Saturday, September 26, 2009

Henna/Indigo...for Jet Black Hair


Lord help me! First of all henna takes long enough but doing henna then applying indigo if you want jet black hair is a pain in the ass. If you are going to do a henna/indigo treatment, be prepared to devote you whole day to messing with your head and try to get an early start!
So I applied the henna to my hair and let is stay on for 4 hours. I then washed the henna out and whipped up a batch of indigo. (Note: Indigo can NOT be made ahead of time nor can the excess be saved/frozen, as it will go bad after 1 hour.) I put the indigo on and let it stay in my hair for about 2 hours. It's my understanding that indigo really doesn't need to be left in your hair for more than 2 hours since it stops "processing" after about an hour...I just figured I would cover my bases and leave it in for 2 hours.
I will say that the indigo doesn't apply as easy as the henna...it has a tendency to kind of crumble, so you need to take your time applying it for even coverage. I think next time I will add more water to it...perhaps it needed a more yogurt like consistency...my batch was mashed potato consistency.
As for the results...they were GREAT! In the end it was well worth the time, energy and effort! The few gray hairs that I have are no more and are now jet black. Since natural hair tends not to "shine" using the indigo seemed to give it a little boost. I will definitely be doing the henna/indigo combination from now on. And as always the conditioning properties of henna are fantastic! I buy my henna and indigo from Mehandi

1 comment:

Milk and Honey Mommy said...

Thanks for your color tips. I was told that coloring natural hair would be difficult because it doesn't hold color as well. When my hair grows out a bit, I am going to try your method and see how it works for me. Maybe you could also do an update as to how long the color held in your hair after application.