Dy(e)ing for henna!

Having dyed my hair with henna for a couple of years now, and living in a region where henna is cultivated and used as a cosmetic to colour nails, skin and hair, I thought I'd write a short tutorial about how to dye your hair with this natural product.

This time I used a very good henna which I bought on the Sinaw market in Oman. I am not a specialist  on henna quality, but I could actually see there was no added product, since the powder looked very green, smelt strongly of dried plants and there was even some bigger pieces of henna leaves in there. 

Now the main advantage of dyeing your hair with henna is that it's 100% natural and it actually protects the hair. Chemical hair colouring products get inside your hair fibres and weaken your hair, whereas henna forms a protective coat around each strand of hair. The drawback of henna is that it will always give a copper brown result, so if it's not your colour, it's not your product!

Instructions: I usually use about 100-150 grams of henna powder, on which I pour boiling water until I get a smooth, creamy paste. This part is the tricky one, since if your henna mix is too liquid, it will fall off your hair, and if it's too thick it's going to be hard to apply it onto the hair. Then I apply the warm mix onto my wet hair with a small brush. When finished, I wrap my hair in plastic to avoid stains and put a towel on top of it (maintaining the hair warm improves the dyeing process). I keep it  on for around two hours, rinse, et voilà!

The Bedouin woman I bought the henna from, in Sinaw, Oman.
On the picture she's trying to sell me one of her peaked masks, but it didn't convince me!

Henna powder

Henna paste, ready to be applied

If your hair is a dull light brown mixed with sooo premature greys, the result will look like this!

Getting a henna tattoo in Dubai

Result of a tattoo after removing the henna paste.
It can last from 10 days up to three weeks.