Natural Hair Speaks- Pic(s) of the Day- Sometimes Henna is better the second time around!

Tamra's henna after adding amla to her henna mix the 2nd time around.

A reader recently submitted her story of how her hair began premature graying early in life.  She did a henna application to cover her gray and her lighter gray strands turned a orange type color.  After a  weeks she decided to use henna again.
 The second time around she decided to add some amla to see if it would warm the henna giving her a darker colored result.

Here's Tamra's letter describing her henna result:

Here are a few pics of my hair after the second application of henna/indigo mix. The difference this time was I added (1/3) amla to my (2/3) henna preparation, let it sit for about 12-15 hrs for dye release. I used distilled water to mix the amla and henna since I read amla provides the acidic factor. (My first application I used aloe vera juice and green tea to mix with henna only).

After I washed my hair and was ready for application, I mixed the indigo with warm water and added it to the henna/amla mixture. My results were nice as the "bright orange tint" (from first application a week prior) was toned down a bit. By day three after this second application, my hair looked darker. I tried to apply the mix to most of the roots and exclude the ends because I didn't want the ends too dark. I like the results so when it's time for a touch-up again, I'll probably use this same process (henna/amla and indigo). It's been almost two weeks and can you believe it, I already see a few shiny gray hairs sprouting around my edges. Darn grays are so persistent! 

Have a great day.

Tamra

Tamra's hair pre-henna

Tamra's hair after 1st henna without adding amla

2nd Henna application with amla added

Barbaranaturallyspeaking's response:  You be the judge, but I can definitely tell the difference in the two applications.  The second application isn't as bright and definitely has a more toned down appearance in comparison to the first application.  It looks good Tamra! I'm grateful that Tamra shared her story about adding amla to her henna mix.  As you all know I have gray hairs as well.  I use henna and green tea then I add some indigo and then rinse.  

Tamra does a 1 step process of mixing all of her products together before application.  I do a 2 step process of applying henna rinsing it out, and then applying indigo and rinsing it out.  After rinsing the henna my gray hairs turn a bright orange/red color.  Next I apply indigo which gives me a dark brown/black color to my gray strands.  I actually purchased some amla, however haven't used it yet.  This is encouraging, I wish that I could do a 1 step process to achieve dark brown almost black hair.  It may not work for me, but Tamra wears her resulting color well!  It blends beautifully with the undertones in her skin!  Yep, I think sometimes henna is better the second time around.