before the whole mess:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y12/styg/pre_henna.jpg

after first step with ahmad (pure henna, posed 2h) on length andbrown herbal henna on roots:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y12/styg/hennaed_ahmad.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y12/styg/hennaed2.jpg

after second step (60% soft black, 40% dark brown, and a very cold one):
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y12/styg/dark_brown_henna.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y12/styg/close_up2.jpg

i think i still have to wash out tons of indigo lol. thecolor is an almost black with  hereand there henna still showing through.

WOW!  Those pictures really show how much color can be changed with henna.  And the shine!  Great shine.

Incredible Styg--I love the color and shine.  I understand why you like henna so much.   ;D

Wow. The color is really pretty and so shiny! Incredible!
Beautiful hair.

What shiny colour! And a great length. Your hair looks lovely :)

May I ask why did you do two different colours one after the other?? The first one was the real henna colour?
I didn't know there was soft black henna. I had used once, black henna because my hair had gotten very red after a long summer and wanted to tone it down and part of my hair went green-ish! That's when I cut off from almost CL to just touching the shoulders, to get rid of the green!
Can you tell me which brand is that, that has the dark henna colours you used and turned out so nice? I just want to know because I am contemplating on doing henna some day. Not really decided on that, though.

Great shine and very nice looking outcome! Congrats on lovely hair :)

thanks!! i have to say though my hair was very shiny and soft fter the first step with henna, it seemed to give the perfectly balanced conditioning (i used less than "prescribed for my length").  but two henna applications after each other was "too much", the only thing to do then is overoil and BB brushing until everything is absorbed over the next couple of days (henna = protein treatment, it can give dry hair if it overconditioned).

i think the colors you get really depend on the quality and the brand. i used "lustrous henna" sold on "everyday mehndi" site. but green colors in theory is only the result of "compound henna": stuff to avoid, contains metals which can give those weird colors. or, if you previously used a semi-permanent dye, many of those contain metallic salts which interfere with henna as well. if you buy henna you really need to be sure it's 100% natural without any chemical additives.

wrote on Mar 6^th, 2005 at 4:00pm:

May I ask why did you do two different colours one after the other?? The first one was the real henna colour?

i wasn't sure my virgin hair color was dark enough for such a big difference in value. in theory gray/white hair or very light hair is better hennaed first before putting the final color. henna is the only thing that can change your value. but herbal henna colors contain henna as well though. so i tried to put twice a herbal henna on my roots cuze i wanted to check if it would work equally well and i am rather satisfied. i did that mostly cuze i wanted absolutely to avoid having red showing through at my roots since it's not easy to get especially the herbal henna everywhere.

:o WOW  :o
Beautiful hair!

You have gorgeous hair!!!  Thanks for sharing the photos.   8)

I have some I need to get developed.  I'll be putting them up soon!

Lynn

Wow, your hair turned out gorgeous!

Mine is very similar to yours in length and colour. Your hair after the first dying looks a lot like mine does now, though mine was much more red when I first did it.

Which reminds me, I really need to touch up the roots...it's been almost two months and they're starting to fade/grow out!

Just as a warning, be careful about leaving your hair down after showering for the first couple weeks or so. I found the excess dye would leave red stains on my shirt if I left it down.

i've been rinsing for at least 45 min every time i hennaed and the last time i washed at least three times with conditioner and did several vinegar rinses (and that in an icecold bathroom  :'(  )
i have only slight marks on my pillow, most of my clothes are black so i don't care lol. i just noticed i got slightly blue hands while oiling massively (to try to undo the overdontioning). i've washed twice since and that seems to have stopped too.

Styg- I'm very impressed!! your hair looks beautiful! Ahmad- whose henna have you all tried, and whose did
you like the best?  I'm thinking of ordering but I can't decide who to order from. Have you used Morrocco' Method's henna?  I'm a little nervous with my blonde highlights and brown roots, that I might get uneven colours. Did you do a strand test first?

i finally bought pure and herbal henna from "everyday mehndi", they sell mostly body art quality henna:
http://www.everydayhenna.com/powder_types.html#ahmad
http://www.everydayhenna.com/hair_dyes.html
i used ahmad ( a pure, supposedly darkest staining henna) because i wasn't sure two applications with just a herbal henna would be enough to cover the big difference in value. but since i chickened out and didn't want to end up with partially red roots i finally did use twice the herbal henna on my roots (if you do just one application, the difference is usually just very subtile) and put the ahmad on my length cuze i wanted to see what pure henna wuld give on my hair (well, i had bought it anyhow so) and after turning it almost black that would have been impossible (i suppose i could use the ahmad as a neutral henna now).
of course i did strand tests, i wasn't entirely sure if it would react weirdly with the chemical dye in my hair. both their dark brown (which is not at all the awfully light and warm brown you get from a bottle!) and soft black gave more or less the same result on my strand tests: very dark and cold brown, or a warm black (for many people anything dark is black, that is how a friend called my color lol).

Thanks-the results came out very well, what you did.