Henna, Indigo, Amla Mix Experiment!

Happy New Year! So my friend Spark and I had been looking for natural ways to color our hair since we've damaged our hair a bit with a lot of chemical dyes. After much scouring of the internet, we decided to buy the best cheap henna we could find on eBay! Link here

$7.99 for both indigo and henna seems pretty decent. There was plenty to dye both of our heads. Since we had no experience, we really didn't want to waste expensive stuff in our first experiment. We also got amla, because it's supposed to be good for your hair and it tones down the redness of henna.

I was going for dark ash brown and Spark wanted blue black.
My recipe was:

• 50g henna, activated overnight in:
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 5/8 cup of strong chamomile tea
• 17g amla, plus water, mixed into henna before application
• 50g indigo, plus water, after sitting 15-20 min, mixed into henna + amla before application

Spark got the same stuff, but her indigo was applied in a separate step.

mix it to look like yogurt!

I got everything mixed to the consistency of thick yogurt, but I regret putting so much lemon juice. In fact, I should have done more research, because I read elsewhere that you can use amla as your acidic ingredient for activating henna. Perhaps the formula would have been slightly less drying, although the resulting mix was still not as drying as a chemical dye.

Before shots!

indirect lighting

I mostly wanted to get rid of my buding tou.
Dark roots against light hair

Spark's hair has been chemically dyed black for months!

First, I smeared the henna + amla mix onto Spark's head and plastic wrapped it up. It brewed on her head for maybe 2 hours.

Then, Spark did my hair and I think it might have sat for 3 hours. The plastic wrap steamed up a bit and some of the gloop got runny from the heat.

Then Spark rinsed out the henna and I put indigo in her hair. After 2 more hours, we both rinsed our heads. You can't shampoo your hair for at least 48 hours, although some sources say you can use conditioner to help you wash the henna out. I'm not sure if it washed out too much dye though, since elsewhere said oils will remove henna.

right after rinsing; indoor light; not much difference?

So henna is supposed to darken/oxidize over time.

1 day after

2 days after; although lighting is inconsistent

finally got to wash it; indoor lighting

After several days and a couple showers, I think most of the indigo has washed out. But my roots are less noticeable in person and the dyed portion of hair is much darker.

indirect light

in direct sunlight, it reflects red

Spark's hair was a blue black right after rinsing, but her indigo seems to have washed out as well. We might try it again because we've probably done something wrong, but it won't be for a long while. This was a rather time consuming dye experience and results can vary! However, it does seem like a healthy choice when you decide to go back to black. Maybe we can fix our methods and formula next time.