Grab a bowl and a wooden spoon and add your henna first before adding the liquid. You want to add your liquid a little at a time so that you have more of a thick paste consistency than a watery mix.
The paste will make your mix more pliable when you are ready to apply it to your hair. We aren’t ready to add it to our hair yet, we have to allow the henna mix to sit in a cool dark place overnight. Leaving henna* for a while after mixing it allows maximum ‘dye release’. This is when the active dye molecule in henna*, lawsone, is liberated from the fiber and is more readily available to bond to your hair.
Step Three – The application
Listen ladies, don’t play hero with this thing, make sure your bathroom floor is covered with newspaper or old towels, wear your old tie dye shirt from seventh grade and get some good old gloves to protect your nails and hands from stains. You might think you can be careful until the first glob falls and then as you lean over to clean that up, glob two and three fall and before you know it its stains everywhere and you are in the middle of a weird looking crime scene.
If you are just adding henna to a portion of your hair then it makes sense to separate that section and cover the rest of your hair so that you do not accidentally add the dye to areas that do not need it. If you are doing your whole head, you should still section your hair into workable sections to make application easy and to ensure that you do not miss any areas.
You can use a relaxer brush to apply the henna or just get right in there with your hands coating your hair with the paste pining up sections as you go along. Once you have completed all section cover your hair with a plastic bag or wrap it with saran wrap, then wrap a towel around your head and wait for at least 3 hours. The more you henna the easier it will be for you to figure out how long you need to leave it on for. Some women can last as long as 6 hours, which is fine as well, all we are saying is, if you are gonna do all that work, make sure you keep it on long enough to reap the benefits.
Wendy Lines says
For the best Henna & advice on application head to your Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics store. We are Henna experts.
dee says
What are some uber–moisturizing condish I can use? Last time I hennaed my hair it was so dry! I used Shea Moisture mask but my hair was still dry. Or is there a condish I can mix up myself? i like the benefits of henna but my hair can not handle the dryness.
Chanda says
I’m a newbie to Henna but I love it! I’ve hennaed about five times already and I believe that henna has helped my hair grow or retain length. I haven’t seen the reddish tint but I found out that The Amla Oil I use may cancel out the reddish tint from the henna. I want the reddish tint so I will stop using Amla as a prepoo and use coconut oil. One day my husband thought I left our toddler alone in the bathroom. How a henna blob ended up behind the toilet is a mystery to me! So ladies put down that newspaper!
Diana says
I’ve used henna three times. I love the result, black, black hair. I am confused about henna gloss. Because I won’t be using
Indigo, will my hair turn red? Or should I use indigo again?
Kelly White says
I wanna try this
Evelyn Green says
I do it all the time
Lucie Jorite says
Often yes. Its cultural for us
HaBy Bogamaroy says
Omg am retouching mine right now. N to c that others wants to try I will say go for it
HaBy Bogamaroy says
Make sure you guys get the pure one n I get great result when I mix it with squeeze lemon juice
Dequindre Robinson says
What exactly does it do? I have 4c hair
Tenisha Little says
I love henna!!
BlueCornMoon says
I’ve been using henna & indigo to cover my gray & keep my hair its natural jet black since 2010. I order my henna & indigo from mehandi.com or hennaforhair.com They have a forum & will answer all questions & you can also call their phone number & leave a question & they’ll call you back with an answer. They have EXCELLENT body art quality henna & indigo.