henna recipe

I have found my henna mix!  The first mix I made was based on CurlyNikki’s Green Tea Recipe.  I enjoyed it, but my hair had a straw-like feeling after my treatment.  Here’s my post about my first henna experience:)

 

For my second treatment I went with as much moisture as possible.  I used Minimalistbeauty’s Henna and Coconut Milk mix and loved the moisture, but my hair still had the straw-like feeling from before.

My goal this time was to still get rid of the straw-like, dry feeling I’d experienced.  I liked minimlaistbeauty’s addition of oils to her henna mixture so I added this to my mix, along with essential oils, yogurt, and extra honey.  I applied this mix to my dry hair, let it sit overnight and rinsed it out in the morning.  I then deep conditioned and washed my hair as usual (the full recipe is at the end of this post.)

Here’s how I mixed my Henna with red wine & oils (if you are not 21, please do not try this without the help of a legal adult…even if you are over 21, don’t start sippin’ on yack and blaming Lavish!)

1 cup red wine

100mg jamilla henna (I’m still using the batch I ordered from mehandi.com)

I used red wine because I read in How to Henna by Catherine Cartwright-Jones, that red wine will give you richer, more chocolatey brown highlights.  I gave it a try.  My hair seems to hold a little of the color and my grays (I didn’t realize I had so many:) are a warmer brown instead of a fiery red/organge using wine.  I let this mix sit out all day (from about 7:30am to 10:30pm).

When I was ready to apply it to my hair, I stirred the mix and added:

2 to 3 tablespoons honey

1/2 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp sunflower oil

1/2 tsp wheat germ oil

1 tablespoon greek style plain yogurt

I used 5 to 10 drops each of the following essential oils:  rosemary, basil, patchouli, ylang ylang, grapefruit, thyme, clove bud, and cedarwood

I mixed all this together and let it sit for about 20 minutes.  When I took the lid off it smelled SO GOOD and looked just like chocolate!

This mix was the perfect pudding cakey-like mixture I was hoping for.  It was also shiny and packed with extra moisture.

I changed the order of my henna application to reduce the physical manipulation of my hair.  

Since repeated rinsing is part of the process, I want to be as effective as possible with each wash so that I can wash less and get all of the mix out of my hair-gently.  My hair doesn’t like to be manipulated a lot and can tangle very easily.  I wanted to see how applying it to dry hair would be different.

This mix was very easy to wash out.  I soaked hair in the tub when I woke up the next morning and then rinsed and detangled with Aubrey Organics Blue Chamomile Hydrating Conditioner.  This stuff smells so wonderful…so, so wonderful!  I rinsed for a while before applying the conditioner and let it sit for 30 minutes to an hour.  I was running around so it could have been longer:)

I deep conditioned with some old Anita Grant Deep Rhassoul Condish.  It was still AWESOME!  I mixed it with about 1 cup of hot coconut milk.  My mix was too runny but luckily I had some rhassoul clay in the stash.  I mixed in some extra, applied the condish in 4 sections, and let this sit on my hair for about 4 hours (it’s was cleaning/hair day).

When it was time to rinse I used my Homemade Milk & Honey Conditioner to wash the clay out. The conditioner mix included:

3 tablespoons yogurt

1 cup coconut milk (left over from clay)

2 tablespoons honey

1 tsp vanilla extract 

(this stuff smells good enought to eat/drink)

I discovered that cocounut milk leaves my hair feeling really oily but not greasy.  I’m not sure if my and lavish like this.  It’s an interesting sensation and I’m going to watch my hair this week to see how she responds.

I ended my lavish treatments with an Apple Cider Rose Rinse

1 cup hibiscus flower and rose flower water (had some left over)

1 cup water

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

3 drops lavender (could have done without this…I think it smelled better without it)

My hair loved each treatment.  I think the coconut milk conditioner was missing an avocado and some olive oil.  I’m going to experiment with this next time.  Shout out to the CurlyNikki thread for homemade conditioner ideas and inspiration!

I love this red wine henna mixture.  I think this is the right amount of oils for my hair and I love that wheat germ oil is included in the mix.  I could hear my hair getting stronger!  My hair is so soft after these treatments, no straw like feeling, no itchy scalp afterwards, and my hair looks and feels amazing!  I’ll definitely be using this mix again.

Full Henna with Red Wine & Oils Recipe

1 cup red wine

100mg jamilla henna 

2 to 3 tablespoons honey

1/2 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp sunflower oil

1/2 tsp wheat germ oil

1 tablespoon greek style plain yogurt

Optional:  Your favorite essential oils.  

I used 5 to 10 drops each of the following:  rosemary, basil, patchouli, ylang ylang, grapefruit, thyme, clove bud, and cedarwood

Lavishly Treat Your Hair:)