In some cases hair colorant manufacturers will market their henna based products as all natural or organic but, in reality they are using metallic salts (lead acetate/copper acetate/silver nitrate), paraphenylediaamine, or p-aminophenol with henna to achieve mahogany, golden brown and black hair colors. There is scientific data, which links the use of metallic salts in hair dye to heavy metal poisoning. It is equally important to note that studies have linked paraphenylediaamine and p-aminophenol (PPD) to severe dermatitis/allergic reactions as well as hair damage and/or hair loss.
If you currently have a henna colorant in your hair and are uncertain about the presence of metallic salts in your “natural” henna product, you can do this simple test. Mix 30 grams or 1 oz of hydrogen peroxide (20%) with 1 cc or 20 drops of ammonia (28%). Add a few strands of your henna treated hair to the mixture and look for the following results:
Now that you fully understand henna in terms of its origin, what it is, how it’s manufactured and where it gets its pigment from, let’s take a look what you should do once you’ve purchased your henna product and are ready to use it. Not to beat a dead horse, but I must state it again, you have to preserve your henna product before you can use it.
Once you are ready to use the henna, you will need to make a paste out of the powder. Everyone talks about using lemon juice and black tea as a good medium for making a paste. I recommend making your medium out of dried sour limes. Dried sour limes have the highest amount of citric acid as compared to lemons, oranges or tea. Thus sour limes are more effective at preserving (also known as acidic hydrolysis) the lawsone. Once you make the paste, make sure the pH is around 4.5 to 5.5. Cover the paste with saran wrap and push out as much air as possible. Remember the whole point of adding citric acid to the lawsone is to preserve it. Also, you don’t want the lawsone to oxidize in the presence of air, so force out as much air as possible and wait 6-12 hrs. The waiting period is important to allow the acid to hydrolyze with the lawsone.
Tip: Use a vacuum storage pouch to store your henna paste. It is more effective than saran wrap and ensures that all the air has been removed. It will reduce the possibility of oxidation.
The whole point of adding citric acid to the henna powder manufacturing process and to the henna paste making process is to preserve lawsone for one specific reaction. You want to have as much lawsone available (1.5%) to react with the keratin protein in your hair.
The actual reaction mechanism is as follows:
The carboxyl group from lawsone, which is negatively charged, reacts with the amide group from keratin’s peptide bond, which is positive. This reaction attaches the lawsone molecule to the keratin protein in your hair, and thus, gives your hair a permanent color. See figure below.
Lawsone Keratin Protein Reaction
C9H502 – C =O + H2N – Keratin 
C9H502? – C = N – Keratin + H20
(Lawsone) (Free NH2 in Keratin) (Schiff’s base)
As with every hair colorant, their are pros and cons to using henna, but I think the positives far outweigh the negatives.
Pros
Cons
Ladies, do you use henna as a dye? What do you add to your henna mix?
Joe Parker is the Co-Founder of CUSH Cosmetics, an all natural hair and skin care company. To learn more about CUSH Cosmetics, please visit the site at www.cushcosmetics.com and to read more about healthy hair and holistic living, please visit the cushblog
37 Responses
I have natural dark brown to black hair will it change my colour to red ? or will it just give it a red tint ?
so if you have black hair, and you use henna, itll change the color of your hair. no matter what?
HENNA
Other Names: Alcanna, Egyptian Privet, Hennae Folium, Henne, Jamaica Mignonette, Lawsonia alba, Lawsonia inermis, Mehndi, Mendee, Mignonette Tree, Reseda, Smooth Lawsonia.
Reference
https://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-854-HENNA.aspx?activeIngredientId=854&activeIngredientName=HENNA
I have henna’d my hair 4 times now. I use Jamila or Reshman henna from my local Indian market. It’s really cheap there and is the same as my Indian friends use in their own hair. I mix it with either boiling water and apple cider vinegar, fresh squeezed lime juice or yoghurt and I also add a tablespoon of turmeric to yellow the henna red a little bit. I have a beautiful reddish brown hue in the sun that didn’t show up really well until after the third time I henna’d. My hair, which is normally very thing and fragile, has thickened a bit and each individual strand is much stronger since using the henna. It is also really soft and healthy looking. After each henna treatment I shampoo and DC with Shea Moisture products and I finish with either a Shea Moisture leave-in or my own misting spray of rose water and coconut oil. I got the rose water from the Indian market too but the coconut oil I bought freshly produced from my travels to the Dominican Republic this summer. I have loose coils that seem to range from 3A to 3C throughout my head.
Henna seems very promising, but does it work on dying specifically–dark hair?
Does mehendi affect the colour of black hair?
I get my henna from henn mendhi.com, which is also hennaforhair.com. I agree that deep conditioning is an absolute must afterward. A lot of people say that is the most important thing to remember when taking the time to henna. Also, if you want to tweek that color of your henna, you can add indigo powder or amla powder. Indigo helps make the henna more audurn or brown, and amla usually helps with towning down the color of henna. I also add a little cassia to my henna to help give a nice gloss to my hair.
Awesome share! Appreciate it!
I henna once a month, and it is the BEST thing I have ever done for my hair. The best place to get SAFE info on the BEST henna, is http://www.hennaforhair.com. The writer did her doctoral thesis on henna, and the site focusing on pesticide and chemical free henna. PLEASE!!!!! Do you research before you trust a label.
Can someone tell me if hair can be professionally colored with say a natural hair color, like say Aveda, after using henna?
I’ve been using henna for a couple of months now. I’ve done about 5-6 treatments and like someone previously mentioned it’s very important to deep condition with a moisturizing conditioner afterwards. A really great site that has tons of information on it is Curly Nikki https://www.curlynikki.com/search/label/Henna.
quick tidbits about henna.. real, pure, natural henna doesn’t come in different shades. So if you are buying one that says “blonde” or “auburn” then it’s not pure henna. There are additives that aren’t natural in that. You will want to be careful to find the proper type. It’s also important to let it sit after being mixed for the dye to release to its full potential. The great thing is you can freeze a batch and use it later. Henna has also been shown to loosen curl patterns. It doesn’t happen to everyone, but I can say that I’ve noticed this effect on parts of my hair. Lastly, Henna has a cumulative effect, so for you to really see significant changes it’s said that a minimum of 3 treatments need to be done. This is not only for color but for the conditioning properties henna has (i.e. thickening and strengthening hairs strands)
Anyways, it’s very important to read up on it before you use it, but it’s been good so far and yes it’s a messy, messy treatment (i’ve lost many a tshirt and towel to the stuff lol) but the color and conditioning effects are great!
More information about Henna.
I also bought Rajasthani Twilight henna from Mehandi. I tried it out on a section of my hair when it arrived. Initially the color was a deep burgundy color, but after it oxidized it left a brown tint in my hair. I have black hair so I wasn’t expecting to see a difference. You can really see it in the sun. I am looking forward to applying it on my whole head this coming may when college is out.
However, I hear some condescending information about henna. One is whether it looses hair texture or not, whether it is permanent color or if it fades. Also if you can put commercial color in after you henna your hair. There are many sites that give out different answers.
No you can not use commercial colour afterwards. Yes it is a permanent colour but it would fade eventually ( can’t say after how many washes) and yes it looses hair texture in some people’s strands!
I use Rajasthani Twilight purchased from Mehandi.com. Found out about this broker from the curly nikki blog.I mix my henna with water steapped with green tea and rosemary. Then mix with honey. Will keep on overnight. and ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS deep condition after!!!!
I use henna at least once a month for the past 5 months. I have a slight reddish tint to my hair due to the henna. I use Jamila henna and it has strengthened my hair greatly and made it really soft.
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I just did a henna treatment this weekend. I used the Karishma brand from my local Indian grocery store. I mix it w/coconut milk, amla oil, honey and little bit of cheapie condish (VO5 Moisture Milk). I’ve tried it w/green tea before, but it ran down my face and neck.
The coconut milk works better for me. My hair is soft, strong and pretty reddish color. I’m hooked:)!!!
I have been using henna for about a year. I buy my stash from a local Indian market. The brand is called Dulhan. I mix my henna with red wine and honey. Surprisingly, the wine is not any more drying than henna with green tea. I love the deep red I get with the wine. I do find that mixing with red wine decreases (exponentially) the “henna itch.” My primary purpose is to color my gray, but I love all of the other heavier hair and detangling benefits too. I have converted many naturals to henna.
About the clove oil: the reason it’s used is because of the terpenols in the oil, which are not only fragrant but help the color to achieve a darker brown. I’ve used clove oil in henna mix I would put on hands, and it works really well. Lavender oil is suggested as a safe alternative for those who are pregnant or have sensitive skin. This is only for those who want brown, not red, color.
I am a henna user and I do once a month. It is extremely difficult to get the color to show up on your hair unless you’ve dyed it prior to using the henna or you already have light colored hair. The henna I use is from India and I buy it from my local Indian market,and its there that I was told since it is a organic hair treatment I can add things like lemon or Cayenne pepper to either give a blonde look or a reddish-auburn look.
I use Jamila henna once every 6-8 weeks. I am transitioning (21 months) and it’s worked well for me. I have a reddish tint to my hair and it feels and looks fuller and stronger. I recommend it (I don’t know how it behaves on relaxed hair).
Forgot to add: I mix with hot water and a couple of tsp. of lemon juice – nothing complicated.
Using pure henna, and pure ayurvedic herbs for your hair can make all the difference. Certain products that have other ingredients in them and henna, are diluted such as Lush so you won’t get the full affects as with any product the ingredient listed first will be the strongest. Using herbs straight give you the strongest and best results.
Everyone should have or use a henna or ayurvedic hair recipe tailored to them and their hair type. Once that is down packed it’s very easy to maintain and keep it up. The benefits are shine, strength, thickening, and just overall healthy gorgeous hair.
So this simple plant from our earth, is a gift, and it’s benefits and what it brings to the table is beyond words. It’s used for beautiful body art, to treat cancer patients, to adorn and beautify, and to natural color and maintain natural hair. What more could you ask for? And yes men and women can both use this!
I have over 10 years experience in my field, and known as an expert in henna and ayurvedic hair care. I love what I do, and I would be more then happy to give any advice I could.
Happy henna’ing everyone!
What henna brand do you use?
I think she is talking about the henna at hennasooq if that helps.
i used lush’s caca rouge some time ago and found no change in hair color. i left it on 8 hours.
my hair is natural and dark brown. the girl inside said it would take about 3 more times but at 25.00 per bar, i said heck no!
and afterwards, my hair felt dry and there was ALOT of snap, crackle and pop for a week. i shedded like crazy as well. i also had what felt and looked like grains of coffee beans in my strands.
overrall, i wouldnt henna again.
or i would at least try another brand.
+1
My hair does not like henna, I added lots of honey to my mix and applied it the next day, I left it in overnight and all I got was straw hair. I bought a massive block from Lush so will try it again but once I have finished using it all up I won’t bother again.
i used indigo henna once when I was around 16. I still cringe at the mess I made in my parent’s bathroom. I’m interested in Henna (it’s the only hair coloring product I’d use) but i wonder if there are places I could get my hair professionally dyed with henna. I’d rather not do it myself. I’m not that coordinated. I live in the DC area.
+1
I have used henna once and besides rinsing out the henna I did not have any problems(rinsing is very very messy). The color, I was really afraid of since I have always used commercial dyes and my ends were very light(honey blonde), but it came out to be a reddish brown color, so I was pleased. I used the Nupur Mhendi Powder 9-Herbs Blend (purchased from amazon); I mixed the powder with green tea.
I use the Lush Caca Rouge. I looked at the ingredients again and correct me if I am wrong but they are not any of the “bad” ones are they? I have natural hair and I would love to try adding the dried limes. Could you say a little more about how to dry them etc in order to use them to create the paste.
Thanks and great post!
I was just looking into Lush’s henna after reading your suggestion, I would look into Limonene (skin irritant) and more importantly Eugenol (clove oil which sounds harmless, but it can cause liver damage and dermatitis). They use it in some cosmetics, but also to kill insects. Might just be something to consider/look into?
I know several women who’ve used it specifically to color gray hairs, so it should work well in this case. Not sure about relaxed hair, but I also don’t know why it wouldn’t work.
I am interested in it’s affect on relaxed hair and grays.
I use henna from Logona. The best way to cover my gray hair for me is to start with a bright red colour. After that I use a darker shade of henna each time I use it. When I have used the darkest brown colour I turned to the bright red colour again.
By the way, my hair is natural. I think that henna can have a different effect on chemical treated hair, but I really would try it if I had relaxed hair.
This is a really good question, Rhonda. I wonder the same thing. I’ve been told that henna can be damaging to relaxed hair but I don’t know if this is true.
I’ve never hennaed my hair before but maybe I’ll try it someday. @Pat…does it make your hair shiny? I’m sure the color looks beautiful!