On Becoming a Henna Head

Since the last time I posted (and that was way too long ago) I have become a henna head. I've jumped on the henna bandwagon like so many other natural ladies. I decided to henna after seeing all the great conditioning, strength, and length results other naturals were getting and because I wanted to mix up my hair color a bit, but in a subtle and natural way. 

I initially bought my henna from mehandi.com. I ordered  300 grams of the popular Jamilla brand and it arrived within days of my order, but it was not cheap.

One of my three boxes of Jamilla henna

Since I planned on doing my first henna that Friday night, I mixed my henna up the night before. I decided about 200 grams would be enough, and I poured that amount of henna into a container to do my mixing.

Henna must be mixed with an acidic liquid, I choose apple cider vinegar since I use it on my hair to clarify anyway. I think I probably added about 1/3 of a cup of vinegar and about 1/2 a cup of water and mixed really, really well.

After adding the vinegar, very thick consistency 

After adding the water, still quite thick

I left the mixture to sit over night for dye release, but then I didn't get around to applying it the next night, so I applied Saturday morning.

Henna on Saturday morning. Note the puddle of released dye in the corner.

Before applying the henna I added a large amount (about 1/4 of a cup) of my oil blend and mixed that really well. I jumped in the shower, got my hair soaking wet, pretreated with Burt's Bees Avocado Butter Pre-Shampoo Treatment (waste of time and money, more on this later), rinsed, then jumped out of the shower an parted my hair. I did not detangle my hair before hennaing the first time, but I did the second time. Definitely detangle your hair before applying henna.

My hair in 4 parts

My hair (detangled) in four parts, the 2nd henna

I then put on some gloves, grabbed a handful of henna, started applying it to my hair one part at a time. The henna is quite heavy and stretches your hair out while it's on. No worries, your hair will return to normal when you rinse, though some people do say that henna loosens curl. 

My head completely covered in henna

After all the henna was on, I covered my head with two plastic shower caps and wrapped my head up in a large towel. I then lounged around my house like this for about 24 hours (this is not necessary, you only have to leave the henna on for about 4 hours to get the effects, I was just being lazy). The next morning, I rinsed out the henna thoroughly, conditioned my hair thoroughly, and twisted my hair.