Henna:  The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

 With many people trying to find solutions to their years of over processing and abusing their hair, some people are turning to Henna as a natural alternative to the traditional synthetic dyes used in Salons.  Pure Organic Henna, (Green Henna) is derived from ground up leaves of a plant.  When mixed together properly, this creates a long-lasting permanent dye without the damaging effects and allergic reactions of traditional Salon Coloring products. 

The Good                                                                         

Some Organic Henna’s pros: 

•    Covers grey hair very effectively
•   Penetrates the hair shaft providing permanent color
•   Strengthens, Smooth’s, and seals the cuticle
•   Actually thickens the hair, making your hair more resistant to breakage.
•   Healthy for the hair

 The Bad (limitations)

With all the good findings why is Henna not more popular?  Well, Organic Henna is limited to one basic color, red; so if you don’t like different variations of red for your hair, then pure Henna is not for you.  

  As mentioned previously, Henna is permanent and penetrates and seals the hair shaft;  this makes  it very difficult if not impossible to color over in a uniform fashion with conventional color. The process to possibly remove Henna can most  likely damage your hair in the process. so,  it is strongly recommended to let your hair grow out before returning back to conventional coloring products.  Finally, Henna is not readily used in Salons because the red color results that Henna gives are hard to control due to the hairs physical characteristics.  So results are too inconsistent for a professional Salon environment.

 The Ugly (Compound Henna)

Most commercial applications of Henna ( found in Salons, or stores) are not pure Henna but mixed with other dyes, and or chemical salts. This  gives Compound Henna the ability to turn hair other colors besides the Henna red. 

The issue with Compound Henna  is that the  metallic salts and or other additives present  often react badly with the ammonia in synthetic hair dyes. If you use compound Henna after you have done your hair with conventional colored products,  especially when using heat, your hair may become brittle, trashed, and may turn green, green or a variety of undesirable shades. Unfortunately,  many pre-mixed henna powders do NOT have these ingredients listed, so you use at your own risk!

In general,  Henna is a wonderful,  natural dye, with many other benefits more than  that we listed, but,  as a colorant it has it’s limitations. If you do decide to go with Henna as your colorant, then we strongly recommend to stay with Henna, or  wait till your hair grows out before attempting to return to conventional color least you stand the chance of a very unpleasant surprise.