Henna Gloss 21.09.13

“At the weekend I finally got around to doing my long outstanding henna gloss treatment. I can’t say I was looking forward to it as the whole process takes entirely too long, but it is worth it so needs must and all that!” 

I used my now tried and trusted recipe but tweaked it a little as I have some open boxes of auyedic powders that I want to use up. I started by brewing a mug of tea and in a separate bowl I soaked 2 x tablespoons of fenugreek seeds in some boiling water.


Once the black tea had brewed for about an hour I began tipping/spooning in the ingredients for the first stage of the mix:

Stage 1 of the Henna Mix
1 x 100g box of Henna  powder [body art quality]
1½ tablespoons of Amla powder
1 tablespoon of Aritha powder
1 x tablespoon of Neem powder
1 x tablespoon of Shikaika powder
1 x mug of black tea made with 2 teabags
2 x tablespoons of olive oil
1 x tablespoon of coconut oil

First I mixed in the warm tea then a little of the water from the fenugreek seeds, lastly I add the oils before covering and leaving the colour to develop overnight. The next day I added the final moisturising ingredients:

Stage 2 of the Henna Mix
2 x tablespoons of honey
3 x tablespoons of coconut milk [the settled solids from the can]
2 x tablespoons of water from the soaked fenugreek seeds [I’d left these to soak overnight]
1 x tablespoon of aloe vera juice

I combined the mix thoroughly and then left the mixture to sit for about an hour or so - I really was just putting off the whole process!

Marathon Detangling Session
I finger detangled in 10 sections. My hair was very tangled because it hadn’t been combed or finger detangled since my wash day some 2 weeks prior. I took it slow and steady and by slow I’m not kidding when I say it took me 1hr to do one half of my head. After detangling each section I two strand twisted it. My hair remained in the same 10 sections throughout the entire process and is still in those sections now. I used Taliah Waajid The Great Detangler on each section prior to manipulating the strands.


The Henna Application
I applied the henna mixture to each of the twists, unravelling, coating and re-twisting them as I went along. I didn’t use all the mixture and threw the remainder away. I then left the mixture on my head for 3 hours whilst I slept until about half past six. I was shattered by the time I’d finished standing in the bathroom detangling my hair so even though by the time I had applied the henna it was only mid-afternoon I was in need of a rest!

The Epic Rinse
I clipped the ends of each twist with a one pronged roller clip and then got into the shower to rinse out the henna. As usual this took a while but seemed to be quicker than normal. I’ve realised that since making the mix with coconut milk instead of conditioner it not only makes the henna gloss treatment smell better but it also seems to make rinsing more productive which is always a plus point! I have also noticed that since making it using this receipe my hair doesn’t get that ‘hard I’ve just henna’d my hair’ feeling whatsoever and my new growth also gets really soft so this recipe is a keeper.

After rinsing the bulk of the henna from each section I completely saturated my hair with Ion Taming Conditioner and left this on for a couple for minutes before gently massaging my scalp and each twist in turn. I then thoroughly rinsed the henna dyed conditioner from my hair.

Next, in order to make sure my scalp was clean I used Hair One Cleansing Conditioner with Olive Oil and applied this to my scalp and then through the length of my hair, making sure to reposition the clips so all the henna trapped in my strands under the clips was rinsed away. I massaged my scalp lightly then left the Hair One product on my hair for about 5 mins before massaging my scalp again and then rinsed thoroughly.


Ahhhhh, Deep Conditioner Time
After stepping out of the shower I covered my hair with a towel for 5 mins before I deep conditioned. I applied Keracare Humecto with a little ORS Replenishing Conditioner on the ends, covered with a conditioning cap (forgot to use my new gold foil cap for this!) and then I had another rest for about 45 mins before rinsing the deep conditioner out of my hair.

Detangling – Yes Again!
After washing I applied my leave ins, Infusium 23, Herbal Essence Beautiful Ends Leave In Cream, Hairved Cocasta Oil and Organix Coconut Milk Serum. I detangled each section of my hair using my fingers and then my Hercules Sagemann comb, if there were stubborn tangles I spritzed the tangled section with Mane ‘N’ Tail Detangler and gently pulled the tangle apart. I didn’t thoroughly detangle using the two comb method as I didn’t want to cause damage my hair as it’s kinda fragile at the moment and so is my scalp.

This is the total amount of hair shed, my last wash day was on 17 days ago on 5th September '13!   LEFT:  The small balls of hair is the total hair shed from each of the 10 sections during the entire henna and wash process the bottom ones are from the back of my head, the middle are from my crown and the top ones are from the front.  RIGHT TOP:  This is the smaller balls all grouped into two balls corresponding to the left and right side of my head.  RIGHT MIDDLE :  Same as above but all combined into one ball.  RIGHT BOTTOM:  Same as above but shown at a different angle.

Styling – Well I Suppose You Could Call It That
After detangling each section I braided the section into lovely attractive Celie braids as my hair will be hidden for the foreseeable.

 These braids are incredibly low maintenance and I love that! My hair and scalp are easily accessible and it makes my current wig routine super easy. I can’t tell you how many times this week I have got in the car and half way to work and had to check that I have actually remembered to put my wig on before leaving the house!

This routine is hassle free and stress free. I really need to start looking into purchasing a lace closure or frontal or whatever they are called so I can make my U-Part wig and I also need to get my BeShe Drew unit out of the packaging and actually wear it, maybe this weekend.

Ciao 4 Now