I've been a very good girl, and have not colored my hair for about 3 years.  My hair is completely natural when it comes to color - which was my goal when I decided to stop coloring.  My hair is brunette, I'd say like a chocolate or chestnut brown - in the sun my hair developes natural blonde streaks, the one year I had a streak develop so blonde it looked yellow, a person asked me if I had mustard in my hair!  But, right now my hair is pretty well just a consistant shade of chestnut...and I'm feeling like I want a kick of red.  I used henna years and years ago, but honestly don't even remember the results, I just remember making a mess, my mother ended up with red-spotted bathroom mats (she no-happy  >:()!  When I would use store brand dyes, I think I used natural instincts, I remember that I liked the way my hair felt and the color, but was not too concerned about if it was doing damage to my hair.  So now, IF I should decide to go thru w/ this, I don't know which is the way to go.  Are there any more natural and gentle non-permanent dyes out there (I don't want to deal with roots and perm. color),  I don't remember if henna was permanent or not...I need some advice, here!   What's your experience with hair colors and hennas?

although henna is temporary (the color is supposed to disappear completely ... eventually) i find it far more stable and permanent than semi-permanent dye. the stability of the color depends highly on brand and application though: a body art quality henna, applied several times and with no previous oiling will lasts for more than a year if not longer. i heard lush colors don't last long since it's full of oils. couldn't tell you about chemical dyes, i only find the reds rather ugly usually (especially when they start to fade).

Although I haven't ever henna'd my hair, I'd go with henna. I've tried a bunch of different store brand dyes and they're all damaging to some extent. My hair only felt better once I packed on the silicone-filled conditioner that came with the dye. According to the people who posted on henna for hair, they've gotten  good results from it without the damage that store brand dyes can inflict.

I do lean more toward the henna, I guess I'm just worried about it permanently changing the color of my hair, which is what I don't want.  I'm going to check out some different brands on the net & see what they say.  I do remember using hair dyes in the past that were supposed to be temp., but really stuck with me for a long, long time, so I guess you've got to be careful there, too.  

Off to do some research...

Everyone said everything there is about henna, so i just thought i'd give you this website morroccomethod.com

They have a good variety of colors. and they have a color chart that shows what henna works for your hair color

Good Luck! :D

Okay, I have successfully talked myself OUT of coloring my hair, this is a good thing!  Since doing ACV rinses, I have developed a whole new love for my natural hair.  I think I was just becoming disgusted because my hair was full of residues and became dull looking.  Since I <finally> began doing the rinses, this has become a problem of the past.  My hair is much more vibrant and full of body, and I feel like it actually makes my natural color more "intense" since there's no more ugly build-up hiding it.  I'll try to save the coloring for when I need to hide the greys...may that day never come!

(Although, weep-weep  :'(, I have been spotting some lately)

Maggie  Good for you! ;D
Yeah I noticed the same thing with my hair.   ACV is great!  I stopped dying my hair about a year ago.  I was had been dying my hair for 6 years and it never felt as good as it does now!  I also noticed that black dye at my ends is fading away!  Don't worry about the greys, we all have them or will get them. ;)

Thanks Lisabelle!  I don't think I'd mind the new grey stragglers so much if they didn't come in so wierd & wirey, they're a totally different consistensy than the rest of my hair, and like twice as thick.  It's like somebody elses hair popping up on my head!  :P

what is a ACV and how do you di it ???

bluberri Hi!  Okay, ACV stands for apple cider vinegar. It is used the clarify the hair as we said.  Everyone has there way of doing this, sometime once a week like me or once a month.  What I do it put about a tablespoon in a pastic pitcher I keep in the shower, then fill it with warm water from the shower.  I then pour this over my hair after I shampoo, I do not rinse it out then put in conditioner till then end of my shower and rinse, rinse, rinse followed with a cold rinse.   8)

Hi bluberri!  Adding to what Lisabelle said, we've all kind of experimented to discover what rinses work for us.  The basic rinse is water and apple cider vinegar (white vinegar if you are blonde.)  You could have as little as 1 tablespoon ACV to 2 cups water, or up to a 1:1 ratio (that may be a bit much, so best to start off small.)

Some people like to do the rinse between shampooing and conditioning; some people like doing it after conditioning; and some people like to spritz it on as a leave-in.

You can either mix up a batch and leave it in a squirt bottle in the bathroom (you can get empty bottles at the pharmacy) or mix it in a cup, pitcher, or whatever.  

What you'll notice from an ACV rinse - your hair feels lighter and will look shinier.  If you need some volume, you can add a tablespoon of honey to your mix.  Some of the oher members here use other ingredients - I'll let them pipe in, since I haven't tried other ingredients yet.  :)

Cynde

I like to mix warm water, lemon juice and acv.  I am dark blonde so this brightens and smells nice.

I add a few drops of EO (essential oil) to cover the vinegar smell while I'm in the shower. As I understand it, once dry, you don't smell the vinegar, but as an added bonus to using the EO, my hair takes on the scent nicely.

My method of using the ACV rinse is to shampoo & rinse, ACV & rinse really well, and lastly condition & rinse.  I have an empty Suave shampoo bottle that I use for this.  I fill the bottle with about 1/4 cup or a little less of the vinegar and the rest with warm shower water, I find that I like using the
ACV the best, but I have tried using just white vinegar and that worked OK too.  I do this once every week - week and a half, and the results are as khrome described...my hair feels lighter (weight-wise, not color!), and looks very shiny.  I'm so glad I learned of doing this!

hummm i see a trip to the grocery store in the near future!