So my journey began years ago. I was beginning to get grays but I knew I wanted to avoid chemical hair dyes. I went to the health food store and purchased a semi permanent “natural” hair dye. I used it and the result was damaged, brittle hair. I was very upset. So upon further research, I realized that these types of dyes were far from natural and not much different from drug store dyes. They may not contain a couple of the very toxic chemicals but they are still filled with chemicals and peroxide which is very damaging. But without the peroxide, it’s difficult to cover gray and especially if you want it to last through shampooing. I figured out that the only 100% natural way to cover gray that would last is with henna. But I’d heard all of the horror stories about it turning grays an unpleasant shade of orange that was permanent and there was no way to fix it, even salons would not touch your hair if you’ve used henna. So I was scared to try it. So I figured there had to be another way. I researched everything. And over the years I tried coffee, black tea, chamomile, sage, rosemary, honey, black walnut shell powder, you name it, I tried it. Nothing would cover the gray. So out of frustration and desperation, I started using the one step, deposit only, semi permanent dyes from the beauty stores. They didn’t contain the harsh bleaching agents like peroxide, therefor they weren’t damaging my hair. And they didn’t contain PPDs. But they still weren’t natural, and they didn’t last through more than a couple shampoos. So I still was not happy. Through the years, I had been so tempted to try henna, and had researched it so much trying to figure out why I hear from some sources that you can get a brown shade that would cover grays without turning them orange, but then other sources said the opposite. So one day I finally got up enough nerve to try a test strip, the worst that could happen would be that I would have to cut a small strand out. So I got a very small strand that contained a little gray and a little of my natural brown from the most inconspicuous spot possible and did the test strip using a “dark brown” henna. It came out ok!! I was excited. So I proceeded to do the entire crown area, around my face, where all my grays were. Then when the time was up and I rinsed my hair, and…. ALL THE GRAYS WERE ORANGE!!!!! See the photo above on the left, and you can’t even tell from the photo how orange it really was. I was panicked! I called another henna brand company even though it was Saturday morning and I figured that they would be closed but I spoke with a woman that was so knowledgeable and knew exactly how to fix it. She told me to go purchase their brand in dark brown and I could use it immediately. She reassured me that it would work. So I headed to the health food store, orange grays and all. I got home and used it. She was right! No more orange! I was so happy! That was a year ago and I’ve been using it ever since. It lasts through several shampoos even though I don’t use the two step “color the gray” line. Right now, this is working great. But as I get more grays, I will switch over to that line. Right now I just use the regular line in dark brown. What I learned is that not all henna products are equal. While I’m not being paid to endorse this brand, I want to share it with you so that I can help you not to have to go through the trials and errors that I did. Above on the right is after using the Light Mountain brand. Remember to always do a skin test and strand test, see the directions in box. Also remember to remove all jewelry and hair accessories. Never use metal containers or utensils for mixing the henna (I use a glass bowl and plastic spoon) and use distilled water. Follow package directions very closely. I use a glass bowl and plastic spoon. I hope this will help you!
