It is that time of the year when I feel bored with my hair and wish to spruce it up a little. After a reading a lot on henna on Henna for Hair, and doing a strand test with one of their almost free samples, I set my mind to to get redder hair. However, as the urge for coloring hit, yesterday I figured this long weekend would be a good chance to try coloring while having enough time to fix any mishaps. Unwilling to wait for shipping, I set out to Lush, and grabbed one of their hennas, the Caca Marron, a mix of henna, indigo, coffee grounds and cocoa butter for a dark chestnut color. I also stopped by to rent "Mamma Mia", to complete the coloring experience.
The Lush Caca looks like a yummy giant bar of chocolate, and smells strongly of coffee. I cut two squares, and following the instructions, put those in a heat safe container and then added boiling water until getting a brownie mix consistence. I cheated a little and microwaved for 20 seconds to make it easier to mix. Once the mixture was ready, I brought it to the bathroom, along with a big pot of hot water to keep the mixture warm (so I partially submerged the container with the mix on the hot water). Put some vaseline around my hairline, covered my chest, neck and shoulders with the thickest moisturizer I could find, and started the task of covering my hair with the henna mix. The amount I had was barely enough to cover my hair, I think next time I should use three squares. The mix was not too runny, so it stayed in my hair well enough, but it was still pretty messy. After that, I covered my hair in cling wrap, put a plastic pink cap on top, and put on a robe.
I was about to put a clay mask on before heading back to my room to watch a movie when someone knocked on the door. Agh! I had no idea who that might be, as I had made sure beforehand nobody was going to be around the house. It was my bf. After his pleads of coming in, being cold outside and all that, and after making him promise not to get scared, not to scream, and to forget everything he was going to be seeing this night, I reluctantly let him in. After a few glances at my pink cap, and some guesses, he figured out I was coloring my hair (and got excited at the possibility of me becoming blonde or a red head). "Mamma mia" was a no go, so we spent a couple of hours chatting, until I figured it was time of removing the henna. The mix actually held pretty well on my head, no dripping or staining other than within the cling wrap and cap.
Once he left, I headed into the shower to take that off. The coffee grounds were very hard to remove, several stages of conditioner had to be used for this. After the henna and coffee grounds were gone, my hair felt pretty greasy, I believe due to the cocoa butter, so I had to shampoo to get it nice and clean.
When I looked at my hair after the shower, it looked pretty much the same as it did before, so I was a little disappointed, even more so after how embarrassing it was to get this done (oh well, it could have been worse, he could have knocked on the door after I put on a clay mask!). I wrapped my hair in a towel, and started cleaning up the bath tub, which was even worse than the one from "Psycho". The cocoa butter had left slimey green marks on the bottom, so plenty of hardcore cleansers had to be used to remove it.
However, this morning, it looked much better. I wanted a bit more red, but I guess this is tough with my darker hair. Still, instead of the faded brown I had before, my hair now shines quite red, specially at sunlight.
Before and after pictures ahead:
The difference is subtle, but it looks very natural. I doubt my bf would even notice it if he had not seen me doing it. My hair is also super soft and shiny, a big plus!
I have four squares left of the Lush Caca, so I will be able to do this two other times, but probably after that, I will go for my own mix of henna and indigo, maybe even add a bit more henna for more red. It would be nice if I were able to find a local supplier (or at least a Canadian one) for henna, due to the long shipping times when ordering from abroad.
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