Henna

I've always had a thing for black hair. Jet black hair. It gives the hair a natural healthy shine.

Dye just isn't an option. I refused to do it when my hair was relaxed, not about to try it on my natural hair, so, I thought I'd try Henna...

Now initially when I heard people talk about Henna I automatically thought of the body art (which actually inst that far off; if your hair is relaxed and you choose to use Henna, that's the type that is normally recommended). I didn't know much more than that, so I went on to youtube and tried to do a little research online.

Now Henna in it's purest form, from what I understand, is meant to dye the hair red. Any other colour has been treated, or manipulated in some way. I was pretty set on using black. So I tried to research specific chemicals or ingredients that I should avoid. Then I went on the hunt for "black Henna". I had also watched videos demonstrating how henna could also be used as a conditioning treatment for the hair. Directions online said pretty much the same thing; mix the Henna with a conditioner, apply to the hair, and then wash it out. I went on to the moptop maven's blog [moptopmaven.blogspot.com/2010/04/henna-gloss-tutorial.html] just to watch a demo video once again, and below her video she had listed some of the benefits of using Henna:

• Help stop/curb breakage
• Makes hair stronger
• Thickens strands
• Temporarily loosens curl patterns for some [enhances curl patterns in others]
• Reduces dandruff
• Imparts shine, and makes hair incredibly silky

I found black Henna at my local black hair store. It was 99p for a box containing 10 60g sachets.

The brand: Royal Black Henna: A product of Topline Exim Inc.

Description: Royal Henna is a special henna (henna is a leaf of age old Indian plant) based formulation that darkens your hair naturally- used as a hair dye.

The directions said that all of the powder (dark green in colour) should be poured into a bowl, 50ml of water should be added and mixed into a paste. The directions also stated that a spoon of shampoo would help the colour release and make rinsing easier. I added a spoon of v05 shampoo, a cup of V05 moisturising conditioner, and reduced the water measurement slightly, mixed it into a paste, left it for 15mins to allow the colour to release, and applied the henna to my hair. Once I had covered my whole head, I push my hair out of my face and allowed it to sit until dry (as directed on the packet).

NB: I followed the instructions on the product I bought. The process will probably differ slightly with other products.

When the henna had dried, I washed it out once again using v05 shampoo and conditioner. I didn't deep condition my hair afterwards which was a gamble and I'm very lucky my hair didn't end up dry and brittle.

After rinsing out what I thought was all of the henna, I applied Hawaiin Silky 14-in-1 moisturiser to my hair, and twisted it...

The results were GREAT!!! I love my black hair, the curls seems more defined and a lot shinier. I have a lot less frizz and my hair feels really soft. Unfortunately, I didn't wash all of the henna out properly and so the next day I had to wash it out, and twist it again, which was a bit annoying, as I was getting black powder crumbling and staining my clothes and pillow. After I washed it out completely I once again moisturised my hair. Here's the result:

I was happy with the results, apart from the second wash the process wasn't too stressful, although it was very messy. If you're going to use henna be sure to wear an old t-shirt you don't mind staining and put plenty of paper down on the floor. Use a good moisturising shampoo to wash it out, and make sure you also deep condition your hair afterwards!

That's all folks

xxx