very hot climates. As a natural plant it makes only one color: orange-reddish tones. Plants don’t give us more then one color. Typically blueberries stain blue, just as henna stains red. Commercial boxes of henna will tell us they are henna “colors”, but in fact they are pre-mixed boxed of henna that contain other herbs, and ingredients (sometimes even chemicals, additives, or metallic salts). It’s also not an ink. Henna powder is mixed into a henna paste, which can be used to dye your hair (permanent until it grows out), or to create henna body art designs (temporary) on the skin. Please read our recipes and how to’s section to find out how.
- Henna colors, is this possible? A lot of commercial boxed henna hair dyes will have a variety of colors available. Natural and 100% pure henna only dyes orange-reddish tones. Please always read the list of ingredients on the boxes you purchase, or just purchase 100% pure henna powder from a reliable supplier.
- Henna will not lighten your hair tone. Henna is a chemically-free all natural hair dye. It doesn’t contain chemicals, or bleaching ingredients that would lighten your hair.
- Neutral Henna. Cassia obovata is sometimes called neutral henna, but in fact it is another plant that has a low yellow dye molecule, that can color grey, light, and blond hair. On dark hair, cassia obovata will not usually show any color. Using cassia obovata will give you all the benefits of henna, but it does have to be done a bit more often, as the results are not as long term as henna is.
- Black Henna. Indigo is sometimes called black henna, but this is yet another plant that will color the hair brown to black tones (must be used with henna to give these results). Indigo does not have dye release the same way that henna does, so it must be mixed and used right away, or within 15-20 minutes. Please make sure your indigo does not contain PPD, which is can be quite damaging to the hair, and skin.
- If I use henna I won’t ever be able to use chemical dyes/treatments on my hair. As long as you use 100% pure henna powder, then yes you can use chemical dyes/treatments as you normally do. You won’t have to wait months to do your chemical treatments/dyes as the hair dresser would like to tell you. Keep in mind, that the hair industry is run by major companies that push all types of chemical products. They are in no way trained, or specializing in henna, and natural hair care (for the most part). You should give your hair a break in between treatments. Roughly about 1-2 weeks.
- How much henna do we need to use for our hair? No, you don’t need 500 grams of henna powder to color (treat) bra strap length (BSL) hair. First thing that needs to be asked is, how long is your hair, and secondly, how thick is your hair. Those are questions that need to be answered first in order to access how much henna powder you’ll need. You also don’t want to spend more money on products then you have to.
General speaking, shoulder length hair needs about 100 grams of powder, bra strap length about 200-250 grams, hip length about 300-350 grams, and so on. - Should I use lemon juice in my recipe? No, you don’t have to use lemon juice as your primary, and only liquid ingredient in your henna (herbal) hair recipe. So many people would have turned away and abandoned henna and natural herbal hair care, if they thought they could only use lemon juice. Lemon juice is acidic, and can be very drying on your hair. You can add a small splash of lemon juice, if you’d like. We usually add a bit of lemon juice. The most highly recommend liquid to use is warm water. You can even use tea (any variety of your choice), or coffee brews as well (for dryer scalps be careful with these as they can also be a bit drying). Chamomile tea has become quite popular to use in henna hair recipes.
- Is henna a temporary hair dye? No, henna is not temporary. It is a permanent hair dye. Henna alone only dyes orange-red tones. The only way to remove it is to let it grow out, or cut your dyed hair. That is why it is always recommended you do hair strand tests before making the “full head” committment.
- Can henna, and herbs for hair be drying? Yes they can be drying. If you have a dry scalp, then you will need to moisturize. You can add moisturizing oils, yoghurt, or a conditioner to your henna recipe, or use a good hair oil after your herbal hair treatment.
- Does henna lock out moisture? Some people believe that because henna coats the hair strand that no amount of moisturization can reach it. In fact no, henna will not lock out moisture from your hair. Oil, and condition your hair as usual, and as needed. The results will be amazing, and your hair will get all the moisturization it needs.
- Using a metal bowl, or spoon is it safe or not? When using pure henna powder (body art quality), and herbs for hair, you can use stainless steel bowls. Traditionally, they have used iron bowls, as it has shown to bring our more dye release. We typically use a spatula to mix it. We don’t usually use plastic bowls because they are porous, and the herbs will stain the bowl. The commercial boxes of henna, and henna “colors” that contain other ingredients, herbs, additives, metallic salts, etc..would more so cause reactions with metal bowls, then 100% pure herbs would.
- Can henna loosen my curl pattern? Yes, a lot of people have seen loosening effects of their curls when using henna and/or cassia obovata. There is a small percentage of people that don’t get any loosening of their curls. If you prefer to maintain some of your curl, then add amla powder to bring them back. Keep in mind, that amla powder also tones down the red of henna. You can also use amla powder in your henna/cassia recipe to maintain the curls in your hair, in case you don’t want to lose your curl pattern.
- So many henna powders. How do I choose? Keep in mind that some henna companies do re-name their henna powders, and this causes more confusion then necessary. The basic, and most important information would be which country is the henna from, how fresh is it (current crop year is best), and how well sifted is it? Please read: How to Choose the Right Henna Powder. There is no henna for a particular race or culture. Henna doesn’t discriminate. It is for everyone to use. If you were to say that a particular henna powder is very well sifted and therefore better to use on curly or african hair, then that we’d understand. But giving a henna powder a new name, is just for marketing purposes. If your henna comes marked with Jamila henna powder in red writting in any format on the foil packaging, then that henna is Jamila henna powder, not any other generic name that it has been re-named. Please read more on Jamila Henna.
- Body Art Quality: What does that mean? This is another marketing term that basically means 100% pure henna powder. This pure henna powder is safe enough to use for body art, and most likely finely sifted. Body Art Quality can’t apply to any of the other herbs we use on our hair, because that would mean we are using these herbs for body art, and we aren’t. They are being used for hair usage. Make sure you get yourself 100% pure henna, and herbs. Getting organic herbs is even better because you are guaranteed that the company/farm has gotten proper certification, and inspection that there are no pesticides used, and is an overall healthier, and safer product.
- My katam/indigo didn’t work for me. Indigo and Katam should be mixed separately from the henna paste in its own bowl. These are herbs that require a little more care, and their own time for dye release alone. Allow indigo and katam to sit 20-30 minute. You can then add the indigo/katam paste into the henna paste (bowl) for brown tones. Should you be using indigo for black tones you can use this after you’ve first done your henna treatment. Do not allow indigo to sit out for more then an hour.
Tips that work!
- Putting henna (and any herbs) onto damp hair really helps it go on much easier. Also applying indigo onto damp hair (with a dash or so of salt) has gotten the indigo to absorb better and give even darker, richer black color results.
- Adding sugar to your recipe makes the henna paste smoother.
- Pre-oil your hair, if you tend to get really dry when using henna, and herbs in your hair. This will give you the moisture boost you need. This also helps prevent dripping when dyeing your hair. Some of the best hair oils to use are olive oil, coconut oil, argan oil, and camellia oil.
- In order to get deeper, richer red results use a good, fresh henna powder that is known for giving rich red results (such as yemeni henna). After 2-3 applications, the color will deepen further.
- Wash your henna, and herbal hair treatments out really well. Use a lot of conditioner to help with the process. If you don’t wash it all out well, then your scalp will feel itchy, and gritty.
- Rmemeber to always be opened minded, and if needed, adjust your recipe to suit your hair. Just because someone else does it, doesn’t always make it right for you.
- Keep your recipe simple. Don’t get overwhelmed with a lot of the other ingredients that are added to recipes.
Odette do you buy henna from us here at Henna Sooq (www.hennasooq.com)? The gunky feeling, I’m trying to figure exactly what you might mean. Is it in a henna build up type of way or an oily type of way? Are you still pregnant at this time? It might be easier to discuss via phone since there is a bit more detail and questions that I’ll have. If you can give us a call, our number is 410-579-4543. Thank you!
Welcome Michelle! You may have to wait for the lighter hair to grow out. Do you want to continue lightening your hair or would you prefer to color over your natural hair color?
So far I hate henna… probably there is something I am not doing right.
My salt and pepper hair became orange at the roots when I did it twice with henna which said on the package that it was for brown hair.
To correct that, I tried another brand that was praised by local women here. I did the two-step thing recommended for gray hair. I was supposed to get brown but again it was some coppery-orange-something, although a bit darker.
So I had to resort my good old HennaPlus color which has other herbs and chemicals as well. That fixed it, with one application.
I don’t like the grassy smell of henna, the mess and the long time it takes and that it feels very heavy on my head. My hair became very dull and coarse afterwards.
Plus, I suspect it clogged the drain in the shower – there was no any problem with it for a long time, but suddenly, after 4x100g henna, it was a serious emergency.
And hennaing my hair 4 times in a row didn’t bring a good result, I only wasted my time and money.
The only thing I liked about it was that it kept my head nice warm.
Any ways, tips, reasons for me to try again, maybe it can still work out?
In this town, my only options are either henna or the usual chemical colors that make my hair very brittle and extremely dry.
So sorry to hear that you aren’t enjoying henna for your hair. We hope to change that 🙂
Have you tried our products as yet at http://www.hennasooq.com? We recommend for brown tones our moroccan henna and indigo for hair for best results.
For the grassy scent of henna have you added essential oils? That usually works amazing. We also have organic aloe vera powder for moisture and keeping hair healthy and shiny.
We do ship worldwide. Please let us know if we can help further. Have a great week!
Hi Michelle. It may be easier to let it grow out. That way you won’t have to lighten it.
Our henna for hair products are safe to use alongside chemical treatments. You should wash or clarify your hair if you use daily products so that way it opens up your hair to receive the henna and richer color. Have you tried our Red Raj as yet?
Hi Kay. Which color tone exactly were you trying to achieve? Is your hair naturally dark toned?
I’m trying to achieve burgundy, yes my hair is a very dark brown.
Hi I have really long thick hair down to my butt I’m 5’1 i was wondering how much henna I need, it’s my first time. I really want a good recipe for a nice red tone. I have brow virgin hair not light not dark.
Our Organic Rajasthani Indian henna is really great for achieving a beautiful burgundy tone.
Hello! We’d recommend our Red Raj and you would need at least 300 grams of henna powder in total for your hair.
Recommended places to purchase ? And is that all I need ?
Yes absolutely. The Organic Rajasthani indian henna would be perfect. You could add hibiscus petal powder to boost the tone as well. The site we recommend is: http://www.hennasooq.com
I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Thank you so much I will be trying it soon.
Hi all. I am new to this blog and new to heena application.Dear khadija i appreciate your knowlwdge about heena. Day before Yesterday i got heena powder from ayurvedic shop. I boiled tea powder and soaked heena overnight. Next morning i put two egg white and 2 spoon coffe powder in it. I oiled my scalp and applied heena on my hair. Then i washed it in 3 hours with water. And again oiled it. Today i did shampoo and conditioner and i noticed my grey hairs has just turned very light orange. Why i did not get deep brown colour? Plz suggest if i am making any mistake.
Thanks
Payal
Good day Payal.
Usually for hair coloring using eggs and leaving it soak overnight can be too much for the best color. Eggs are not good for hair coloring results especially grey hairs.
For a true brown we really recommend you purchase our Moroccan henna and indigo for hair for best results. You can purchase those with us here at http://www.hennasooq.com. This will really color your greys perfectly. We hope this helps.
For curl restoration and maintain those gorgeous curls be sure to add amla powder either in your henna recipe or as it’s own individual treatment. Here is a great blog post with tips: https://hennablogspot.com/i-dont-want-to-loose-my-curls/
Thanks you Khadija. I will try morrocon heena. Do i need to soak it the same i did for other heena. What is the time interval I need to keep to apply it again.
Welcome! Payal you can let the moroccan henna only sit 1-2 hours max. It should always stay in your hair 3-4 hours.
Welcome! Yes a second henna application will help darken and develop your henna color more to the tone you’d like it to be. Usually you really let your hair rest at least up to 3 days. You just want to avoid drying out your hair.
Thank you once again you have been a lot of help I will be trying my 2nd henna application since the first made my hair smoother actually. But that’s probably because I use coconut oil hair masks if it does get dry how long should I wait till I can apply a mask ?
You may want to hold off on your coconut hair masks just to be sure.
Hello Jo. Yes absolutely. If it’s been at least 48-72 hours you can do the coconut milk treatment safely. Let us know how it turns out.
Hello,
I’m interested in emergency henna. I want to blend my bleached highlight with my natural hair color (Dark ash brown). Can you please recommended the items I’ll need. I have kinky-curly hair. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eb9e17c47690833c6dbc241d297d349f7faac9772ca8ce02ab7cd2e6435f404a.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f7a22abd3811bbaf3901067240774a034f50fac086163e77dd6e18a182de0de3.jpg
Hello Maria. Thank you for your post on our blog. I’m not sure what you might mean by emergency henna. The only “emergency” type of henna product that I’m aware of is the chemically-based henna cones they sell that is used on the body. That’s not FDA approved and we don’t carry those products.
For the tone you’d like that would be your natural hair color we’d recommend our moroccan henna and indigo for hair. We have a PDF instruction sheet on those products for your use when mixing and using those products online at http://www.hennasooq.com. Today is the last day for free shipping on orders over $45. We hope this helps.
One other tip for first timers: when you first rinse out your henna it will be much brighter/more orange than the final color. It darkens over a couple of days. A friend who had been using henna on her own hair did mine for me for the first time and I was so freaked out when I first saw it. It settled into a beautiful, natural-looking auburn (I have medium-to-dark brown hair), and my grays make lovely highlights. I’ve been using henna to color my hair for a year and a half now and won’t go back.
Thanks for sharing Kirsten. That is so amazing to hear!
Hello, I’m here for help I had never used henna and herd on Amazon it was great for hair so I ordered it it stated 100% natural henna so I prepared it and used it with lemon juice and chamomile tea left it on for the 90 minutes and then washed it out I immediately noticed how incredibly dry my hair was so I did a deep conditioning treatment and while that sat started doing more research wich is how I learned that it can be incredibly damaging if it’s not pure and that it should not be used on chemically treated hair. Would have been nice to know previously. I must say after my first use I was not impressed and did not like it will not do again but now I’m incredibly freaked out about going back to what I usually use. Help what if anything helps flush impure henna from your hair .
Hello Dionna. We’d really recommend doing non-coloring henna/aryuvedic hair treatments to help return your hair back to normal. Our Sukesh Ayurveda is perfect at http://www.hennasooq.com. Please let us know how that turns out once you try.
Hello Dionna. There are no vegetable oils in henna powder as far as I’m aware of. The henna does coat the hair strand but it didn’t leave a layer of oil. Usually the opposite because clients often complain on how drying henna can be and we usually recommend aloe vera powder for moisture. Do you plan to also continue to use henna to color your hair? Have you decided which products from http://www.hennasooq.com you’d like to use?
No I will never use the henna again awful messy pain in the ass, not to mention the stress and anxiety this caused me, two weeks before my birthday on top of that. And I don’t think I will use any of your products because they also contain henna and I want nothing to do with it, I was looking for help from people familiar with henna not a sales pitch. Thank you for the suggestions all the same but my recent experience has turned me off such products.
Hi Dionna. Oh so sorry to hear. I understand. Not all of our products contain henna. Henna only dyes reddish tones. We carry several other products that are henna-free 🙂 Again so sorry to hear. We’re here to help should you need. Do note this is a business blog though 🙂
Have an amazing rest of your week!
Sorry when I stumbled on it, I was unaware it was business related.
Not a problem Dionna. Have a great weekend 🙂
This is the first site, I have found, that confirmed my henna has relaxed my natural curls. I see that you suggest alma powder to bring curl back. Could you please tell me what to get and how to mix it with my henna or direct me to a link. I am looking and cannot find what I need. Thanks so much!
Hi! I have dark brown hair and used henna + indigo for the first time two days ago. I read that oil should not be applied to the hair for 48 – 72 hours after application because the oil will disrupt the indigo release. Another source stated that oil shouldn’t be applied for up to four days. I applied an oil free leave-in conditioner after my henna/indigo treatment, but feel that my scalp needs additional moisture. Will the oil interfere with the release of henna or indigo? I use coconut and almond oils.
Hi Coco. Great to hear from you. Usually oils are okay. We usually recommend you allow the color to settle without added washing mainly but oils I feel would be necessary for many as henna can dry out your hair. So yes do moisturize and I also recommend for future applications that you add aloe vera powder to your recipe. It really adds a lot of moisture right to your recipe. We do carry that as well if you need some.
Hi Deidre. Oh yes absolutely the curls can loosen. You can get the amla powder we carry here at http://www.hennasooq.com and the intructions are actually attached to the product itself along with youtube videos that I’ve created. To your henna in general you’ll add 3-4 tbsp per 100grams of henna that you use. I hope this helps.
Mixing in coconut milk also helps henna and indigo to rinse easier. I usually do a 2-step process of henna then indigo to get black hair, or I buy combined herbs like Reshma Raven Black when I don’t have the entire day to do a 2-step. Henna does cool the body. It can drastically drop your core temp if left on too long in cold weather. Just wrap your head in a towel after applying plastic wrap or old plastic grocery bags, and keep your body warm. Both coconut oil and henna cool the body.
Thanks for the idea about the slow cooker! I kind of fight with the cooling effect of henna in cold weather so I’ll keep it warm in a crockpot from now on.
Coconut milk added or yogurt also makes it creamier to rinse.
Oh yes it does relax natural curls…and I actually like that effect because it means I don’t have to texturize my roots but once in a year versus twice or 3 times usually. Henna is such a wonderful herb, along with amlaki, shikakai, etc. Henna powder can be added to oil, infused with heat or cold method and used as a hair growth oil.
Welcome!
Hello. It was my first time using henna. I asked for henna and Indigo and the shopkeeper said I should only use indigo. I did, it was drying on my hair, solid pieces were falling off. It didn’t color my hair at all, it smelled terrible! After I washed it off my hair was soooooo terribly dry!!!!!
Please advice? I always dye my hair black with chemical products, would like to keep doing it in a natural way.
Hi Maryam! Oh no! Indigo isn’t supposed to be used on its own without henna. Have you watched our youtube videos as yet? Please go to https://www.youtube.com/user/HennaSooq for useful henna hair coloring tutorials. Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.
Thanks sis. I was wondering if you could advice on every how long does one need to wash hair for it to grow healthy? 2 a week?
Hello, I believe you are talking about Moroccan Henna, In her video she calls it quick henna, or Emergency henna, meaning Henna needed in a hurry! In her video I believe she says that Moroccan Henna you let it sit for 1-2 hours, and No Longer than that! Because of die release. And, From what I understand, If I remember right, You can’t Freeze this henna, you have to use all of it. That is what I remember of it, Moroccan Henna. Maybe this can help.
Yes exactly. Thank you Coilearts 🙂
Everyone’s hair is different as far as washing goes. So it really depends on your own hair type. What is yours?
Hello Amelia. Have you tried adding our aloe vera powder to your recipe to help?