The Dash Between

So!

I'm plotting out the plan for Henna #4. I'm using NO conditioner, pre-made henna paste (currently defrosting in the fridge), honey, and pectin......and I'm DEBATING using a tea bag. Wait! Wait! See - in order for pectin to gel, the water has to be a LITTLE acidic. Soooooo - I was thinking that tea would make the water just a little acidic, right? Or.... I guess I could put a little henna in the water - like proofing a sourdough. *sigh* Fine, Fine, I'll do that (in the spirit of only changing one thing at a time and all - I AM trying to figure out a way to go WO - which mean NO stripping of the hair with excess acid!)
*laughs* And in the same breath - I plan on adding some Paprika to it. See - my thought process is that changing the ACIDITY of the mixture, would only have a results of the Ph of my hair, but not the color. Where as adding some PARIKA to my hair, will only change the color, not the Ph. *nods* Yeah.... That's what I'm saying is.

So!

I went and checked out the mixes page, to see if I could figure out how much pectin and additional liquid I need. Much to my suprise, the only 'recipes' she had on there, were ones where you were starting from powder. Um, I'm starting from premixed.
She says use about 100g of henna, about 17oz of water, and about 25g of pectin.
Each of my henna bags is roughly 50g of henna - so, a total of roughly 8 oz of water and 13g of pectin. Now - she puts half the water in the henna, and half in the pectin - so, that's 4oz of water (half a cup) and 13g of pection. Each of my boxes of pectin is 49 grams - so roughly a 1/4 box of pectin.

Sheesh. And yes, I was thinking that out as I typed it. Very convienent note pad, this is. Besides, otherwise, I would NEVER remember what made me come up with the following recipe.

I suspect that this first batch will still end up a little runny, as I still want to add in at least a 1/4 cup of honey, plus the same amount of parika - hoepfully, that will bind up [i]some[/i] of the water.

So - final recipe is!

1 baggie henna (50g)
1/4 box of pectin (13g/ ?? cup)
1/2 cup of water
1/4 cup of honey
1/4 cup of parika


Mix together henna, honey, and parika. Let sit in fridge while preparing pectin.
Bring liquid to a boil and whisk the powdered pectin and a dab of henna into the liquid when it's boiling. Let boil for one full minute. Wait a few seconds to let it cool off some. Mix into the henna stuff, stir, let sit for a couple of minutes in the freezer (to delay the demise, and help the pectin gel faster). Pour into my brand new applicator bottle, and apply!

Now, if this works the way I want it to, I will end up with a henna mix that
1) Goes in easily
2) is not drippy
3) rinses out easily
4) has glorious shine
5) is intensely red
AND
6) doesn't require me to deep condition my hair afterwards.

This - would be the holy grail of hennas.


Heh. This is going to be FUN.
*went to stir and mix stuff at 6:10pm**returns at 6:19*

Shucks, the henna isn't fully defrosted. I jsut came up with smart henna trick #1245 though - dump the henna into the mixing container FROZEN - that way, it moves as a single mass. Also - I just put some water inside the bag the henna was frozen in, and swished it around - that's going to be my pectin water.I brought the henna out with me in it's container, and I'm currently shaking it into a slush. I measured out the pectin, and 1/4 box is about a tablespoon and a 1/4 teaspoon.

Henna's turned into a muddy slushy - I'm off to mix!

*leaves at 6:26*
*returns at 6:39*

Okay - this is going to be GORGEOUS!
Firstly, I mixed the parika with the henna - it turned this lucious brownish red color, and was a thick mud - like a face mask (ooh - that reminds me!). THen I added 2 tablespoons of honey (which, if I remember right, is 1/8 a cup) because 14/ cup of honey just LOOKED like way to much. We shall see. The mixture turned a glossy, glowing, slightly golden reddish brown color - just GORGEOUS! It didn't even LOOK like henna anymore - it looked like - chocolate cake batter - the really GOOD kind - BEFORE you add the last of the flour.
I stuck that back in the fridge (I want all the dye, ALLL of it!), and boiled 1/2 cup of the henna water, plus a wee bit more to boil off, into a pot. Once it boiled, I adding a tablespoon and a smidge of pectin, and beat it til it boiled like syrup. Took it off the heat, poured into a palstic cotainer, and stuck it in the freezer to cool. I cleaned up, rinsed out all my stuff, and put away the honey and stuff, and then pulled the green goo out of the freezer. IT hadn't gelled that much, but it WAS still steaming. I mixed it into the henna, and then stuck the whole thing in the freezer.
The interesting bit, is that it doesn't LOOK like a lot. But, at the same time, I know that when I dyed my hair with 'commercial' dye, I barely used 8oz - and this is at LEAST 12oz - so, I know it's enough PRODUCT - I'm just worried. I found a 16 oz applicator bottle at Sally's today, so that's going to be the recipient of the final product.
I want to leave it in the freezer for about 20 minutes, it's been ten mintues now, so let me go check.








Hmmm - it's definitely thickenin up, looks a little 'gooey' around the edges, but still pretty liquid in the middle. Definitely needs another ten minutes.
While that is finishing steeping, I'm going to get my hair damp, and take some color pictures!

*leaves at 6:50**returns at 7:30*

Well - all done. I SERIOUSLY underestimated the amount - I ended up with MAYBE 6 oz of henna mix. It's enough for my hair, but just barely - I forgot about ANOTHER benefit of using conditioner - it stretches the henna. I'm not sure what my hair thinks of yogurt - I've never really been on for protien treatments - but I suppose I would try that. Or, I could switch to a cheaper henna dealer, and just stick with the henna and not worry about stretching it. Or, I could use more water to mkae a bigger quantity, and add more pectin, and make the whole thing thicker - I wonder if pectin freezes well?

*sigh* decisions, decisions.

Anyhow - the texture was LOVELY. A little runnier than regular hair color, but still thick enough (in my ultra kiny hair) to stick - I got a few drips (while it was sitting on top of my hair) but not a single drippie once I worked it into my hair.
The color is gorgeous too - still that rich, brownish red. It dyed my gloves a VIBRANT golden orangey red - much brighter than usual. Not sure if that is from the parika, or if it's from the dye release process having gotten a 'boost' from the hot water.

I'm midly worried about my hair drying out this time - which would REALL suck - but I'm hoping that the pectin will keep it 'gooey' enough to be manageable. I figure, if you can wash off jam, you can wash off this stuff, right? *wriggles hair worriedly*

If worst comes to worst, I'll just have to use conditioner to get it all out, and I'll have to try again next week - with two bags of henna instead of one.

G'night.

*********************************************************

G'morning (just barely, as it's 11:45)

Did some cleaning, some loafing around, then got up to wash out my hair. The henna washed out well, the parika - well, I still have gritty bits, but all in all, not too bad.
Conditioning wise? Well - let's just say I'm sitting here now with my usual honey/conditioner in my hair. As I rinsed it out, I could tell that it was - softer, but - there was NO slip, and the ends of my hairs felt like straw. *sigh* I don't know (once AGAIN) how much of that is the henna, and how much of it is the damaged ends, but - either way, I think that I'm not going to be able to go WO - a sista NEEDS her conditioner. Ah well, at least it's settled.

I can't tell about the color - it looks - browner, more so than redder, which I found interesting. I also saw a little orange come out as I rinsed, which was a first - so I'm thinking that the pectin may have slowed the dye release. Was it worth it? Eh.
Don't know - at this point, it definitely helped me rinse it out easier - but no better than conditioner. The texture wasn't that much of a biggie either - if I use the applicator bottle (which, I'm going to have to buy another, because I did cut too much off the tip), even the texture of henna with conditioner would be fine. The condition of my hair is about what I would expect since I didn't use conditioner.

I took some pictures before I did the henna, and updated my fotki....it's amazing how HARD it is to capture the right color. So, we shall see.