How To Dye Your Hair With Henna Hair Dye – Natural Hair Dye

You might be wondering how to dye your hair with henna hair dye. Henna hair dye is the perfect natural dye for grey hair as it turns the grey hairs into the brightest copper tones. As grey hair is without pigmentation and henna coats the hair, it just works very well. 

I’ve been using henna hair dye to dye my hair naturally for years so I find it relatively easy and I only have to keep my roots topped up every month or 2 (when greys become quite visible ahhh!).  

History Behind Henna Dye

Henna or Mehndi is a natural dye prepared from a plant called Lawsonia Inermis. Henna has been used for over 5,000 years to dye skin, hair, fingernails and even fabrics. Historically it was popular in Pakistan, India, Africa and the Middle East because it has cooling properties when applied to the body. 

For the hair, henna hair dye makes your hair stronger and shinier because it coats the shaft rather than stripping and replacing with colour like normal dyes. It’s known to help with dandruff and neutralise the PH of your scalp for less irritation. When I followed the ‘no poo’ method I found henna really removed the sebum from my scalp so I liked to use it regularly. 

Please be aware ‘black henna’ is not from the henna plant and is something which contains high levels of paraphenylenediamine. It can cause severe reactions in some people so make sure you know what you’re buying and always do your research before you buy anything containing henna. 

Bear in mind that any pictures I include will only show a small amount of henna because I’ve built it up on the ends of my hair already and only have a few inches on the bottom where I used a box hair dye many years ago (previously coloured hair sometimes needs a few applications before you notice a difference). 

Is Henna Dye Good For Your Hair

As henna dye comes from the Lawsonia Inermis plant it is a natural hair dye and it is generally known to be good for your hair and scalp. It is said to help with premature grey hairs and dandruff because it’s a natural antifungal treatment. The red tones of the dye add pigment back into the grey hairs and if it’s 100% natural henna, it turns them a coppery colour.

Henna acts like a protein for your hair by coating it and making it stronger and in better condition. As I’ve said before, ordinary hair dyes strip the hair and then add the colour which can make the hair thinner and weaker.

Benefits of using henna hair dye:

• It’s a natural dye so no harsh chemicals
• It improves the condition of your hair and scalp
• When it fades it still has red tones unlike traditional dyes when they fade to a horrible shade

Downsides of using henna hair dye:

• It’s a bit messy to use
• It’s a bit of a faff because you have to prepare it and warm it up
• It’s not easy to dye over if you change your mind and some hairdressers won’t even dye your hair if they know you’ve used henna before

How Long Does Dying Your Hair With Henna Last

Despite the misconception henna is a permanent colouring solution the colour just fades a bit over time; it coats the hair rather than stripping like normal hair colourants so it’s a good one for people looking to use less harsh chemicals on your hair and less packaging.

It’s also suitable if you’re doing the ‘no poo’ hair wash method as it’s quite effective at removing sebum from your scalp. 

If you have previously dyed your hair with ordinary hair dyes the henna hair dye doesn’t always take to the ends of your hair. When I first started dying with henna, I did have to dye my full head with henna quite a few times to build up the colour. However, now I just use a small amount of henna just on the roots of my hair. It covers the greys and keeps everything looking even.

Does Henna Thicken Your Hair

Henna does make your hair a little thicker because it coats the individual strands and therefore it should make your hair thicker and stronger over time. Henna is said to improve hair regrowth as well as it’s applied to the scalp and stimulates the hair at the root.

In my personal experience, switching to Henna hair dye improved the condition of my hair so much. Most of my previously damaged hair is now grown out and I’ve managed to grow my hair back to the length and thickness it was in my early 20’s.

Buying Henna

First of all make sure that you get 100% henna powder and not a henna hair colourant as they usually have a lot of other ingredients in. Triple sifted is also much better as it’s easier to wash out as well because it’s quite fine. Proper henna you need to leave to activate before use as well so I usually prepare in the morning, use in the evening and wrap in a plastic bag and leave overnight to work the best but you can wash out after 5 hours if you don’t want to do this. 

Henna is also really great if you want to have less waste because although it usually comes in a plastic bag it doesn’t include the usual bits you get with an ordinary box dye so less waste overall. I just use my reusable gloves as well to prevent staining.  For other eco tips check out my eco teeth cleaning post.

How To Dye Your Hair With Henna Hair Dye

Once you have the correct henna powder for making henna hair dye, you just need to prepare it.

Instructions for preparing henna 

• 100g Henna powder (just for roots, 200g for short hair, 300g for medium etc) mine is just from an EBay shop, I buy in bulk. The eBay shop doesn’t seem to have any at the moment but I’ve found the same brand on Amazon, for Henna click here. The brand Herbal Magic is by far the best I’ve tried so I’m hoping they’re just temporarily closed due to Covid 19. 
• Juice of one lemon
• Hot water (approximately 100ml, enough to make a good consistency for spreading on and not too watery)

Take henna powder in a bowl or saucepan, add lemon juice and water and mix together well. Put the henna hair dye aside covered with tin foil or a plate for about 8 hours. 

Although I do use 100g of henna when I mix it up, I only use half (50g) on my roots and freeze the other half. I’ve had no issues doing this as it’s been activated to release the colour and then frozen immediately it seems to preserve it; when I need it I just defrost and use straight away.

When you’re ready to apply, heat the henna hair dye up again as it works much better when it’s hot. I don’t tend to do this for my roots as the heat from my head keeps it warm. 

Then apply to your head, in sections is easier so you don’t miss any bits and when you’re done make sure you wash any bits on your face and ears because it will stain! It’s very messy, like smearing a cow pat on your head but it doesn’t smell like it and it’s worth it in the end! Excuse the picture below, there’s no taking a cute picture with dye on your head! 

When you’re ready to wash out the henna dye, be prepared to be washing for a while to remove it fully and it will make the bath look quite messy while you do. You don’t need to use shampoo either as it’s quite cleansing but it shouldn’t matter if you do. Henna does condition your hair but if you have quite long hair that gets tangled easily I would recommend conditioning as usual. 

Finished Result

After that style as usual. Be aware that the colour can continue to develop over the next few days. My hair is naturally medium brown so the final colour on me is a chestnut brown which shines quite red in the sun. The lighter your hair colour the brighter the orangey red tones you’ll have. You can mix other things into henna for a different shade for example Indigo can be mixed with it to make the final colour more natural brown but I don’t have any experience with this myself. 

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Have you tried to dye your hair with henna hair dye? Do you have any other questions, or is there anything I haven’t covered? If yes let me know in the comments, on Instagram or Facebook. If you’d like to hear my dulcet tones, check out my YouTube channel.