Natural Hair Dyes

With so much said about chemicals in personal care products, we are all looking to get away from chemicals in our lives so how about hair dyes, they are are all chemical dyes or are they?  Henna is one of the natural hair dyes that you can use to colour and also condition your hair. 

So when we came across a site called LoveHennaHair we were surprised to see that you can obtain Henna again.  The reason why we say that is because years and years ago you could buy Henna and then it just disappeared off the shelves but after sitting down and talking the Helen of LoveHennaHair we found out why ...

WHD  Please tell us about why you started your LoveHennaHair site?

LHH  I started the site, LoveHennaHair, after meeting my business partner, Jyoti Dalwadi, on a website called Giant Potential.  She was offering free henna samples to anyone who would like to experiment with their hair colour.  I took her up on her offer and was really impressed with the quality of the product.  My dull mouse-brown hair became a lovely auburn shade.  We got discussing henna and various natural products supplied from India and decided that there could be a market here in England for these products.  I then got to work setting up the site, while Jyoti looked into sourcing more supplies.

WHD  What is the history / background of henna?

LHH  Henna has a fantastic background, being used for thousands of years by Indian and Eastern ladies to dye and condition their hair and also to tattoo their bodies (mostly hands and feet).  The Europeans and Americans were fascinated by photos of ladies from the East, specifically Turkey with dark, thick, healthy looking hair and wanted to use this product for themselves.  Unfortunately it was expensive in those days to transport henna from the East so it was mixed with various metallic compounds and was no longer a 100% natural product.  These metallic compounds can be quite dangerous and henna lost favour for a while.  More recently, people are starting to turn back to natural products over chemicals and these products (without the compounds are once again becoming favourable).  We are able to source 100% natural products for hair dye usage.

WHD  How does the plant henna, eventually become a natural dye and how can the dyes be used?
 
LHH  You'd be amazed at what a natural product really can do - however only the Henna on our site is produced from the Henna plant - the other products are from various other plants.

Henna, Lawsonia inermis, produces a red-orange dye molecule, lawsone. This molecule has an affinity for bonding with protein, and thus has been used to dye skin, hair, fingernails, leather, silk and wool.  Whole, unbroken henna leaves will not stain the skin or hair.  Henna will not stain skin or hair until the lawsone molecules are made available (released) from the henna leaf. Fresh henna leaves will stain the skin if they are smashed with a mildly acidic liquid.  This will stain skin within moments, but it is difficult to form intricate patterns on the skin or to apply to hair from coarse crushed leaves. Dried ground, sifted henna leaves are easily worked into a paste that can be used to make intricate body art or to dye hair.

WHD  You have many products on your site, briefly can you tell us about them? 

LHH  Difficult to tell you about ALL the products but will try to give you a little run down about most of them.  All the products are 100% natural with no man-made chemical additives.

Henna - (from dried Henna leaves) used as a hair dye and conditioning
treatment to create reddish colours.
Indigo - combined with henna for darker hair and to cover grey.
Shikakai - (from dried acacia shrub pods) used as a cleanser or shampoo
Cassia - (from senna plant leaves) used as a conditioner, can be combined with henna to soften the red colours.
Reetha - (from dried fruit of Reetha Tree) used as a gentle cleanser.
Amla - (from Indian Gooseberry fruit) used as a conditioning treatment.
Soapnuts - for clothes washing.
Various essential oils - aromatherapy uses.
Whipped Shea Butter - (from Shea Butter Nuts) 100% natural - no chemical additives.

WHD If someone wanted to try your products, what would they use if say they had:-
   a) Dark hair
   b) Blond hair
   c) Coloured hair

LHH  a) Dark hair - You could use henna to create auburn or if your hair has strands of grey - combine with indigo.  Henna can cause grey hairs to become quite orangey but the indigo turns them brown.  Indigo alone will put purple or blue highlights in dark hair.

b) Blonde hair - Depends how brave you are as to whether you want to use henna alone as it can also become a little bright.  However combined with Cassia or Amla can tone down the red.  Or use Amla by itself to brighten the natural blonde highlights.

c) Coloured hair - Any of the above combinations or uses.  These natural hair dyes will not damage previously chemically dyed hair but will soothe and help restore the natural chemical balance.

WHD  Is there anything else that you'd like to share with us?
 
LHH  All of our products are 100% natural which means that not only are you using gentle, non-chemical products on your hair - you are also washing those natural products down the plughole - rather than chemicals.  They are sourced from farms in India where there are no chemicals used in processing and no chemicals added to the products.  These natural products dye your hair in a different way and everyone's hair reacts differently so an exact colour is really difficult to achieve but whatever shade your hair becomes it's a stunning, healthy looking colour.

  Grey before and after was achieved using 1/2 henna and 1/2 indigo - to get a darker brown shade, more indigo would be used.

Thank you Helen for all the great information regarding Henna and the other products on your site.  So if you would like to have more information head on over to LoveHennaHair site, where you can buy the products discussed here and also a blog where you can find more detailed information on the products.