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Is Henna Really a Safe Alternative in Coloring your Natural Hair?

By Jenell — June 18, 2012
Is Henna Really a Safe Alternative in Coloring your Natural Hair?

By Kiki of Rockin’ it Napptural

Real and pure body art quality henna is safe for almost anyone to use unless you are under the age of 5, have G6PD or you are allergic to fava beans or aspirin. Henna is a plant based alternative to boosting your hair’s natural color and has been used to dye women’s hair for centuries. Normal henna rarely causes allergic contact dermatitis, but darker “henna” containing an added chemical also found in hair dye called p-phenylenediamine, or PPD, can instigate severe skin problems and additional allergies.

So, What exactly is Henna?

True Henna is basically another name for the Lawsonia Inermis plant grown in areas such as Pakistan, India and UAE to name a few. The leaves of the plant are dried, ground into a powder form, then reconstituted to form a paste for application.

Henna Hair DyeWhat do you mean by “true Henna?”

True Henna comes in one color, and one color only and that is a a vivid orange-red. Compound hennas are often sold as “Golden brown”, “Copper”, “Auburn”, “Mahogany”, “Black” and so on – a sure sign that they are not in fact true henna. This does not mean it will produce identical results on different heads of hair, however; henna binds to the keratin of the hair and combines its colour with the existing hue. As a result, when using henna on gray hairs, the henna is likely to end up turning the hair a bright orange to medium reddish color. I definitely recommend strand testing before applying henna to your entire head. Henna is not recommended if you are looking to “lighten” your hair, as it will only darken or boost your natural hair color.

mixed henna for hairHow long will my color boost last with Henna?

True henna is all natural and many people think that because it is derived from plants that the effects are short-lasting. This is not true. Henna is virtually impossible to strip from hair and is a PERMANENT color alternative. Some success may be obtained by repeated oil treatments, honey treatments and/or dyeing or bleaching over the henna, but to fully rid one’s hair of the colour is next to impossible. Many people find themselves in the position of having to grow their henna out, or cut it off, in order to get rid of it.

Have any of you ladies tried coloring your hair with Henna?

Were the results what you were expecting?

 

References: Source¹ Source² Source³

 


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About Author

Jenell Stewart, formally known as BlakIzBeautyful is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Kinky Curly Coily Me. Jenell has a MS in special education and dedicates her time to educating and uplifting women with kinky, curly, coily hair. She big chopped on March 26, 2010 and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.

View all Jenell posts.
  • CHIDIVA

    I henna and Indigo my hair and I love it.But I have a question.When buying”herbal henna”,sometimes it’s labeled”Dark Brown”,is there a chance that there might be PD in it? I ask because I recently bought a huge bag of henna that didn’t have the ingredients on it like some other herbal hennas do and I’m leery about using it and I can’t find any info on the web about it’s true ingredients.

    • CHIDIVA

      **PPD*

  • Alicia Wilson

    I hennaed my hair a couple of weeks ago and loved the results!! I used a really strong green tea in place of plain water to reduce the redness, I also added Giovanni conditioner to the Henna. It was not too runny as I was careful to add a little tea at a time and also account for the conditioner as well. It did wonders on my gray hair. How often can I henna?? I’m already seeing new growth where my gray hair is.

    • James

      im not sure if using green tea instead of water would reduce the redness. You are supposed to use acidic liquid like lemons and green tea to activate the coloring in the henna. if you had just used water i think it would have had less redness than using the green tea. This has been my experience w/ henna, but your experience may have been different. 

    • CHIDIVA

      You can henna as often as you want,just make sure you dc afterwards.To reduce the redness add a little amla to your henna mix,but remember you don’t have to add an acidic because amla has enough acid.You can also try adding brewed black coffee,cocoa powder or hibiscus to tone down the red.If your hair is dark like mine you can use indigo over your henna to cover your greys.

      • LILBIT

        Hello I really want to try henna.. My hair is black but I have alot of grey in the front. I don’t want them to end up red. What kind of henna should I try and where can I order the henna, amla, and indigo?

        • CHIDIVA

          Indigo covers my greays nicely,But I also love the toned down golden tint I get from herbal henna mixed with amla.I order my hennas,amla and indigo from 
          http://lakshmiscupboard.blogspot.com/.Or if you have an Indian Grocer near you they usually carry these items plus others powders and oils that are great for healthier hair.Once you try Henna you will love it!!!

  • Natural Beauty

    I use henna regularly. My gray hairs are red.  I mix it with green tea and honey. The rest of my hair is basically the same.
    celebrateyournaturalbeauty.blogspot.com

    • Alicia Wilson

       Same here, Natural Beauty, my gray hair is red too and the rest looks the same. Love it!!

  • http://nesheaholic.com/ LaNeshe

    I LOVE henna. I just wrote a post about my process the other day: 
    http://www.nesheaholic.com/2012/06/nesheaholic-henna-for-hair-tips.html

  • http://www.tamarasouth.com/ Tamara South

    I love henna I dyed my hair reddish color then I did black it made my hair really soft and loosened the curl pattern.

  • http://twitter.com/Harley153 Harlandria Moses

    I used henna when i was deployed in the desert and it was amazing. the sun showed its true color and my hair felt amazing afterwards

  • Luvnmesume

    I like using Henna as my coloring alternative. I have used brown and burgundy. Both times my hair came out still black :-0 but I could see some color in the sunlight. I do leave it in my hair for about 8 to 10 hours. The only thing I dont like is that it is sooooo messy…

  • Diva Hill

    I love to henna my hair. I only wish it wasn’t so time consuming

  • Tracey S.

    Great article!
    Thank you for the clarification of Henna. I was one of those folks who thought Henna was temporary. And yes, I didn’t know true henna came in one true color.
    Xoxo

  • http://www.facebook.com/ebony.jovetta Ebony Jovetta J

    I love using henna so far. I don’t think it is something I would ever want to strip from my hair. So the fact that it is permanent is fine with me. I did my first henna about 2 months ago and plan to do another application along with Indigo in about a week.
    Here is the results of my henna treatment and I have been even more in love with my hair since doing it.

    • http://www.facebook.com/mrsgunby Sandras Daughter

      Very pretty Ebony – was your hair previously color treated?

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=680477914 Leslie S Dunn

    I love it. I won’t use anything else. I colors my grey and my hair feels fabulous!

  • Kerylmac

    I have been a happy henna head for almost two years now. This year, beginning in the spring, I wanted to go darker so started adding indigo, and am loving the result. It’s a warm brown with auburn highlights. I wouldn’t use anything else at this point. I have a lot of gray, not silver, not white, just a muddy gray and I wasn’t feeling it. From the first time I used henna I was hooked on the result. It really covers the gray and just adds a great ‘lift’ to my hair. It is time consuming to do, every six weeks I take the day and set it apart, devote the day to doing my hair but it is more than worth the price of admission. I deep condition after it’s all done. I’m a wash and go girl, pretty much 95% of the time. It’s all working for me at the moment.

  • MonicaT

    I’m a henna girl and I love it! I use hisbiscus tea to boost the red tones. The conditioning properties I get from doing a henna treatment are great! Leaves my hair soft, full and shinny!

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