Henna Gloss and Adding Moisture to Your Henna

When I first began henna'ing 3 years ago I felt like it was a drying -my-hair- out-nightmare that I could not possibly benefit from. I was on a quest to achieve the long awaited silk strands that other hennalistas obtained from this magical pixie dust...That's when I came across a henna gloss treatment that incorporated conditioner into the mix. I thought conditioner?- this must mean extreme moisture! Well, I mixed up my henna and after the dye release I added some condish (Herbal Essence Hello Hydration). I loved the results-that it was easy to rinse out and my hair was so moisturized. I was a bit leery of my strands actually sucking up the dye, but I received good results and at the time I was more obsessed with keeping my my strands moisturized than discovering the perfect henna mixture.

Now  lets fast  forward to the present:  I long left the henna gloss recipe behind and figured out more natural additives to make my henna mix less drying. I can honestly say that it isn't drying to my hair what so ever. So why did I attempt the henna gloss again you ask?  I came across this alternative again and who would shoot down an opportunity for some added moisture? Certainly not me! So I stirred up my mixture and added my condish (Herbal Essence Hello Hydration again) a few hours later.

The results:

After rinsing it out my hair it felt nicely moisturized. I had no complaints that adding condish to the mix was a plus, but at what cost I wondered. What I realized  was that it  took 4 cowashes before the water began to look anywhere near clean. And after my deep conditioner I  still had so much more henna rinsing from my hair. This was not good. Without this added ingredient I could co wash maybe twice and proceed with my dc with very little run off of the henna. This leads me to believe that the condish ( which was not a mystery to begin with) definitely interferes with the dye uptake but so much that I had to watch my precious henna that was supposed to attach to  my stands be washed clean down the darn drain.... Never again!

If you're looking to add  more than just moisture  to your henna recipe you can :

*Mix it with aloe vera juice that haS a lower pH and helps with the dye release

*Add coconut milk which is high in oleic acid

*Add marshmallow root which will give great slip and make it clump together

*Add oils like coconut and cocoveda that add to a pleasant smell and protects the hair

*Add  honey for slip and shine