henna

I have some Jamila henna marinating on my head right now... two more hours to go before I need to wash it out.

I have henna'ed my hair before, earlier this year. But that time I used lemon juice as my liquid... which was a horrible idea. At the time I didn't know too much about hair or about the way acids and bases cause the hair to react. Well straight lemon juice is so ACIDIC that it can disintegrate the hair cuticle, which is the protective scalemaille type layer of hair. Plus lemon juice on the scalp burns a lot, I only managed to keep it on my hair for about 20 minutes. But that was enough to turn my green to a more natural light brown.

This time I used chai tea, apple cider vinegar, lavender essential oil, sweet orange essential oil, and cedarwood essential oil. I let the dye release under plastic wrap while I was at work... so for about 9 hours.

Tomorrow I will indigo, maybe tonight I'm not sure.

I will post pictures when I'm done :)