Rainbow Research Henna Persian Black, 4 OZ

 (6 customer reviews)

This was my first experience with Henna. I must say I found it rather confusing. I have hip length, rather thick brown hair. I wanted to get it to look more like black, in a natural way that is also temporary. I read all I found on henna, and decided (either was convinced, or convinced myself) that henna would do that for me.

Well, it didn't. I did enjoy the texture it gave my hair. And after the first rinse, the smell. It seemed only to dusken (that's not a word!) my hair, gave it a softer, duller tinge, with a green tint. Green happens to by my favorite color, so this was perfectly fine, but I wanted temporary black.

The smell at first was rather strong, and overpoweringly much like swamp-water. I had a very difficult time actually putting it on my hair. It ended up in green clumps of mush. The greatest puzzle was how to apply this to my hair. It was messy!

I am also sensitive to chemical dyes and have been using henna for many years to hide the grays. Using hot water, tea, or coffee, it mixes up into a mud-like product that does not go on and off as easily as the chemical lotions. Since it is activated by heat rather than chemical action, it is actually a stain rather than a dye. It will not permanently color your hands or towels, but it will permanently stain hair or wool...so don't put it on in your best sweater!

The red colors are the ones that really bind to the hair shaft. But if you don't want to look like Lucy or Carol Burnett, mix in some of the black or brown to tone down the red. It does not cover as evenly as the chemical dyes, but it is decent if you don't mind the "crafts class" aspect. Henna is a primitive sort of hair color compared to the chemical products, but it might be more healthy or at least less hard on your system.

this was my first experience with any type of henna. after reading the negative reviews i was a bit skeptical about trying it. but i happened to see it at my local whole foods so i decided to pick it up. i've been using chemical hair dyes for YEARS and i'm tired of all the harmful chemicals i've been using on my body so i decided to go natural. i followed the instructions to use on grey hair by mixing the black henna with boiled coffee & some apple cider vinegar. i have about 50% grey, and my natural color is black. it turns into a blackish green muddy mixture and it looks pretty gross. it smelled like thai ice tea so it's not too unpleasant. it wasn't as easy to apply as commercial dye but not too bad. it doesn't stick to your hair as well, it's sort of like you're packing mud onto your hair. once it starts drying, it will start flaking off so the trick is to get it on as fast as you can and put a shower cap over your entire head. and if the mixture starts to dry out, then just add...Read more