I Will NEVER Henna/Indigo Again! It Ain't 4 Me.

[SignatureBeauty]

I don't care how healthy it is suppose to be for your hair, I was so excited to use it after reading and learning about it for over ayear and I made the leap about 4 days ago, Good God Amighty My hair is as dry as the Sahara Desert, I have used up so much Dadgum Conditioner that it ain't funny, I have sat under the dryer and everything, as soon as I rinsed out the Indigo I did a Nice Long Deep Conditioner and it still didn't work, I guess Henna is not for everybody, For those who have success with it I am happy for you.

I am Natural so I thought I would try a natural Color. Good God Amighty I spent over 4 Hours for this, I tell you what, Next Time I will stick to my Semi Permanents Jet Black because at least my hair will still be soft. I mean it feels so stripped. But the Color came out Good and I Like it. but this dryness is a Pain. I tried to add a little olive oil/castor oil to the mix but my hair does not like direct oils. I mean all the moisturizer I put on my hair has been sucked up, My Baggie Method is not even helping at the Moment.

But you Live and Learn, Now I tried it and didn't like it and I won't use it again unless there is something I can add to make my hair not get dry. I am sure it is good for the Hair but my Goodness it feels like it strips it and I ain't cuttin my hair again so I am gonna work it out. Maybe some one Can make some tips called "101 To Coloring Your Hair With Henna/Indigo"
That way we can have some tips on how to combat this dryness. Because it might not have been the Henna itself it could have been the Lemon Juice or the acidity that you have to mix it with. But as for Right Now I don't like it.

 

[Empress Yahudah]

I feel u on this...I tried henna twice and my hair reacted the same way im relaxed tho...my mixture consited of EVOO,alma oil,conditioner,and water...and I added all that to combat the dryness..Even deep con with moisture conditioners for ever but nope no go .....it didnt help and I had breakage tooerplexed not severe tho thank goodnes.....I was so upset cuz shoot I wanted me some henna Bling!!!!! but i didnt get that either**shrug ** oh well..I was thinking of trying cassia but am reluctant to do so... I recently died my hair jet black with Feria ..I wanted to do henna and indigo but why would it work a 3rd time if not the others I wish it would tho erplexed

 

[HoneyDew]

Well it is not for everyone.

My hair never gets dry after henna since I have been mixing 3-4 oz of it it with 2 cups of plain yogurt, oil and only a little water.

I have done it without deep conditioning afterwards and my hair still was not dry. I prefer to Deep Condition, but sometimes time does not allow it and I have to just do a rinse - NEVER DRY.

Also, I never use lemon juice.

Sorry that this happened to you. I am sure your moisture balance will return soon.

 

[Mystic]

Co-sign. I henna when I was relaxed and I still henna with with my TWA and my hair is as soft as ever. I do not use any lemon juice - just henna and oil. I do not DC after henna - only rinse with a little conditioner and I am done. My TWA gets dry easily so I try to henna at least 2X per month, and it leaves my hair soft and nice. Sorry it didn't work for you.

Well it is not for everyone.

My hair never gets dry after henna since I have been mixing 3-4 oz of it it with 2 cups of plain yogurt, oil and only a little water.

I have done it without deep conditioning afterwards and my hair still was not dry. I prefer to Deep Condition, but sometimes time does not allow it and I have to just do a rinse - NEVER DRY.

Also, I never use lemon juice.

Sorry that this happened to you. I am sure your moisture balance will return soon.

 

[yodie]

I just posted something similar to yours.

Henna was very drying on my hair and it shedded some too, but it stopped. I think it's very strong. I deep conditioned and sat under the dryer for four days in a row. Still it didn't soften my hair.

After that, I sprayed my hair with Scurl, twice a day and just let it be. That's the ONLY thing that worked for me.

I liked the color that henna gave me and am tempted to try it again.

 

[metro_qt]

Try Porosity control now... Roux, that may return your hair to it's proper levels...

 

[Cayenne0622]

I don't use lemon juice either and my hair is always silky strong, moisturized and soft. I'm so sorry you didn't have a good experience. I don't know what brand of henna you used and how that may have affected your hair either.

My recipe for my neck length hair is:
2 tbs Jamila henna
1tbs indigo
1tbs alma powder
1tbs evoo
1tbs of moisturizing conditioner (lustrasilk mango shea butter cholesterol or Elasta QP DPR11)
1/2 tbs of jojoba oil
1/2 tbs of honey
1/4 cup of warm water

All of the things I add are very moisturizing which I'm sure prevents the dryness that some have experienced.

If you try again, I hope you like my recipe. I rinse out in the shower and add a little bit of NTM as a final rinse and my hair feels sooooo good.

Good luck lady!

 

[Divine Inspiration]

I'll bet the lemon juice is what did it. Many have said that the lemon juice stripped their hair to the bone. I'd try it again leaving the acid out. The color will release just fine without a terp.

 

[*Happily Me*]

darn these threads are making me scared to try henna.

lawd knows my hair has been very dry in the past. that's why i con wash...

 

[ThursdayGirl]

I agree with the acid being the culprit.

This first time I did henna, my hair was fine (I was using just a bit of vinegar).
The second time, I used more vinegar to get faster dye release. BIG mistake. :-/ My hair was parched in a major way... and it stayed hard for several weeks. Its back to normal now, so I will try it again - without the vinegar.

 

[Miss*Tress]

Leave out the lemon!

 

[FlowerHair]

Henna made my hair very dry also until I cut the time shorter to around 3 hours, no more. The first times I had the henna in for 5-6 hours!

 

[alwayzalady22]

i just henna'd again on friday, and left it on for 6 hours....i think the longer amount of time made my hair drier and more tangly, even though i don't use a terp...i only put cheapie conditioner, honey, olive oil, vatika oil, and hot water in my mix....my hair was kinda dry for the day after i henna'd, but i've been whole head baggying at night, and i cowash today, so i think it'll be fine...sorry that this happened to you, but i'll cosign on the lemon juice being drying....when i henna again next month, i think i'm gonna use coconut milk and some aloe vera gel in the mix too, just to make it more moisturizing...maybe you can give that a try if you decide to henna again?

 

[ladylibra]

step away from the lemon juice!!!

i used ACV, and my hair didn't get dried out... i don't think i used enough for maximum dye release though. next time i might add a little more...

 

[HoneyDew]

Okay, I didn ot realize that some people leave it on for hours and hours. Maybe I never get dryness because I use it for only 30-40 min tops (20-30 min of that under the dryer).

 

[*Frisky*]

Okay, I didn ot realize that some people leave it on for hours and hours. Maybe I never get dryness because I use it for only 30-40 min tops (20-30 min of that under the dryer).

Any thing longer than 2 maybe 3 hours is overkill...it isn't necessary to leave it on for any longer so maybe that is why some people are getting less than desirable results. The last henna treatment I did was maybe 45 minutes and I got the same results as when I do it for 2 hours.

 

[Cayenne0622]

OH MY BAJEEZERS!!! I didn't know some of ya'll were leaving henna on for so LONG! When I first did henna, Sareca advised me not to leave on any longer than an hour the first time out. Now when I do it, I sit under the dryer for 1 hour and then without the dryer for 1 more hour (total 2 hours MAX). Most of the time I stick to 1 hour under the dryer and that's it. I think cutting back the time and cutting out the lemon juice will make a huge difference in the dryness some of you experienced. Scurry.

 

[preciousjewel76]

Okay, I didn ot realize that some people leave it on for hours and hours. Maybe I never get dryness because I use it for only 30-40 min tops (20-30 min of that under the dryer).

I've hennaed twice (most recently on Saturday), and I left mine on for about 90 minutes each time. I haven't had any dryness either, although my hair did feel "funny" immediately after rinsing out the henna. Shampooing and DC afterwards made my hair feel "normal" again, with no problems. I'm so sorry you had a bad experience with henna NappyParadise, but unfortunately, it may not work for everybody.

 

[sweetwhispers]

I leave mine on overnight. I never have any problems.

 

[SignatureBeauty]

Okay Ladies thank you so much! I bet it was the Lemon Juice so when I do it again I will try someones recipe on here or use Coconut Milk with added moisture. I ordered my Henna from Mehendi.com, Maybe I did leave it on for too long, I also sat under the Dryer for 30 minutes. I tried to follow the Directions as given but I wasn't too sure. But I do have some left over henna that I might use for a Conditioner treatment and mix it with one of the Recipes given.

I mean I will try it again since I have Hope Now and I will do it without the Lemon Juice. But Like I said I Love the Color it came out great but it was that dryness. But I will give it a shot in the next couple of months.

Thanks Ladies!

 

[cocopuff]

I just tried Henna for the first time yesterday and I was nervous at first but my hair came out extremely soft and moisturized and my hair had a nice tint to it. I was happy with my experience. This is the recipe that I used:

100 mg of Dulhan Henna (1 small box)
50 mg of Amla powder (half a small box)
3 tablespoons of Vatika Oil
4 tablespoons of Trader Joes NourishSpa Conditioner
3/4 can of warm coconut milk

I hope this helps!

 

[SignatureBeauty]

See I think I messed up by using the Lemon Juice, But I was trying to Follow Instructions they way they were suppose to be. So If I were to use henna again like for a Deep conditioner will it Lighten My Black Hair? I don't want light Hair.

But in a couple of Months I am gonna try it again.

So cocopuff did you let it sit overnight before you applied it? & How long did you leave it on for?

TIA.

 

[HoneyDew]

I just tried Henna for the first time yesterday and I was nervous at first but my hair came out extremely soft and moisturized and my hair had a nice tint to it. I was happy with my experience. This is the recipe that I used:

100 mg of Dulhan Henna (1 small box)
50 mg of Amla powder (half a small box)
3 tablespoons of Vatika Oil
4 tablespoons of Trader Joes NourishSpa Conditioner
3/4 can of warm coconut milk

I hope this helps!

I want to try it with the coconut milk. That sounds so yummy!

 

[milotic13]

I hennaed for the first time two weeks ago and my hair was dry as straw. I was forewarned about not using lemon juice, so i used a tbsp of oj and hours later it didnt look like the color released for put in an addt'l tbsp of acv. So needless to say my hair was brittle dry. I put my henna in the day b4 i was going to the salon. So I just had her cut if off and got a pixie cut yey ago. I had alot of growth from boundless tresses. Oh well back to the drawing board. I can see that the henna took all my stray grays away around my edges. So the next time i use henna i'm going to use the coconut milk and no acid. I have body-art quality henna from hennaforhiar.com so i know it wasnt the henna.

 

[cocopuff]

See I think I messed up by using the Lemon Juice, But I was trying to Follow Instructions they way they were suppose to be. So If I were to use henna again like for a Deep conditioner will it Lighten My Black Hair? I don't want light Hair.

But in a couple of Months I am gonna try it again.

So cocopuff did you let it sit overnight before you applied it? & How long did you leave it on for?

TIA.

Yes, I let it sit overnight before I applied it and left it on for 2.5-3 hours

 

[sareca]

My hair is chronically dry. It's a little rough after a henna treatment (before deep conditioning), but it's never anything that would cause breakage. After I DC it's back to normal.

 

[Arcadian]

aside from the red color from the cassia (at least I'm guessing thats what it was) I've never had a problem with it making my hair hard. It does make my hair soft and the bling is unbelievable.

I only leave it on 30 minutes tops though because I'm really not looking to get any color from it (seemed to have happened anyway) I never used coconut milk, but do add coconut oil to mine.

I have to agree with what everyone else said and leave the acids out maybe not leave it in so long.


-A

 

[jengrady]

bump, because people need to see this....

mostly we are dealing with black or ethnic hair here. For henna, no juice, no berries, no sprinkles, no glitter, no wearing it for a day and then washing it out. Women of color cannot use henna the way everyone else does. For best results I think after reading all of the posts by women here who have fantastic outcomes, is less is more.

all your henna really needs is water, maybe some cheap conditioner or oil. I think the coconut milk was a good idea, as was the honey. That's it. Heat really helps as well for an hour or so and washing out after two hours tops!

There's no chemicals in this stuff, there's no drama, its just herbs...

 

[Aveena]

I had a similar experience when I mixed my own from scratch... I wrote about it in my journal. Then I let it wear off and my hair was waaay to fragile. THEN I tried Hennalucent Brown (at Sally's) which is premixed. I then added a little indigo (just a few shakes) and conditioners and viola! it's not as strong.. It's like a henna rinse and I love it. I get the conditioning and strength without my hair being hard and lifeless. Just a little does just fine for me. I would never put 100mg in my hair...it's just too much in one sitting.

I'm henna for life. I'm sorry that happened to you

 

[spelmanlocks]

I had a really bad experience with Henna also. It made my hair feel really hard and dry, but I just followed the directions and used water. I did a deep condition after and it went back to normal. I lost more hair using Henna then I do when I just wash normally. I also found Henna to be way to messy for me. Although my hair does feel stronger, I think Henna is something I can do without. I'll just stick with my Aphogee and Mizani Kerafuse.