Since I started my herbs and tea no-poo hair method, I wasn’t sure how it would work with my henna treatments. I used to rinse my henna out with conditioner. Well now that I’m not using conditioner, here’s what I do.
I now apply henna to dry hair. This allows the process of my henna treatments to be cut in half. I still mix my henna with coconut milk and hemp oil. I leave the henna on my hair from 1-3 hours. If I have the time to leave it on longer I do, but I don’t stress it. I henna monthly anyway.
Because the coconut milk does not allow henna to dry hard on hair, the rinsing process is much easier than any other base ingredient I’ve ever used. Also the hemp oil adds more slip to the henna also giving extra conditioning benefits. I make two to three times as much DIY Green Tea Cleansing Hair Rinse and do a total of three applications and rinses. By this time the henna is completely out of my hair with very few grainy bits if any.
In the past I would follow with a deep conditioning treatment of coconut milk, hemp oil, and an Ayurvedic herb. During the most recent henna treatment that I did, I had no extra coconut milk, so skipped the deep conditioning all together. My hair still turned out well so I guess I’ll deep condition my hair as needed. Yet to be honest the henna did a wonderful job conditioning my hair as is since I mix it in coconut milk to begin with in the mix.
I then style my curls with 5-9 braids to set my hair and use a mixture of aloe vera, shea butter, mango butter, hemp oil, camellia oil, and guar gum. Guar gum adds the needed slip to my leave-in hair butter for easy detangling. So there you have it, my henna regimen simplified even more than I ever thought possible.
Always use a body art quality henna for safe quality hair care use. Godrej Nupur Mehendi Henna is my favorite!
To read more articles about hair care go here. To see my latest beauty regimen included hair care go here.
(Image by D Sharon Pruitt)
Monica says
I’ve been looking forward to this post! I do a one step process using henna and indigo to cover gray hair. Do you think using coconut milk will affect how well the henna/indigo covers gray? Is sunflower oil an acceptable substitute for hemp oil? How much hemp oil and coconut milk do you use in your mix? Would you recommend using coconut milk instead of water to mix the indigo as well? Thanks for entertaining all my questions.
Dawn Michelle says
Hi Monica,
I’ve never used indigo, so am not sure how it would react with coconut milk. I am only aware that indigo can not be frozen to be reused. Try it out and see if you like it. Since you have used indigo before you will know if you like the results with coconut milk. Sunflower oil is also a ceramide oil so would be a wonderful substitute for hemp oil. Another amazing ceramide oil is wheat germ oil although it has a very strong smell. If you hair loves sunflower oil, use it. Have a beautiful day!
Dawn Michelle
Jasmine says
Hey! Your site is so helpful thank you. When I was searching through I
wasn’t able to find the recipe of your butter mix. Aloe shea mango hemp
camellia & guar gum. I wasn’t sure how much of each. And how you typically use it.
Dawn Michelle says
Hi Jasmine,
I never posted an exact recipe for the aloe shea mango hemp camellia and guar gum mix because I’ve been playing around with proportions and other ingredients as well. I’m glad you like my blog!
Have a beautiful weekend!
Dawn Michelle
Sydney says
Hey Dawn I know you said In November that you didnt have an exact recipe for the leave in butter but I was wondering if you had an estimate.I really love your approach on natural hair and I have been trying to simplify mine but i’m really having trouble finding a leave in recipe that works for my hair. I used to detangle my hair with olive oil but I find that it leaves my hair kind of oily even when rinsed out.
Dawn Michelle says
Hi Sydney, I wrote in New Additions To Hair Care that I wasn’t crazy about the mix that I made. I didn’t think it left my hair touchable enough although it was a great detangler. It felt too heavy and too oily. That is why I never posted the recipe. An amazing conditioning detangler is mixing plain yogurt with a bit of apple cider vinegar and essential oils if you like. Another great detangler if the DIY Moisturizing Hair Detangler. The only thing about this conditioner is that it can be too much protein unless you have damaged/chemcially treated hair. To modify this conditioner just remove the silk amino acids. Guar gum really gives this conditioner great slip and so does marshmallow root extract which I speak on in another article. I hope that this is helpful and enjoy your weekend!
vanessa says
Hi Dawn I read somewhere that once u applied some oil to your hair after washing out the henna this would help the colour darken more.Is this true?coz my hair is a medium dark brown and I am striving for something dark with discreet red highlights
Dawn Michelle says
Hi Vanessa,
With consistent full applications of henna, your hair will become darker and darker. Adding ingredients such as amla to your henna will also darken the color. Hope this helps!