My Lush Henna Encounter

          So this past Saturday I dedicated to hennaing my hair.  It was my first time and I wanted to try out the Lush Caca Rouge Henna because it seemed easy enough for a starter and I wanted to go with a red mix.  So I got my tools and ingredients together after much research on how henna curlies apply their mix, I began the process. 

          I mixed the directions Lush provided (which actually differed from their video tutorials) with the one Curly Nikki suggests and here's what happened...

          Lush Henna comes in a solid block so I began to grate it (their directions in the video) with a cheese grater but got tired and was taking too long so I started chopping it like chocolate (again their instructions in their video but the ones on the actual bar required a double boiler :/ ).  I began to add my hot green tea and honey (as suggested by CN) and didn't like the consistency the chopping was giving me so back to grating I went.

          Finally I was done making the mix, so I set off to the shower to co-wash my hair with the rest of my Tea Tree Wen.  I applied the Henna to my damp hair, wrapped it in saran wrap and donned a shower cap.  The application process was a little tougher than I thought.  Bits of the thick paste fell everywhere which was promtly gobbled up by my roommate's dog :/ and applying it thoroughly to my hair was tough.  But luckily it didn't leave any stains (on me or the floor) and the dog was fine. 

          I let it sit on my hair for a little over 6 hours and then used my shower hose to rinse most of the henna out before I got back in the shower to condition the rest out.  Unfortunately the Lush henna has a very sandy consistency and rinsing the stuff out was more like rinsing muddy sand out my hair.  It seemed like it was never ending!

          I finally stopped rinsing after my hot water turned cold, got out blot-dried my hair with a t-shirt (produces less frizz than a towel), applied my own Deep Conditioner (Coconut Oil, Olive Oil, and Honey), put on a plastic cap and wrapped it up with a t-shirt (to help keep the heat in) and took a nap. 

          2 hours later...I rinsed the mess out (still trying to get the "sand" out) moisterized with Nap's Silky Stuff and twisted up and called it a night.

Before

After

           In conclusion, it was an experience.  Not one I would like to go through again, at least not with Lush's Henna.  But I did notice a slight color change when my hair is in the light and the conditioning benefits I feel didn't really come through for me.  Maybe I should give henna one more try in a few weeks using the one CN suggests just to see if my "not so great experience" was due to the type of henna I was using or just the henna itself.  Next time I'll definately be doing a gloss though and not the full strength one.