Hi Gorgeous,
On last Friday, I finally hennaed my hair after it seemed like ages. In reality is was only a month or so. Henna is another type of ayurvedic herb. Henna, also known as Lawsonia inermis, which comes from a plant is a green powder that have a red-orange dye molecule. It stains the hair red-orange but it is a translucent stain that combines with your natural hair color. Body art quality henna , which I use, has a much higher dye content than the henna sold for hair. I personally prefer Yemen henna as it is touted as having the highest concentration of natural dye in it. Aside from the fact that henna is a natural colorant, it's also an awesome conditioner. For more information on the henna dying process, click here.
So let me get back to what I did.
I pre-pooed overnight with that fabulous Hairveda Vatika Frosting. I'm so gonna have to dedicate a post to "the Frosting". Loves this stuff. Anyhoo, I cleaned my hair with some of a sample of Mixed Chicks Shampoo that I had. It was a little harsh on my hair so I only used a drop w/a lot of water on each quadrant of hair. Note: I do wash/condition my hair using the quadrant sectioning method. It's simply dividing your hair into the four quadrants on your head. Front right, back right, back left and front left. It makes handling my hair so much easier.
After the cleaning, I applied the henna to my hair. CurlyNikki has a great and simple pictorial on henna. I used a mix of Chamomile tea and Green tea to make mine w/a lot of honey. Similiar to how a relaxer is applied to the hair, my application started from the back and moved to the front. I basically smooshed/stroked it into sections of hair from the root to the ends. After all sections were done, I put a plastic cap on to cover my hair. Actually, I used two caps cause it definitely can be messy. Then I used my heatcap for about an hour and a half. After that, I was out and about with chores and errands. What?! But of course, I broke out the tam to cover up all that. Lol. Btw, I've generally purchased my henna from Mehandi.com or Mehndiskinart.com. If I'm in a pinch then I'll hit up the local Indian grocery or an Indian salon.
After about 5 hours or so, I washed the henna out. First, I literally dunked my head into a water-filled bucket. Yes, I did. Then I continued washing the rest out with my fave henna rinse-out condish, V05 Moisture Milks. I may have used close to a full bottle to get all of the henna which is okay because it's very cheap. They typically run around a dollar a bottle. After all the henna was rinsed out, I did a 30 minute deep steam treatment with Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Moisturizing condish topped with Laquita's Bobeam Oil that she sent me to try. Woo Hoo!!
The next step was to cool rinse the conditioner out. I finished with a final cool tea rinse. Another something I hadn't done in ages. My tea du jour consisted of equal parts of rosemary leaf, horsetail, burdock root, chamomile, lavender and half of Tablespoon of ACV. You can check out the goodness of ACV or Apple Cider Vinegar at Zainab1's blog Au Naturale. Zainab1 has a really straight-forward informative blog. You should check it out. You can also find some info on ACV over at another fav blog of mine, Mane and Chic. Oh, back to my hair tea. I used about 20 oz of distilled water with maybe a T of each herb. A very small amount of ACV and 5 drops each of lavender essential oil & lemongrass essential oil.
My leave-in of choice was MOP leave-in conditioner. I then twisted my hair with Jane Carter Solutions Twist and Lock while sealing my ends with her Nourish and Shine. I know it sounds like a lot but keep in mind that I still enjoy playing with my hair. And yes, it was a hair day. I guess I did a hair spa day, like Fleurtzy over at Texture Playground.
I'm quite pleased with how my hair feels and looks. As I stated in a previous post, my shed hairs are down to small numbers and I haven't had much of an issue, if any, with tangles. I'm still contemplating getting my hair blown straight before spring just for a check-up trim. Not sure on that one yet.
Any of you had a "hair day" lately? Do share...
Post Title → BACK TO HENNA
