How Can I Colour My Hair Naturally?

10 Facts to Know About Henna As a Natural Dye

1. Henna (also called Lali) is the dried up leaves and stems of the plant “Lawsona inermis”.

2. Henna becomes a reddish orange dye when mixed with water.

3. Henna is used for traditional body art/painting and also to colour the hair.

4. Henna boosts the shine on your hair and makes it stronger by penetrating the hair shaft and binding with the keratin in your hair. It still leaves your hair permeable though, so moisture can still get in.

5. If you want to colour your hair with henna it is important to know that it is a permanent dye.

6. You shouldn’t “henna” dye your hair until at least 3Months after your last chemical treatment (for relaxed hair).

7. It is advisable to get someone to apply it for you because it takes quite an effort to smooth the dye over your hair.

8. Make sure you get BAQ henna (body art quality) to be sure you are using 100% pure henna. You don’t want any product mixed with chemicals.

9. Being a natural dye, it can take between 8-12 hours for the colour to be released into the hair. The Moroccan henna has the fastest colour release time of between 2-4hrs.

10. Henna actually only makes hair darker so to get the right colour you want you will have to mix with other herbs like cassia and indigo (though getting some colours will be out of the question).

Photo: Evageria