A Heap of Henna

by Shannon Larsen — April 14, 2008

My 10-year love affair with hair dye has reached a pivotal point: Either I continue on and never have the long, luscious hair I've been chasing after, or I explore other options. Mainly, this means (a) letting my dishwater blonde color grow out and find out if I have any premature grays or, (b) give henna a whirl. After all, it is the product with the motherload of promises: covers gray, helps dandruff, coats and protects against chlorine, pollution, wind, sun, and probably even makes you smarter. So why haven't I converted to henna and dropped my dyes containing peroxide, ammonia, and coal tar? Because if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Upon investigating the henna scene, I found that the only dye molecule in henna is red-orange. Any product that is not green in the box and red in the hair is not 100% henna, and contains additional plant dyes, animal proteins, or the one you really need to watch out for: metallic salts. The metallic salts are the cause of some of the biggest hair disasters imaginable - added to a mane that already has hair color or bleach it can turn the hair purple, green, or simply fry it beyond recognition. Knowing full well how unpredictable a henna reaction is, most hairdressers won't touch you with a 10-foot pole after you've dabbled. The damage is literally irreversible and the only hairstyle you'll be sporting is the one Britney pulled not too long ago.

But let's suppose you're not a repeat dye-offender and you have a clean palette to work with - henna might be right for you. And if you're not looking to be that lady in red, try a mixture of plants, not chemicals:

• Natural red: henna
• Chesnut brown: henna + woad
• Golden blonde: henna + saffron
• Dark warm brown: karchak (castor bean) + vashma (fermented indigo)
• Black: karchak + vashma + indigo