Natural henna for hair: pure henna, Khadi henna-indigo blends, Henné Color creams and neutral cassia. Colour and add shine with plants, no chemical dye.
Natural henna is the powder of the dried leaves of a shrub, Lawsonia inermis. This plant grows in hot regions, from Morocco to India. Its leaves contain a pigment, lawsone, which binds to the keratin of the hair and gives red to coppery tones. The word henna comes from the Arabic “hinna”.
In the Maghreb, henna colours the hair, but also the hands and feet at weddings and celebrations. The henna night, the eve of the wedding, remains a living tradition in many families. The patterns on the hands last one to three weeks, the time it takes for the skin to renew itself.
Henna does not bleach: it coats the hair with a layer of colour. It therefore cannot lighten dark hair. On brown hair it leaves mahogany tones; on light or white hair it gives a bright orange to copper shade.
Other plants go with henna. Indigo, applied after the henna or mixed with it, deepens the colour towards chestnut or black. Neutral cassia, called neutral henna, gives almost no colour and is used as a treatment for shine. On white hair, cassia can leave a slight golden tint.
Read the composition: a pure henna shows 100% Lawsonia inermis. Khadi blends combine henna, indigo and sometimes cassia to obtain a chestnut or brown. The list must contain only plant names. The packets often show in a photo the shade obtained on white hair and on chestnut hair.
Avoid black henna, often sold for temporary tattoos. It contains PPD, a chemical dye that can cause serious and lasting allergies. Be wary too of so-called “compound” hennas, which can hide metallic salts. These salts react with chemical colourings and can damage or turn hair green.
Choose the shade according to your starting colour. Henné Color offers powders and ready-to-apply creams in several shades, from copper to brown. For a colourless treatment, Sala cassia is applied like a mask. The creams are applied without preparation, handy for a first try.
Powders from Morocco or from Rajasthan, in India, are the most widespread. A fine, green powder with the smell of cut grass indicates a fresh henna. For long hair, allow at least 200 grams of powder per application.
Do a 48-hour allergy test before each first application, behind the ear or on the inside of the elbow. Then mix the powder with lukewarm water until you get a paste like thick yoghurt. Wear gloves: henna also stains the skin and nails. Leave the paste to rest for one to two hours, covered, so that the pigment is released.
Apply the paste strand by strand on clean hair, then cover with a cap. The leave-on time ranges from one to four hours: the longer it is, the more intense the colour. Rinse with clear water and wait two days before the first shampoo, the time it takes for the shade to set. During the first days, the colour goes from orange to a deeper copper.
Henna can dry out some heads of hair. Add a spoonful of vegetable oil to the paste or apply a moisturising mask after the application. A new application every 4 to 6 weeks maintains the roots, applying the paste only to the regrowth. Protect your hair from pool chlorine with a cap, as it dulls the tones.
Before a chemical colouring, tell your hairdresser that your hair has henna on it. To nourish your lengths, discover our oils and floral waters, and for the eyes our oriental kohl. The whole range is in our oriental beauty care section.
