Considering Henna?

 I think I have wanted red hair since I was 5. I figured twenty years was a long enough time to consider it. After looking around, I used henna to go ginger, and I don't regret it one little bit. However, there are a few things to consider first.

Pro #1: When the sun hits your hair, you look like a radiant fox goddess

I get comments about my hair all the time. And it's not because I do anything with it that I didn't before. Henna makes my hair shiny, thick, and it glows vaguely in bright light. I'm not even kidding.

Pro #2: Henna Gives you True Ginger Hair

Because Henna stains the keratin outside of the hair shaft, it keeps all the variations in color that occur naturally on your head. So unlike a typical box dye, you keep all the light and dark interplay that makes your hair look multi-dimensional and natural. (Which also means, if you have dark hair you're never getting to copper with henna alone).

I also feel the color pay-off of Henna is a lot closer to natural ginger hair than I could find in salon-dyes which tend to be on the bluer burgundy-Rihanna spectrum. (At least in the first applications. Henna does build up on itself which I'll get to later).   I can't tell you how many times people have told me "I wish I was born with red hair"--even ladies with dyed red hair. And people are always assuming my friend's ginger daughter is mine. I love that I can pass off as natural redhead with henna.

Pro #3/ Con #1: Doesn't fade

I have no idea how to take pictures of myself

Having had salon red highlights, I know that on my head the shelf-life of box red is about two weeks.
Three weeks if I can go longer between washes before the red loses it's luster.

If you prepare your Henna with an acidic liquid--it is super bright for the first three days post application, and then "oxidizes" out to a nice, rich auburn that then does not fade come high-water or frequent washes. But... you will also never be rid of it.

Since I like the nice glossy, thick feeling henna gives my hair, I had been doing mostly full-head applications instead of just the roots, but after four full-head applications I knew I had overdone it and the color was getting a bit too wine-y for my tastes. So I did a bleach-shampoo (WARNING*) which knocked out the offending purple tones. But, really made no impact on the depth of color, just it's shade. My roots where California blonde, but the henna was essentially untouched by the bleach. (Unfortuantely I don't have pictures of this event, because I wasn't even thinking about writing about it. Sorry)

So I know that going back to my natural hair color is going to be an awkward root-stripe adventure. But I guess it gives me an excuse to cut my hair into that pixie-cut. Which is another thing I've wanted to do to my hair for the last decade, but lacked adequate courage.

Because who wouldn't want hair
 like WhippyCakes

Pro#4/ Con #2: I Get To Take Relaxing Soaks in the Bath

The process of putting Henna on your hair is pretty messy. You are after all spreading a pound of high-dye-content mud all through your hair. But sitting around with saran wrap on your head while you watch a movie isn't so bad. Washing it out though takes a little work, and is best done "mermaid" style. Which means I've taken 6 baths in five months, which is 6 more baths than I have taken in the previous 15 years.

I feel so awkward.

But I only actually sit inside the second tub-full of water. Because the first tub-full looks like flood water within twenty seconds,opaque with silt and dye. Then I drain that and fill a new tub. The water is still not colorless, but at least it's clear orange, rather than straight up mud. No, it doesn't stain my skin. And it does make my feet soft but I don't know that that's due to the henna...since seriously, I have never taken a regular bath, that I remember anyways.

No matter how long you rinse your hair that first day the water will never run completely clear and you'll probably stain your towel. Just accept that.

Con #3: Makes your Roots look Grey

By nature I have perfectly lovely light ashy brown hair. But  my natural color looks pretty lifeless next to the glowiness of the henna. I can still get away with 6 weeks of growth before I touch-up though.

Roots look bad regardless of what hair color you use.  However, paired with Con #1, I'm not looking forward to the growing out process. Which, honestly, I'll probably start when I finish my stash of henna powder in my freezer. Not because I don't love the red, but I don't want to feel trapped dyeing my hair.

First I did ombre, then I did henna hoping to get ombre red. But that didn't pan out.
 I don't know what's up with the weird camera angles. My apologies

Some tips if you decide to make the henna plunge:

*WARNING: Never put bleach on hair that has been dyed with anything that you aren't totally sure was 100% henna. Indigo turns green with bleach. And often "henna hair dyes" sold at hippie grocery stores and the like are blended with metallic salts that will *burn* your hair if you mix them with bleach.

• I dyed my hair with Body Art Quality (BAQ) Henna. I got mine at Mehandi.com  and used the "Rajasthani Monsoon" vintage of 100% ground henna. Mixed only with hot water and crushed vitamin C. 
• 200 g of henna gets me a more than adequate full-head coverage on my super straight, medium thick, lower-back length hair 
• Put henna in using the "turban method" it is definitely the easiest way to get even coverage. But skip the color brush and just use your gloved hands
• Put lotion on your hands (under the *gloves*), knees, elbows, and feet before you start since the skin there absorbs the dye faster than everywhere else. That way you don't have to worry about cleaning up the inevitable splatter until you're all finished putting the henna in your hair. 
• I put some vaseline all around my ears too, just because they're really difficult to clean off with the saran wrap helmet if you don't slick up the skin first.  
• Everyone says "yogurt" consistency for your finished henna, but having used everything between "greek" "yoplait" and "kefir"  in my hair with mixed results. I think it's much clearer to say like a  "pureed soup, with a little flour to thicken it" type consistency. If that meant nothing to you, just go with yogurt. 
• Lemon-juice makes my hair static-y and angry. And vinegar smells like an abomination of pickled grass clippings. I mix my henna with hot water and 3 crushed up vitamin C pills per 100g and I've had no problem with fading.  
• I let the dye release for 6-ish hours before I put the henna in. And I leave the henna in my hair for only 2-3 hours, because like I said I don't like the ruby-color, and frankly, the henna is way too heavy to keep it piled on my head for longer than that .

Bottom-line: It's just hair. Do it. Live the dream.