HOW TO: Colour your hair with henna powder (cheap!)

[Oops, I've had this in draft for 2 months!]
Today I'm going to talk about how to colour your hair with henna powder. I use henna because I'm very allergic to traditional dyes (hello anaphylaxis!) but want to cover up my numerous greys.

I used:

Lemon juice
Beetroot powder (useless, read on)
Henna powder
Tea tree oil

I buy my henna here for £3.20 for 100g. This is enough to henna my medium long hair 4 TIMES!

I put the henna powder in a glass Pyrex dish and added the lemon juice to help 'cure' the henna - it helps bring out the colour. I added the beetroot powder to make the henna redder but later found out only liquids added to the henna powder affect the colour, so it was a waste of time. For instance if you want to bring out brown tones, use coffee, and if you want to bring out the red use rooibos tea. (Maybe if I add water to the powder then add that to the henna it'll work next time?! I will see.) I used a plastic spoon as you're not supposed to use metal when you mix henna.

I also added some tea tree oil to make it smell nicer, although it doesn't smell unpleasant to begin with - just green, like plants. I mixed it all up until it was a paste the consistency of pancake batter then left it in the fridge overnight to cure.

Just mixed henna

The next day

You can see where I've stirred it that there's a slight change in colour. This means the henna has started releasing colour and it's ready to use. Now onto the messy bit!

I washed my hair (no conditioner) and applied it. Easier said than done!

I got henna EVERYWHERE. As well as all over me it was in the sink, on the floor, on the bath mat, IN the bathroom cabinet and on the bathroom door. Oh, and in my ear.

Slightly orange stained nose. Might catch on!

I left it on for about an hour and rinsed it out. Ta da! Subtle, grey covering colour which doesn't make my throat swell shut. Grand.

And there we have it. I miss my varying hair colours of old, but at least I've got hair to moan about, and that's more than some.

The colour lasted about 2 months before I redid it (yesterday, which reminded me I still hadn't posted this blog entry!) and even then there was still some colour left on my greys. Henna powder lasts a couple of weeks longer on my hair than henna creme did, and it's less than 1/10 of the price, so I'm a total convert.

By the way, you can mix up the henna and keep it in the fridge for about a week, and you can also freeze any left overs for use another time. I might look like a cow pooped on my head while the henna is on, but I like the price a lot.

Thanks for reading.
Leah xoxo