How to colour your hair with henna!

Hey guys!
So, I've been dying my hair with henna for awhile now, and figured I'd do a nice little blog on how to do it.
So. First off you will need your supplies. Depending on the length of your hair, you will need anywhere from 100g-500g of henna. I have had mediumish hair for the last while, (Until last week, when I got it cut.) So I've been using 200g. You will also need a bottle of lemon juice, a glass bowl (NO plastic. It will stain BAD.) gloves, and a plastic shower cap.

1.) You will want to make your Henna mixture the night before. Mix your henna powder, I use Jamila, with enough lemon juice to make a paste, roughly the consistency of mashed potatoes. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit overnight to oxidize.
2.) The next day, pour more lemon juice in with the henna and mix it until it has the consistency of yogurt. You will have a bowl of mud.

My muddy concoction.

3.) Get those gloves out! Pick up the mixture and rub it into your hair, making sure you get it ALL covered.
4.) Once you have it all soaked in henna, put on the shower cap and wait.
5.) I have left my henna in as long as five hours, and as little as two. I generally tend to go longer, as it tends to give richer deeper colour.

The pretty rust colour my hair is now.

The waiting game begins!

A few tips and tricks:

1. If you get indigo powder (I haven't been able to find any in my city, but you can order it online.) you can mix it with the henna to get more of a brown colour, instead of the rust colour.

2. If you do your hair with henna, then go over it with indigo (Also mixed with lemon juice) Your hair will be that natural black colour.

3. Want blonde hair? Soak your hair in lemon juice and go lay in the sun for a few hours. The lemon juice will help the sun bleach your hair out a bit. If now give you a super blonde, it will definately give you nice blonde highlights.

4. I've also read, though have had no need to try it, that if you use black tea in the henna mixture, it helps with grey coverage.

And just a note, the reason I've been dying my hair with henna is due to all the chemicals that are in regular hair dye! There are cancer causing chemicals in there, and all sorts of fun stuff. Henna, Indigo, Lemon Juice, these are all natural things that will change your hair colour. No additives that are harmful to you!

Hair dos

Okay. So. Today, I decided that I wanted to cut my hair short again. As I've had it short many times, and prefer it to long, as it was. Now, I'm not overly worried about my appearance, over the years I've had every colour under the sun, and many different hair styles, including a mowhawk.

What bothered me about this, was that I always bring pictures, and go into a TON of detail whenever it's someone new cutting my hair. I always make sure I try the best to get across what I'm going for. Apparently, this didn't work this time.

I went to a salon I had heard good things about, expecting to get a good service since it was a higher end salon. The guy I got was nice. No doubt about that. But he didn't LISTEN. Which, in my opinion, is the MOST important attribute to a good hairstylist. I wanted a choppy edgy pixie cut. I described it and told him how I'd had it cut in the past and how I like it. And yet, he first, cut it WAY to short in the back and WAY too long on the top. So I looked like a twelve year old boy with a bowl cut. Yeah. I just about CRIED. He saw I was upset, and did try to fix it a bit. But I was so dissapointed! That I could have sucha BAD experience at a hair place. Especially a higher end salon! Usually I just go to Magicuts or some place. So it was frustrating that I got a bad stylist there, and always have had good service at Magicuts or other cheap places.

I cried when I got home. Is that weird? My boyfriend told me I was crazy and overreacting. I told him I just wanted him to tell me I was still pretty. =P Though, luckily for me, my hair grows pretty fast. So I'll only have to live with this for a month before it's long enough to get it fixed. (My sister LOVES her hairstylist. Apparently what she loves about her is that she listens really well. So I'ma try her next.)

So have you guys ever had this happen? A really bad experience at a hair salon?