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Red Mixes

Henna Mixes

Saiyge's Story

• severe PPD allergy
• henna on top of chemical hair color



Saiyge's hennaed hair in the sun and the shade
Hallo!
I just took these pictures this morning after doing the Henna yesterday.
I had been dying my hair blue black for years before one heck of a PPD allergy made itself known. Swelling scalp, blisters, Second to third degree burns, sores, two weeks or more of healing... and in the end? The color didn’t stay in my hair, it just didn’t take. All of that misery and the color didn’t even stay!
Needless to say, I never wanted to go through that again, ever.
My hair is usually a pretty dark brown, and a trademark of mine has been these blonde streaks at the temples, and behind the ears. I have always loved having dark hair, but thought I could never get it that inky black that I love, seeing as how the misery afterwards just wasn’t worth it. Lo and behold, I started looking into henna, and when I found out about indigo, I could have done a jig, I was so excited!
I recently cut off over half of my hair, which I now regret every single day, and am working hard to get it grown back, but healthier this time around!
The night before, … I took out my henna powder … mixing until smooth and soupy.
I am not entirely sure of how much powder I actually used, as I had sifted the powder and put it in a jar. I'd say it was at least a cup or more. Covered the mix, and left it on the counter overnight to (dye) release.
Here is a journal entry from the next morning: The dye has released, the splatters look like olive green flames tinged in fiery maroon, licking up the sides of the bowl. Its sitting there, on my counter with the awkwardness of a pregnancy test.
I somehow managed to avoid the henna for a few hours. I wasn't so excited now, I was terrified. There was all of the henna powder I had left, mixed up in some strange concoction! What was I thinking? Was I insane? Did I not remember the terrible sun-in incident I suffered through when I was a kid, that LED me to start dying my hair black in the first place? I was only glad that I had the foresight to mix up some paste, load up some cones and throw it in the freezer before embarking on this hairbrained idea.... (hair... get it? ah.. bleh. It was bad, I know. I can hear the groaning from here.)
Eventually... I managed to get the courage up, because dangit, I wasn't wasting all that henna!
Applied, smooshed, piled up, covered in saran wrap, then turbaned in a towel. Sat around and stewed for four hours. [ then I rinsed] … Allowed water to rush through again, put normal amount of conditioner in, brushed it through, rinsed, shampooed, followed by another small amount of conditioner.
Rinse, rinse, rinse.
Now, first, it seems Vaseline is a godsend when you don't want henna'd ears. But it wont work on streaks you want to stay unhenna'd.
The yay!: Hair is HAPPY! No tangles, feels soft and super shiny.
The eeeeeeek?: Its bright orangey if I step into the sunlight.
This might change.
We shall see.
I will take peektures as soon as I find that blasted camera.
I'll be doing indigo as soon as I can manage to get some ordered, and will send in that adventure as well! This is the way it looks in the shade. The henna is not done oxidizing just yet, the henna has turned my streaks into fire! yeow!
Thank you so much, for all of your hard work, studies, and most of all, for sharing your findings with us! You are an endless source of inspiration!!!!
Saiyge

Sarah's Story

• Henna on brown hair



I have medium brown hair, naturally, it's very thick too.I use around 350g of henna for this mix (I did have a bunch left over). I added an 18oz mug of double-bagged raspberry zinger tea that had steeped for about half an hour. After adding that I added grape juice (Welch's frozen 100% grape juice mixed with 3 cans warm water) until it was almost like slightly melty ice cream in consistency … then let the paste sit.I sat in the bathtub and slopped it on until all my hair was covered. I started at the top of my head and sectioned it. I, also, managed to get it all over my neck and shoulders. Wrap yourself with a shower cap and a large, dry towel. Let sit for 4 hours.Wash out as normal, adding lots of conditioner to get the henna loosened. Proceed to shampoo yourself.Sarah




Sarah C's Story

• Henna and indigo on bleached hair

• Balayage




Hi,
To start, my hair was dyed Marilyn Monroe blonde with my brown roots showing. In the picture, which I took right after the second time, you can see it turned out light red in natural lighting, with black at the tips. After a few days it darkened, but only a little, so it pretty much looks like in the picture.
Here is how I did my hair, and the picture is attached:
First I mixed 1 cup of lemon juice with about 75 g of henna. Then I added a mild acidic kitchen mix. I left it to sit overnight, but Vermont being as it is, it was too cold for the dye to release, so I placed it on top of the heater for another six hours until the paper towel the plastic bag was sitting on started to stain.
My boyfriend applied about half of it to my short hair, with surprisingly little mess. I covered it in plastic and put a hair towel around my head. I left it on for around six hours, I was too impatient to leave it on for longer and we wanted to go out to a movie. Unfortunately it didn't quite get as dark as I would have liked it, so the next day I used the rest of the mix that I had put in the freezer and left it on my hair for another six hours. After it was red enough to my liking, I mixed up some indigo with warm water and used it to dye the tips and the back of my hair. I left it on for about an hour.
This was very messy and dripped since I couldn't really wrap it up or it would ruin the design. It also dried out a little and didn't dye as well, (it was green at first), so I also had to do the indigo twice. In retrospect, it probably would have been easier if I had used tin foil to seal the ends up and there wouldn't be blue spots on the bathroom floor! But after a few mistakes, it finally came out how I wanted it.
Sarah C.







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