So my attempt to grow out my gray failed, but I refuse to take the chemical route to color my hair. But after a lot of pondering, research, and desire to delve into the unknown (experiments in life can be fun), I decided to take the alternative path and henna my hair. Henna, you see, is a centuries-old practice of using a natural plant product to color hair and not a bit of blindness/cancer-causing chemicals in the process. The main downsides to henna are limited color options and length of time to dye the hair. Also, and this is perhaps the big one, if you don't take the time to learn about it, the results can be disastrous (especially if you are a blonde, which thankfully I am not). But I suppose that's true about chemical coloring, too. The plus sides to henna are staying completely organic and having the softest, healthiest hair. I even like the earthy smell you have for a couple of days.
After much reading about how to use henna and indigo to get the color I wanted, last night I mixed a concoction of body-art quality henna, ground cloves, ginger, and a combination of orange juice, lemon juice, and apple cider vinegar. Yeah, it was mud, but it was supposed to be. And this morning I mixed the indigo to go with it. Happily Kelly came over to apply the henna-mixture to my hair for me (self-applying mud with my head hanging upside-down over the shower did not really thrill me, and Kelly was a willing partner in my scientific experiment). She did a most excellent coverage job. Once I had a new mud wig, we covered my head in Saran Wrap (ok that's not so green, but it's what everyone says to do).
And then I got to hang out with my Saran Wrap turban hidden inside a tuque for about 5 1/2 hours. That's a long time, but I could have shortened the time, or left it on longer. The length of time determines the outcome of the color. And remarkably, there's something very soothing about the earthy smell of the henna. I felt utterly relaxed, as if I were at a spa.
The rinsing of the henna was secretly fun, too -- if you ever liked playing in mud as a child or even as an adult, it's fun to wash mud out of your hair, too.
The result? Well, for the most part it's good -- I have to wait a few days to see the final color, because the Lawsone in the henna oxidizes on the hair shaft and darkens. The grays right now are very bright red, as I expected they would be, but if all goes well, they will darken in a day or two. They better. (A quick run to the bathroom mirror tells me that the brightness is already less so -- darkening is in the works, thank goodness). No pictures yet -- we were going to do a before and after set of photos, but oops, didn't happen.
Overall I'm hoping that once the color darkens it will be back to my natural "brown with red highlights" color of my youth. I am happily hiding the mousy-gray-brown post-children 40-year-old color my hair has become. I still have a lot of hair, though. Haven't lost that! There might be some shimmering in the sun -- that will be interesting. It will be my hair, with spirit!
FYI, I'm not kidding about the softness of my hennaed hair. For the first time in my life, I can run my fingers through my hair and love every minute of it. And then do it again. No frizz. Let me repeat that -- NO FRIZZ!
EDIT: Day 1 -- Ok, my hair is now darker than it ever has been in my life. Is it an oops? Actually, right now it looks pretty nice. The grays have darkened to a nice dark red, and the bulk of my hair is a red-tinged dark brown. At the moment, I can say it's quite nice for all its darker-ness. We'll see how I feel after it continues to darken for a few more days...
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