Henna: My favorite hair treatment

I am in love with henna, it is a wonderful product, now only does it turn your hair a lovely red, it can be mixed with indigo and or katam to make a rich auburn brown.

Of course I henna my families hair, I can put off my own for a few months as my hair is dark red auburn. However Wil’s hair gets raggedly if left too long, and he likes a browner color. As I favor the henna from yemen which is known for truer brighter reds. It is a tad difficult.

My sons hair though is fun, he loves his ‘big boy’ hair, and he gets such positive attention from his hair that is is always boosting his self image. I shave the back and sides, and let the top get longer and henna it. It turn a beautiful  orange/red and when it is spiked it is just adorable.

Always when I do my sons hair for some reason I keep thinking that ‘I don’t really need gloves’ ‘it is just a small patch of hair’. When I am done always do I have a lightly stained hand(s). Not that bad as for the stain to really stick it needs hours to stay on the skin. So it will be fading soon, it usually only lasts 3-5 days max. In the summer I mind it less, as henna stain is known to help your body cool.

For the families henna needs I like to premake the items that can (with proper care) last over a certain amount of time. I partition it in 50g (no kitchen should be without a scale) place in proper freezer bags lay them flat and the dye release is taken care of without the tedious waiting, and forgetting and waiting too long.

For Sean, I just pull out one bag (for the boys) break it up with a few timely blows on the counter, take out about 10-15 grams, warm it up with rose water (makes a lovely scent) carefully apply, make sure to only get the long hairs.

For Wil I have to also mix up some indigo, which I do while I am waiting for the henna to melt, as well as a tad bit of amla. And mix that with the henna after the indigo sets for 15

TIP: So that the henna stays put, and the plastic wrap as well, I put bagbalm(you can use vaseline I just love bagbalm and always have it on hand) and apply a ring around the scalp. Prevents the henna dripping, also acts like a glue for the plastic wrap. Keeps a nice even line. I can’t find the small hair towels my mom bought for me, those twisty towels things, so I just grabbed one of Seans old receiving blankets (one of the larger ones) and used that for the towel. As you need to keep it moist and warm for the dye to work properly.

Sean (child) Tip: For a bribe I find cookies work wonders to help keep him still. As he gets so excited that he starts wiggling.

Wil (significant Other) Tip: Bullying works wonders, and heavy skewed negotiation. If the time needed for the henna mix to be in the hair needs time give them double the time needed, so when they try to negotiate less you can give in with out compromising the color too much.

I let Wil brow beat me to have it in his hair for less then 2 hours because he started complaining and whining so much I said fine just to quite him. And his hair turned a lovely orange, then he grabbed store bought hair dye, and it turned a dirty orange. I tried to fix, but to no avail because he used the store bought hair dye. Of course he blamed it on me, and not his impatience. Though I did remind him that the first time I did his hair it turned out perfectly because he did exactly as I said. So if you are persistent and don’t want that toxic stuff in your house, you will have to keep at it. Eventually it will work just fine. If all else fails they do sell ear plugs.