Red Henna

For most of my life, I've used henna to color my hair. For the past, say, six or seven years, though, I stopped using henna in favor of more vibrant, completely unnatural reds from unhealthy chemicals. However, about two years ago I stopped coloring my hair completely, allowing it to grow and become more healthy in preparation for either a head full of gray or a head full of henna. Henna it became since the gray never really happened. It was, nice, however, to see that I was still a real redhead -- ha! So I purchased a specialty henna color from a shop on Etsy that was supposed to give me a super vibrant red with the help of other herbs mixed in with the henna. That didn't really happen. I ended up with the same red I have always gotten after the first coloring using plain red henna. I was intrigued by this little company's goods because they were using some of the same ingredients I used to mix in with my own custom henna -- beet root, amla, reetha, shikakai -- I would also add a little alkanet root infused into jojoba oil to the paste. This made for a slightly more RED red with less of the coppery, firey tones. Over time those RED red tones would fade, but it wasn't something a few hours under the paste again couldn't fix. The reason I quit using henna was the mess. There are no two ways about it, henna hair dye is a sloppy fiend. Even if you manage to get it all into your hair and not all over the floor or bathroom sink, an hour later you'll be wiping henna escaped trails off your neck and face. But the color -- oh, the color! -- makes all the mess and slop worth it.

The reason I'm writing all of this is as sort of a reminder that I might want to mix some henna colors, all natural, not that fakity-fake blister-causing black crap, to sell in the shop next year. I have to practice with the colors a bit, and find willing heads to slop the paste onto. I think more can be done with the idea than what I'm finding. Could be fun, or I could just be stocking myself up with henna for the rest of my life. I'll be old and frail and look like an old family friend, Mrs. Bali, with my poofy white fluff of hair dyed an outrageous orangutan orange.