Henna History.. my personal story

Hola! I have always been interested in applying henna to my hair. As a child, my mom often mentioned how she used to put henna in her hair in the 60's and the wonders that it did for her hair. My mom had natural, beautiful hair that cascaded down her back. This is a relatively new idea in the west, but has been done for centuries in India. Here is a little bit of my "action taken" beginning 1/2010 leading up to now-- as a self proclaimed "Henna Pro". These are old entries, all in one so you can see the process-- hope my end result saves you some time when making your decision to henna your hair!

2/19/2010
So today I am going to get henna’ed! Wohoo.. I decided to let a professional put in my first application of Henna. My mom used to get henna in her hair when she was younger (in the 60/70’s) and she actually suggested that I go to a professional. There are a lot of Indian threading salons in my area (gotta love metropolitan living) so I asked the lady who does my eyebrows and she is going to put the henna in for me an then they have a stylist that will wash and set my hair. I am super excited and can’t wait to tell you about the results. At a cost of $40 for henna application and $25 for a style, it definetly is a little more costly then going to the local Indian store or whole foods, but when it comes to trying stuff in my hair, I like to go to a professional the first time around. In addition, it will save hours of my time prepping etc and ensuring that I don’t get henna all over my bathroom or in my tub. Yuck! And besides, I really don’t care about the cost, because by the time you do “trial and error” at home a few times, the cost will probably be the same.


2/20/10
So everyone, bad news :( I was not able to get my henna yesterday. I missed a call from the lady who was going to put in the henna for me and she advised that her stylist was out sick! I had to reschedule for next Friday, February 26th. Bummer, but not so bad! I think I will try the coconut milk (SEE COCONUT MILK FOR MORE DETAILS ON THIS!) in my hair tomorrow instead. I’ll let you know how it goes.

2/26/2010
Soooo disappointed. Not able to get henna in my hair again. The stylsit is out sick. Bad weather in the Northeast... maybe this is a sign that I can do this myself? Hummmm... lets see.. let the journey begin. There is a local Indian store right down the street with tons of imports from India... i'll pay them a visit.

2/28/2010
OH YEAH... so, the Indian store had henna... it was in a yellow box and the brand was and surprisingly it was only $2.99 a box! Who knew?! wow.. really cheap! While at the Indian store, I asked the lady at the counter about mixing the henna. She did not speak a lot of english, but her response was "Very good" and she gleamed and smiled. She showed me with hand signals how to mix it and told me to use coffee or tea to mix with the henna. I thought I heard her wrong? But after surfing the net that evening on "How to mix henna?", I discovered that I she did tell me to coffee or tea. A little leary, I decided to put my henna application off yet again. I think i'll shelf my box until I have more infor on it. I also found some henna at whole foods.

3/14/2010
Okay, so the henna at whole foods that I purchased by Rainbow did not get good reviews online! It also contains other chemicals and additives. I think that when I'm ready to use my henna I will stick with the PURE HENNA from the Indian store.

4/29/2010
I know.. its been soooo long it seems and I still haven't henna. :/ I've done a ton of research on it and finally decided to put the henna in this weekend. Wish me luck! I have a great recipe based off of the tips from the lady in the Indian market, www.hennaforhair.com, www.mehandi.com and the ladies of www.CurlyNikki.com websites.


5/1/2010
I LOVE HENNA! my experience was extremely successful and I am pleased. This will become part of my daily routine. Check out my post dated 5/1 titled "Finally Henna - and Loving it!" for details, tips, my recipe and results.