Monday, January 20, 2014

Henna Hair Happiness!

I have an odd relationship with my hair.  I pretty much wash, apply gel, scrunch and ignore it until I get that rare haircut that doesn't quite lay right.  It works, the hair curls on its' own, I don't have to mess with it.  Get it cut every six weeks, color the roots and add highlights every other cut.  Boom. 

My hair is dark with a slight red-brown tint and blonder highlights

 I spend about $100 every six weeks and with, our new budget, that just wasn't working but I'm only 53 and not ready to go gray.

I tried coloring my hair with coffee and tea neither of which seemed to do anything so I dove into the idea of henna.  I looked at a lot of different websites and it seemed really messy and complicated.  then I stumbled upon DIYBeautyTutorials.com.  The site recommended using plain henna mixed in yogurt.   The amounts were nonspecific so I went with 1/2 cup of yogurt and 1 teaspoon of henna, leaving it on for one hour..

3.5 oz. Henna ($1.49)




I used an old t-shirt to cover my head.  The neck hole fit snugly around my head

The t-shirt absorbed some of the yogurt/henna mixture so I immediately put it to soak.  It washed out fine.
I didn't see a LOT of coverage and my grays reappeared the next day.  It takes three days for the color to fully develop and I didn't see a lot of change.  Five days later I repeated the process but DOUBLED the henna (2 teaspoons in 1/2 cup of yogurt).  After three days, here is what it looks like:

1/2 Cup of yogurt, 2 teaspoons of henna, left on for 1 hour
I am thrilled!  The grays are covered!  My natural color is darker so once the highlights/color grows out, I may have to change the formula a bit.

I got my hair cut without the color/highlights and saved $60.  That works out to about $500 savings/year!

So far, I am putting this down as a HUGE DIY win!  Follow me in my DIY Adventure as I try to save $$ and save the planet!

2 comments:

  1. Great savings, I have been dying my hair for almost 20 years now and I always wanted to try henna. But, because I am using a professional hair color the results could be disasterous if I switched. But the savings by doing it yourself are phenomenal! Good luck! Kerstin

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    1. Hi, Kerstin! Thanks for your comment!

      I did the henna over a professional hair coloring and highlights, which turned out brighter while my roots are a darker auburn.

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