Here is our latest entry for the Natural Hair Care Giveaway Contest.
Last day to enter for this week is December 4th, 2009 at midnight.
Joanne’s Henna Essay
Time has a way of revealing things and it’s been so many years since I discovered an organic way of living my life. The “back-to-the-land ” movement in my hippy days taught me many things about natural products. I discovered my first box of henna way back in the 70’s in a little import shop in Michigan. Sadly, it was the compound henna I found way back then and not being one to read all the direction’s let alone follow them, I couldn’t figure out why my hair had this strange greenish cast in certain lights, although it really did feel a little softer with some nice highlights in time. I couldn’t find any more locally so started using regular hair dyes. Over time my hair began to feel so coarse and brittle even with the added moisturizers, lots of products with ingredients I couldn’t even pronounce, and the perms so prevalent in the 80’s only made it worse.
About ten years back I found another of those compound henna’s in what resembled a box of animal crackers in a local store. Each animal represented another color. This time I did follow directions saying NOT to use metal spoons or bowls in mixing their product but again I noticed that unusual greenish color….
Shortly after I found information on the internet in a pdf booklet called “hennaforhair.com” ….I enjoyed the booklet and info but wasn’t too crazy about the customer service received by the company, so did more searching, finally finding Khadija and her wonderful HennaSooq.com.
It’s easy to mix approximately ½ cp henna (we use yemeni as it’s often on sale) with a tablespoon or two of lemon juice and warm water, Khadija’s “pancake batter” instructions being a good indicator of thickness required. After a few hours I’ll mix up the same amount and thickness of indigo and warm water, let sit the required 15 minutes, then mix the two together along with a bit of amla oil and a few drops of lavender and tea tree oil, then using plastic gloves apply it in sections to dampened hair being careful to cover those ever-encroaching gray roots and frizzies by my ears. Covered with Press ‘n Seal wrap with paper towels wrapped around my neck, I look pretty silly for the couple hours needed for it to dye my hair, but worth every bit of time and effort. Sometimes I even sleep in the recliner with an old towel behind my head, rinsing it out upon awakening. Being careful not to shampoo for at least the 24 hours necessary for the color to “take”, the end result is usually a beautiful shade of auburn,deepening in the days to come.
Products purchased from Khadija are terrific, very natural, from ghassoul rhassoul paste used before my daily shower as a face scrub , to cassia and amla as natural conditioners, to essential oils..and now I wish we lived closer, as I’d love to visit her store one day. I’ve also “converted” my sister and my mother who are so pleased with the results of their hair color and texture. My mother is 74 and looks so much younger, and has gotten compliments from everyone she sees, and Dar, my sister, was paying someone lots of money to give her the same color with regular (caustic) hair dyes. We’re all thrilled with the results and looking forward to trying more new products, namely the shampoo bars, camellia oil, and soapnuts. There’s always something new on the “menu”…..& I’m always eager to try it ….. I’ll bet they will be too, especially if I surprise them with something special for their birthdays.
