Coloring my hair with henna

Hola everyone.

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Henna. You probably all know that paste we like to draw with on our hands to make them even more beautiful. But a few months ago I went into my local Lush store in Berlin and saw something really interesting. And I immediately got super curious.

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Now you need to know that I usually never color my hair. I have extremely sensitive, thin and curly hair, so if I just do one little thing my hair doesn’t really like, it’s damaged. When I was younger I used to color strands of my hair – blonde, red, whatever. And then I just stopped damaging it until I completely colored it with a semi-permanent color two years ago. I tried a dark brown shade with some little red bits and I absolutely loved it.

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I haven’t gone to the hairdresser since then and sooner or later I got really really bored of my hair. Just because I’ve literally looked the same for years now. I wanted a change, something to give my hair a little more excitement. And then I saw the block of henna hair dye in the store and got the immediate feeling of wanting to try this out.

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Before that I’ve never had heard of henna hair dye and then looked it up to be sure what I was exactly looking at. And I now think henna is like the perfect way to color your hair without damaging it. It’s completely naturally and does the exact opposite to damage, it’s actually good for your hair. So after making sure the product was good, I had to choose the color I wanted. At the Lush store you can choose from four different colors:

• Marron (chestnut)
• Rouge (red)
• Brun (brown)
• Noir (black)

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And of course I went for Marron, because I’ve always loved a little red touch to my hair and a delicate brown. But I’ll just let Lush tell you more:

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Sounds pretty amazing, doesn’t it? So, after reading what felt like thousand different reviews and watching endless amounts of try-out-videos on YouTube, I thought why the hell not and went for it.

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It is now two days ago that I colored my hair – with a little big help from my mum. And I have to say, I’m completely in love. But before I get to that, here’s my little description of how to dye your hair with Lush henna hair dye – or let’s say just what I did really:

1. First I broke the whole block into it’s already prepared pieces and then took half of the small blocks – so three of the six available – and put them in a small bowl.
2. After preparing my bathroom and making sure there wouldn’t be any stains afterwards, I put the bowl with the henna inside in the sink I had first filled with hot water and added some hot water to the henna itself too. Mum had broken the three little blocks into even smaller pieces so it would melt easier. Because as soon as you add the water, the henna begins to melt.
3. Then you just have to add more and more water until the whole mixture looks good enough to go onto your head. We first tried it with a batter-like structure, but as soon as mum put it on my hair, the whole thing crumbled away. So my tipp is to add enough water until it feels like usual hair dye, it’s just easier to apply then. Oh and the hotter the mixture, the better will your hair look afterwards. That really makes the colors look vibrant.
4. When the mixture is finally ready, the funny part is just around the corner – the applying. I think mum got a teeny tiny bit nervous, but after getting the mixture right I think it went on pretty fast and we were finished after like 10 minutes. Before applying it I put some Lush Ultrabalm, the nice saleswoman equipped me with, on my forehead and ears, so the henna wouldn’t leave any stains. But you can use common vaseline too, it really helps.
5. After my hair was completely covered in the brown mixture, I put on tin foil to keep the head and the hair warm (the warmer, the better the outcome) and a towel afterwards. Some people in the reviews said that the mixture smells quite badly, but I guess if you don’t concentrate on it, it doesn’t really matter. It smells a little like green tea and mud, so yeah.
6. And then you play the waiting game. On the package of the henna it said to keep it on for two to three hours, but I stuck to four hours, as most of the reviews said that was the best amount of time.
7. And theeeeeen it was finally time to wash it all out and let my hair surprise me. Personally, I thought that washing it out was pretty easy. I mean it took quite some time, I think half an hour with shampoo and conditioner, but it didn’t hurt or anything. As soon as the pieces were out and I could see my hair under the water I knew that I loved it. And it just got better and better while drying it and now I’m sitting here, not getting enough of it.

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For me, the whole coloring process was extremely exciting. I mean, it was a huge mess indeed and I had to clean everything afterwards (there were no stains, so now worries), but as a newbie to coloring, I just loved everything about it.

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There was one funny moment when I was sitting in front of my laptop, doing some work for uni while waiting for the time to be finally up, when I felt something roll down my forehead. I grabbed a handkerchief and put it on my forehead, just to find green stains on the tissue. And oh my god, I got so scared. I immediately googled henna and tin foil, but before anyone gets scared, the tin foil doesn’t do anything to your hair or the henna. The substance that went green was the indigo, so if some of you guys ever color your hair with henna and suddenly see something green, don’t worry. Your hair won’t go green (my fear in that moment), that’s just the indigo and completely normal.

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So, how does my hair exactly look now? To be honest, I didn’t really know what to expect. My hair is naturally a dark brown with a little golden touch. But I really missed the pep, something that tells me that my hair is alive. And now that I colored it, I got exactly that. Like it said in the description, my hair is now a beautiful shade of chestnut – bronze when it’s very light outside, in the sunshine, and dark brown with a nice red shine in artificial light. I know it sounds dumb to say that my hair changes shades according to the light, but it really does. I also read other people say that and I think that’s just amazing and so special (you can also see the differences on the pictures).

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But besides the color, my hair also feels and looks so much better. My natural curls are extremely defined, they feel very soft and are shining all over. It’s just really healthy. And that’s why I’d recommend henna to anyone who wants to color their hair without risking anything. Even if the color of your hair doesn’t really change, it still brings some life back into your curls and waves. It really does. And I think I’ve already persuaded my mum to stick to henna from now on. Yes, it’s a little on the pricey side, but like me, I only had to use half of it, so at the end it comes to the same price as normal hair dye. With the huge bonus of not damaging any of your strands. So yey to henna hair dye.

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I just did a little photoshoot with my new locks, so please enjoy the pictures down below. I’ve also included some pics of how my hair looked before. Oh and the pictures feature two other cool things – I’ve just bought some SuggLife merch, a wonderful khaki hoodie, which is extremely comfy, I think I’ll live in that one from now on, and my little pin I bought at Ed’s concert in Zürich, which I’ve since then worn every single day on every single outfit and I just love it, it makes every look special.

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So yeah, there you go. That’s my story of how I colored my hair with henna hair dye for the first time and how I became a little redhead and fell completely in love with it. But have any of you ever tried henna? If you did, please don’t hesitate to tell me your story. Oh and please tell me what you think of my outcome, I’m very curious. And until then, I hope you enjoyed this post, and, as always, thanks for reading. x

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Before:

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After: