Tips for Colouring with Henna

It has been some time since I first wrote about henna hair colouring. I have learned much since then, so here are some handy tips:

1. Purchasing. I bought my Light Mountain Colour the Gray! online at Swanson Vitamins. $6.57/box, plus shipping, which made it work out to much less than the $15 per box I was paying at my local Health Store at the mall. I bought six boxes at once, plus some organic coconut oil, which was also priced better than local stores. Now, this is where I get guilty about shopping online. Why is it that I can buy from the UK and the US, have it shipped by some gasoline spewing transport vehicle through the sky or on the roads, and yet it costs less than my local store in Canada? Even Canadian products.

2. Location. Best place to slop this stuff into your hair is the kitchen sink, over your garburetor (Canadian speak for garbage grinder in the drain). This way, it won't plug up your jacuzzi bathtub (my previously suggested colouring location) with leafy bits and hairs, and won't stain the tub or your legs. When you need to rinse you can fill the whole sink with warm water and plunge away! Uses much less water than filling the bathtub for repeated rinses.

3. Hand protection. Use rubber/synthetic latex gloves instead of the included plastic bag type gloves. Of course you all own a box of disposable gloves that you have left over from the H1N1 virus scare, right? The latex gloves simply fit better.



4. Dispensing the henna. To make it easier to put the henna or indigo slop in your hair, pour it from the bowl into a plastic bag, the sort that you get to bag your vegetables at the supermarket. Tie up the top and cut the corner with scissors, treating it was if it was an icing bag. Start at the crown of your head, slop the strands thoroughly before taking up more hair to slop and add to the main bunch of coated hair.

5. Timing. If you have an important event, don't dye the day of the event. Your hair will be smelly until you do your first post-dye wash. You should wait as long as you can, which means around two days before you have your first post-dye wash.

6. Pillow protection. Sleep on a dark coloured towel that you don't mind getting stained, until you have done your first post-dye wash.

I hope this helps you in your slop fest. Previously I used "dark brown" on my dark brown/red hair, but I am now shortening the indigo stage as I feel that the dye has caused my hair to be darker than it was naturally. The indigo does not wash out as readily as the henna, so I want to avoid overall darkening of my hair.

Yes, it's a load of trouble, but the results are worth it. The white hairs become noticeable again after about 2 months.