I am not a beautician, I'm just a lady who's hennaed her hair for 10 years.  I'm telling you what I know here, but I'm NOT a licensed professional.  This page is here because people ask me questions about hennaeing hair all the time.  My hair is nearly to my knees and thick, (though I'm 50-something).  Henna covers all the gray and keeps it in great condition.

This is my hair, in the sunshine.  It is normally brown with 20% gray.  Henna does a helluva job on it,  IMHO ..... read on for more info on how to do YOUR hair!

Every woman's hair will come up a bit different with henna, because henna is a natural vegetable tannin, that stains your hair.  If your hair is blonde, henna may make it "Lucille Ball red" or strawberry blonde.  If your hair is mousy brown, henna may make it rich red or copper penny red.  If your hair is medium brown, your hair may come up the color of an Irish Setter Dog.  If your hair is dark brown, it will be deep chestnutwith red highlights in the sunshine.  If your hair is black, it will be very dark chestnut with red highlights.  If your hair has gone all gray, henna may make it orangey.  If your hair is brown streaked with gray, it may be rich auburn with red threads.

Totally gray hair may  go Bozo the Clown Tangerine if you don't use the best possible henna! To get a beautiful natural looking red or auburn over gray hair, get body art quality henna from one of the sources linked below!  Mix it fresh, and apply it generously, leave it in for 2 hours or so, and reapply every month.  Your hair will gradually become beautifully silky and deep rich natural looking red!   Work the henna clear to your scalp; it will help your hair be stronger and thicker, and it's good for your skin!

Henna doesn't really lighten your hair.  It leaves a translucent stain on your hair.  It's like coloring with a bittersweet crayon on black paper, brown paper, or manilla paper.  Hennotannin molecules lodge into the keratin of your hair ... and those molecules are orange-red.  They catch the light in the sunshine, so your hair will be somewhat reddened and  will have glossy red highlights with henna.

You should NOT put henna on hair that has been straightened, permed,  dyed or bleached before. The results can range from peculiar to catastrophic. Frog Butt Green and offshore sewage outflow black are the two most common color results.  If in doubt, harvest your hair from your hairbrush and try some on that before you try a headful.

If you've dyed your hair recently with syntietic dyes, henna may really screw it up and make it dry and trashy.  How do you know if henna will make your hair totally beautiful or totally sucky?   Try some!  Mix up a little bit of henna and try it on hair you've harvested from your hairbrush.  

Get plain bulk henna powder.  Mix up the henna  with lemon juice, until it's the consistency of yogurt. Some ladies use red wine or vinegar to mix ..... use anything that is acidic and smells good to you. No need to stink up yourself or the house.  Let that sit  overnight. You do that to let the dye release from the leaves.  That's really all that's necessary.

Mix up a 1 pound plastic margarine tub size batch of henna paste for neck length hair. 

Mix up an additional tub for every 12 inches of hair beyond that.

If you are a henna artist, save up your leftover paste in the freezer and add that to the mix.

Put on plastic gloves of some sort, (or you'll have ORANGE hands) and work the thick  henna paste into all of your hair, down to the scalp, out to the ends.  A big spoon might help or it might not.  I just grab whole handfuls and work it in. 

It doesn't seem to matter if your hair is wet or dry.  I do dry.  Some people put the henna paste into a big leftover mustard squeezer to get the henna down on the scalp and everywhere. 

When I've got ALL my hair totally slathered in goop, I sort of sculpt it into a pile like a child playing with mashed potatoes.  I cover it  with a sort  of saran wrap turban to keep it from glopping around the house. Gloops can go flying everywhere, and will stain the cat if it lands on her. 

Henna can stain silk wool, or other fibers if it lands there and goes unnoticed for a long while. 
Don't sit on your best chair and don't wear your favorite clothes.

It doesn't stain bathroom fixtures ... 
or if there seems a little stain, just blast it with bleach and it'll be gone. 
Leave the paste in your hair for an hour or two,  If you can add some warmth, as in wrapping this in a towel and sitting in the sun in the garden, you'll get more color.  This all looks absolutely gross, but if you sent everyone else away, who cares?

Cleaning up the bathroom is going to be a job, as it will look like a heard of geese invaded and pooped over the place, but it all goes away with rinsing.

Some people have a problem with the henna scent that lingers in the hair a few days.  It smells a bit like fresh hay.   It's not near as bad as perm smell.   It goes away.

Some people who have bleached over hennaed hair have ended up with green or blue hair, and been absolutely unable to get rid of the color.  

Others who've dyed over hennaed hair have gotten pitch black or frog butt green hair and their hair texture sorta turns to fried crap.  These reactions are due to the chemical reaction between the metals in COMPOUND HENNA and SYNTHETIC DYES.   Go here to learn more about this!

Why is henna better than commercial hair dye?  Nearly all commercial hair dyes have P-Phenelynediamine. ( or a variant).   That is proven to cause delayed hypersensitivity reactions (blistering, and sores on your scalp) , is a transdermal toxin, is strongly linked with asthma; and the dark brown and black commercial hair dyes may be linked to Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.  Check out these warnings by the government  and industrial safety standards if you want a wake-up call on dying your hair with that commercial stuff.  If you want to cover your gray and love your liver, bladder, or unborn children, try henna. 
It works.  It won't hurt you.
 
 

A very small percentage of people are allergic to pure henna.  If you put a bit of henna paste on your forearm, and leave it ..... if you have intense itching, chills, hives and a tight chest within 3 hours, you are ALLERGIC to henna and don't go near the stuff again. 
If you're fine at 3 hours .... you are fine with henna.  Go for it.

Want to know more about dyeing your hair beautiful, glossy, natural looking midnight black with indigo and henna?

Indigo will dye your hair black safely, leaving your hair lustrous and soft!