Henna: The Gray Hair Killer!

Once I began my natural journey and did the BC, my hair was much shorter than it had ever been. With that, I began to notice gray hairs that I never noticed before. I started panicking! :) Maybe some people like the "salt n pepper" look but I don't. I want to keep my youthfulness for as long as possible. lololol. So, anyway, I was panicking because I decided not to use any chemicals or heat in my hair. What the heck was I going to do to cover these gray hairs? I researched and found 100% body art quality henna was completely natural (from a plant). I use henna every 6 weeks or so to cover gray hair new growth and it works extremely well for me. I want to clear up a few misconceptions as it relates to henna:

1. Henna does NOT come in different colors. Henna comes directly from a plant and is only one color (which will come out dark red). If your henna comes in different colors like black, brown, blonde, etc, it has been altered and is not in it's natural state. 
2. Henna does not darken naturally dark hair. My natural hair is really dark (probably jet black). Henna does not alter that color at all. Henna goes through and looks for the light hairs (in my case, the gray hairs) and turns them red. Everything else stays the same... 
3. Henna does NOT straighten your hair or make you lose your curl pattern. Your curl pattern will remain the same (just no gray hairs!). 
4. Henna may dry your hair a little so be sure to condition/moisturize your hair daily.

If interested, I ordered my henna from www.mehandi.com. The 100g package is enough for my short hair. However, if you have longer hair, you may need to order a bigger package. The recipe I use is as follows:

• 100g Ancient Sunrise Henna
• 2 cups water
• 2-3 green tea bags
• honey

Empty the henna package into a large mixing bowl. It will be a dark greenish/gray powder. Boil the water and tea bags on the stove to make green tea. Pour the hot tea into the bowl with the henna. Add one "swirl" of honey. (I don't know how to measure the amount of honey, but I just take the bottle of honey, and go around one time, as if I was drawing a circle on top of all the other ingredients.) Stir it well with a large spoon. It will start to look like dark green baby poop. lol. Stir it until all the lumps are out. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit for a couple hours. Then:

1. Section hair in 4 sections. 
2. Apply this as you would apply a perm. (**Use gloves because it will turn your hands orange!**)
3. Within each of the 4 sections, part smaller sections and apply the henna mixture.  
4. Continue until all hair is covered. 
5. Wrap your hair with plastic wrap and let it sit for atleast 4 hours. (The longer it sits, the better results.) 
• If you are in a rush, some people sit under the dryer (without the plastic wrap, of course) for an hour. It has worked for them... 
• I don't apply heat to my hair so I no longer do dryers. I wrap my hair in plastic wrap, put my satin head scarf on top of it and leave it all day, go to sleep with it and wash it out the next morning with shampoo. Remember to condition your hair as well and style as normal.