A Sword-woman's Natural Hair blog: Henna journey

Pic spams about my 2020-1 henna'ings incoming 😃! My henna adventures started in 2010-11, and then again in 2019 until today, after a Manic Panic experiment in 2013 and a long hiatus after that. This post, as per usual, will include a hefty pic spam xD 🤩

See this post about my 2022 henna'ings for the henna post with the most comprehensive info about the general benefits of henna and the benefits that I have noticed for my hair especifically, and I also delve in more detail in that post on how often I use henna, which brands I use, how much henna I need for both complete length dyes and root retouches, and how the henna application and general henna'ing process looks like for me. In this post I'll also be mentioning most of these details, but check the other post for a more detailed overview! And, as per usual, get ready for silly pics during and after the henna application 🤣👍!

✨2020 September henna'ing 😄✨

In September 2020 I went back to henna after my one and only 2019 henna'ing, and I also used Khadi henna for the first time (the 'Pure Red' shade, which is just henna - the rest of shades in the Khadi brand are typically a mix of henna and various other herbs, such as cassia, indigo or walnut). I typically find Khadi henna to be quite high quality, with good coverage and pigmentation, rather better than the Radhe Shyam brand I also use sometimes (although from 2023 forwards I only use Khadi for my root touch-ups). For this henna'ing session, I dyed my whole hair, so I used rather more than I usually do for my root retouchs, in this case a whopping 300 g (three boxes!) for my then mid-thigh (F ii/iii) hair.

The henna powder (left), which I mixed with a strong infusion of red tea and hibiscus flowers.

I mixed the henna powder with a strong infusion of red tea and hibiscus, which I did to try and enhance the red tones even more (allegedly it doesn't really do that much to enhance the red tones of the dye, it might be more of a subtle effect, but I sometimes do it anyway, although lately it's just been warm water and a couple tablespoons of vinegar for the acidic dye boost). With some additional help (thanks xD!), I applied it evenly to all of the hair (starting on one side, then the other, then the back), piled it up, covered it with a plastic shower cap, tin foil (to entrap the heat better) and a towel, and let the henna sit for 2 hours, applying heat from time to time with the blow dryer (I don't do the latter anymore, I find that the heat is maintained pretty well with just the cap, foil and tower, even in Winter).

When the two hours were up, I lengthily rinsed all of my hair on the shower. The henna already does a great job at cleaning the scalp, so you don't really need to use shampoo in this case, although you can also use a little if you need additional cleansing to get rid of all the henna mud (I go for the henna-based Radhe Shyam mahogany shampoo). I also tend to use a bit of conditioner on the length to help detangle it while in the shower and avoid tangle problems later xD. Then I brow-dry my roots and let the length air dry, and phew, the henna'ing is finally done 😅.

The mess in the kitchen was epic, as we still didn't have sufficient practice with the henna process (we do now), so enjoy 😂😂:

I quite like how the 2020 henna turned out, my dark auburn hair turned quite redder, especially in the Sun ❤️, and much redder than it turned out with the 2019 henna, too (no wonder, because in 2019 I used a combo of years-stale Jamila henna I had procrastinated about using 😅, combined with the lower quality Radhe Shyam henna). Of course, with darker hair as the base it only looks very red in certain lightings - the henna sheen especially features in direct (evening) sunlight and most cases where there is backlighting, both featuring natural and artificial light -, but the beauty of henna is also that it changes so drastically in each lighting, and I've come to love that about it 😁!

These are from the same day of the henna'ing, just after the hair dried, in the direct evening Sun 🤩 (also on Instagram here, here, here, and here):

And, while the red tones resulting from my 2020-24 henna'ings sometimes look closer to true red/burgundy than my preferred copper red in many lightings (like I said, we also we have to take into account that my base colour is a dark auburn brown with copper highlights), the henna still glows copper in certain lightings (this is commonly known as 'henna sheen'), especially with direct sunlight backlighting, and the greys range from bright copper to true red, depending on the henna brand (I get bright copper with the pure Khadi henna, true red with the Mahogany Radhe Shyam, for example). So all in all, I'm pretty happy with the tones that I get.

So let's have a lot more pics now! Firstly, from the day after in different lightings, with tones ranging from the copper henna sheen to more mahogany and burgundy tones (also on Instagram here and here):

Lighting: Indirect indoors midday-early afternoon sunlight. Featuring a flipped bun.

Lighting: Indirect indoors midday-early afternoon sunlight. Featuring a flipped bun.

Lighting: Indirect indoors midday-early afternoon sunlight. Notice the coppery henna sheen in the mirror reflection. Featuring a flipped bun.

Lighting: Indoors artifical light at night + flash

Lighting: Outdoors direct early afternoon sunlight. Featuring a flipped bun.

Ends in natural light, indirect early-afternoon sunlight. Colour can change very drastically depending on the angle and the camera

And also more pictures with the red tones in different lightings, most from September, and some from early November 2020 (also on Instagram here, here, and here):

Lighting: Indoors direct afternoon sunlight

Lighting: Outdoors direct afternoon sunligh. Featuring a casual cinnabun.

Lighting: Outdoors direct dusk sunlight. The reddest tones, and I like how the eyes match the hair xD 😍👌 (they're hazel-amber with amber, yellowish-green, reddish-brown and darker brown shades, and often turn nearly fully amber-to-orange in the Sun, especially evening and sunset light). Featuring a paranda three-strand braid and a half-up, with a couple of flexi-8s.

Lighting: Outdoors direct dusk sunlight. The reddest tones, and I like how the eyes match the hair xD 😍👌 (they're hazel-amber with amber, yellowish-green, reddish-brown and darker brown shades, and often turn nearly fully amber-to-orange in the Sun, especially evening and sunset light). Featuring a paranda three-strand braid and a half-up, with a couple of flexi-8s.

Lighting: Outdoors direct dusk sunligh. Featuring a paranda three-strand braid and a half-up, with a couple of flexi-8s.

Early November 2020. Lighting: Outdoors cloudy afternoon natural lighting. Featuring a knotted Valkyrie ponytail.

Early November 2020. Lighting: Outdoors cloudy afternoon natural lighting. Featuring a knotted Valkyrie ponytail.

✨2021 henna ✨: Since 2022, I do bi-monthly full root retouching, and sometimes I touch up my temples in-between. In 2020 I only henna'ed once (in September), and in 2021 I started henna'ing more often, starting in May 2021 with a full roots+length henna'ing, and then in late June 2021 and November 2021 with root-touch ups.

The process was the same as my 2020 henna'ing, only I routinely started using a couple tablespoons of an acidic liquid, such as lemon or orange juice (I now use vinegar, which is a bit less acidic than lemon), which helps with a stronger dye release of the henna powder, and also boosts deeper reds. Instead of just henna, in 2021 I also typically used a mix of 60% Pure Red Khadi henna and 40% cassia for lighter copper tones instead of true red (I now find that pure red Khadi henna already gives copper tones rather than true red, so I tend to skip the cassia). I mostly did root touch-ups, but for the whole head I would use some 200 g of henna (2 boxes) alongside some 150 g of cassia for my then knee-length hair (and a little bit less than half of everything for just the roots). Whenever any mix was left after doing all of my roots/hair, I saved the remaining henna in a plastic bag, kept it frozen and used it for my temple touch-ups in between the full root retouchings. In 2021, I also still mixed the henna powder with a strong infusion of red tea and hibiscus, and, as usual, the waiting time before rinsing was 2 hours.

May 2021: Full roots+length henna'ing, featuring silly posts and henna sheen in direct evening sunlight (also in Instagram here, here and here):

Just after henna'ing, direct sunlight, evening lighting 😍👌:

Flipped bun and cinnabun from same month, featuring henna sheen in direct (indoors) evening sunlight:

June 2021: Root touch-up in late June-July 2021, feauturing more silly pics and some more henna sheen in late afternoon indoors direct and indirect sunlight (also on Instagram here and here):