Henna Happy

So!!

I've always wanted red hair - always. Since I've been aware of the ability to change hair color, I always knew that I wanted - nay, needed - to be a redhead.

However - I've got that good stubborn hairtype stuff on my head, and despite going through almost every brand of hair coloring, I was never able to get REALLY red hair.
In - May, I believe it was, of last year I bleached my locks, and dyed them red. It looked good - very good actually, but the red drained out in a matter of months - and I ended up with mostly blond ends - and very strained, dead, limp, locks.
I took out my locks in May, and not having learned the bleaching = strained hair lesson previously - I gleefully jumped into bleaching my hair ultra PLANTINUM blond

, and dying it a rich, rich red on top of it.

Finally - I had my RED hair.

Just to keep track of it in my own head, I did this the weekend we moved into the house - so let's say May 1st.

But - in a matter of 2 and a half months (I't what - the middle of July now?), not only do I have roughly an inch and a half of new growth, my hair is also slightly more orange than it is red. :((



I desparately wanted my red back - like, crazy desparate. I mean - it's ALREADY been bleached, I might as well take advantage of it, eh? But - at the same time, I started learning more about my hair, and about how to hug it and squeeze and hold it and love it, and I decided that I reallllly wanted to see just how long my hair could get. Natural. Loose. Healthy. Long. And none of those things - esp. the healthy and long part would be supported by dying my hair again. But, man, I REALLLY wanted to be a redhead.

Starting talking to one of my girls, who happens to have some of the most GORGEOUS long, henna'd red hair (I wonder if she's on this site???), and she suggested that rather than me dye it (after I casually mentioned that I had picked up some dye from Sally's that day) I henna it. I knew that she henna'd her hair, and I SOOOO loved the color - and I knew that she has naturally brown hair.

I HONESTLY don't know why henna'ing my hair never occured to me. I think that because my previous henna experiences were rather - twiggy - I never thought that henna COULD be a fine enough powder to actually get into - and more importantly get OUT of - my curly coily hair. But - I trust this friend, and I love her hair - so I started reading about henna.

The more I read, the more excited I got.

Henna gently joins WITH your hair - actually seeping into the strands, without having to BREAK them the way peroxcide and most other dyes do.
Henna is supposed to thicken hair strands (which makes sense, considering it's actually adding color molecules to your hair - WITHOUT destroying any of your own) which I would LOVE considering I have some of the thinnest, baby fine hair ever!

Henna is supposed to loosen curls (probably because of the above mentioned thickening of hair strands, thus making your hair heavier, thus increasing gravities pull on the curl, thus strecthing it out - oh yeah, I've thought about this) and - man. I figured out that my hair - stretched - is about 6-7 inches long. In it's natural, dry, curly state (like the srunched down fro that I usually wear)
it's barely an inch long. Oh yeah, I can live with some loosening of the curls.

Henna strengthens your hair (once again, the adding molecules without destroying others bit) which helps me retain length, so I can have long hair. I mean - 1.5 inches in 2.5 months... that's a little over half an inch a month. Let's say my hair grows half an inch in a month - in a year, IF I keep all my length, my hair would be touching my shoulders. Another year, and it'll be hitting my armpit. Another year, and it's at the middle of my back - and with one more year, it'll be about waist length. That's FOUR years. That's really not that long - esp to have HAIR that long. Hell, even five years ain't bad.

So - I'm reading ALL this good stuff about Henna, and I'm like - hey! Why the hell not! The worst that could happen is that my hair gets a dark, dark purlish red - and um.... that's not a bad thing in my mind, considering that my natural hair color is so dark.

Not only can I grow out my hair HEALTHIER and STRONGER - I can also go to the extremes of redness.

*happy happy dance*

So! From reading http://www.hennaforhair.com , I figured out that there are several mixes that I could use to get the color I wanted. So - I ordered 2 samples of henna, plus a sample of tumeric, plus a sample of cloves, plus a sample of pectin (because I figured that would make it more convienent to use, considering henna's reputation for dripniness. I ordered them from Mehendi.com on Thursday (I think it was) and got it on Monday.

I wanted to mix the henna with red wine (to make it redder) so my final recipe/plan was:

Liquid: 3 pts wine to one part water (I used Barefoot Shiraz)
Henna Mixes:
a) Henna only (2.5 pt)
b) Henna and Tumeric (2pt H, 1pt T) (because, as far as I understand, adding tumeric (either 1/3 or 1/2 the quantity of henna) brings a coppery golden glow out - which is something I LOVE about my current (orangey) hair color - the golden underglow - it really looks like metal sometimes).
c) Henna and Cloves (3pt H, 1 pt C) (because I didn't want to go TOOO brown, but I wanted to maybe tame the henna a bit down from orange into red)
d) Henna and Tumeric and Cloves (3pt H, 1/2 pt C, 1 pt T) (because I wanted the goldenness of the Tumeric, but I wanted to tone down the orangeness of the henna)

So - I prepared all of my mixtures (1 pt equaled out to 1/2 teaspoon) in little plastic cups (that I had left over from beading) and stirred and mixed the dry powder nicely. The first two mixtures took about a tablespoon of winewater, and the last two took about two tablespoons.

I stirred, and it turned into a nice, gloopy, sticky, almost mucusy greenish spinach smelling mess.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh - the wonders of henna!!

I wrote the mixture initals on each one, and sat them in the windowsill (hot, unaircondioned, Western Tennessee windowsill) of our house around 6:15pm.

I tested to see if the dye release had occured by putting a dab of henna on the heel of my foot. I figured that was a 'safe' place to put it, one that I wouldn't get brushed off too easily, and one tht I could easily check.
By 7:00pm, the dab from the HTC combo had turned a spot on the back of my foot a deep, rich orange. Ooooh - I LOVE the color of henna.
I mixed in the hair - two 'hairballs' into each mixture - one hairball to come out at 10pm, the other hairball to come out the next morning - basically, a 3 hour steep, and a 12 hour steep.

At almsot exaclty 10pm, I took the first batch out - I couldn't really tell a difference in the color - until I compared it to the 'untouched' hairball I had left out. Lovely, rich colors - didn't seem as dark as it could be.


In non-henna news, I hopped in the shower around 11pm, slapped a shiteload of conditioner in my hair, put shower cap on, and went to bed. My classic 'Oops, I've waited too long to remoisturize/comb my hair, and now I must do some emergency wetmaking work' solution.


The next morning (this morning, actually), I rinsed off the rest of the henna off the samples, and tucked them in a safe place. I figured I would let them oxidize, THEN compare colors. All the same, I couldn't see that much difference between the 3hr and the 12 hr sample - I couldn't really see the additional darkness. I was especially glad that I had saved an undyed piece - that way I could tell the difference between the dyed bits and the undyed ones.

I LOVED the color. Loved it, loved it, loved IT. I couldn't really tell the difference between the color mixes, but dammit, they were ALL pretty.

So - as soon as I got to work, I promptly ordered 500 grams of henna from http://www.mehendi.com - I hoped that the earlier I ordered it, the more likely I would be to get it on Saturday - but I see my samples came from Ohio, so there really wasn't that big of a time difference.

So.

Now I wait. I RRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEAAAAAAALLLYYYYYYYYYYYYYY want to be able to dye my hair THIS weekend, but I'm preparing myself for not getting the henna until Monday, which means I wouldn't be able to dye my hair until NEXT weekend. Arrghh!! Arggghhh!! Doubledamn it all!!!

So - this is the start of my hennaheadedness. *twitchs* Now I must wait to get henna. But - a sammich is calling my name, so I will end this VERYYYY long entry.