Dying protein fibers with henna

Henna comes in many combination products.  I got a box of henna at the local health food store.  Organic with out additives or extras.

It was a winter project to remind me to do something “crazy”, new, playful and happy every day.

A friend applied it for me.  The directions said it was not really colorfast, and in 6 weeks it would have faded, roots would not be a “ problem “

My friend followed the directions in the package, following all the suggestions for vibrant intense color.  I got a very “red head” type of red,  bright orange.  Beside a deep cochineal you would not believe they derived from natural dyes!  Eye popping!

In my application the henna w hi as mixed with lemon juice for acid, functioned as  mordant I guess.  There was also egg yolk for conditioner. I think silk or wool or feathers would not need egg yolk.

The henna paste was painted onto my hair, its full length.  Wrapped in plastic to maintain the moisture, kept warm, (wool hat over plastic ), and I left it for 4 hours.

It’s been more than a couple months, the color is still very vibrant, and I very much have roots… with a uniform and sharp line dividing dyed from undyed

Eons ago I did a lot of dying with natural dyes, and I thought I would have enjoyed knowing about this dye plant!

Henna is fun to work with. It's messy like mud but almost nobody has an allergic response to it.

The PPD is commercial hair dye is very toxic and has caused severe allergic reactions for people. It is stronger in darker dyes but is present in most hair dye.

Henna is now more than just 'red', too, you can buy it combined with Rhubarb root and Cassia Obovata to make all sorts of shades, blonde to brownish to darker dyes when mixed with Indigo. It conditions the hair and won't damage the hair like bleach which opens the hair shaft to deposit the color.

That's another way Henna is different, it will deepen the shade if you apply over and over, as you are depositing color over color. But not damaging the hair itself first.

If you ever dislike the color of something you've applied, you can put dandruff shampoo mixed with crushed vitamin C tablets all over your hair, let it sit a while, and rinse out and although it will dry out your hair, a great deal of the color will be removed.

Be aware that some products labeled henna have ppd in them, especially 'black henna'. If someone has had an allergic reaction to a tattoo, they should never use any other product containing ppd in it. Also, once you use real henna on hair, do not use bleach products as the combo of the two will literally 'melt' hair. Best to go with a henna cassia combo to get the shade you want and avoid the bleach and the ppd, if you want to do anything to your hair.

Yes, if buying henna it’s really important to read the fine print ingredients.

Anything other than “henna red” has additives, sometimes it’s the rhubarb root mentioned above, sometimes it’s indigo, though if they add indigo to make brunette, and you don’t do the appropriate process for indigo, then either the indigo was preprocessed with ?toxic gick? or it’s going to fade and or wash out.  The labeling laws -if they exist- for cosmetics and beauty products are not “enforced”.  Untruthful labeling is rampant!  

The stuff I bought was fine leaf green powder.  But the fine print on the other colors from that brand listed all kinds of things.

I would be more apt to over dye or add my own walnut hull or coffee or whatever than to buy an adulterated product labeled “henna” that claimed to dye any color but “red”

I had similar experiences in college and beyond.  Straight-up pure henna color would last until it was cut off. I think if your hair is more porus it takes better. I lost the genetic lottery for haircolor, and started going grey in my teens. In my 20s henna was a great option, made my medium brown alburn with copper highlights. But as my hair became more white and less brown I felt I had to stop because it made my hair bright orange, like a roll of brand new copper wire. After 35, I switched to rinsing with a rosemary black tea blend which made the white hairs golden so the over all effect was a medium blond, but this needed to be done at every shower. After 45, what color was left in my hair with the white creates a sort of platinum blond look and I just go with that.

Melissa Ferrin wrote:I had similar experiences in college and beyond.  Straight-up pure henna color would last until it was cut off. I think if your hair is more porus it takes better. I lost the genetic lottery for haircolor, and started going grey in my teens. In my 20s henna was a great option, made my medium brown alburn with copper highlights. But as my hair became more white and less brown I felt I had to stop because it made my hair bright orange, like a roll of brand new copper wire. After 35, I switched to rinsing with a rosemary black tea blend which made the white hairs golden so the over all effect was a medium blond, but this needed to be done at every shower. After 45, what color was left in my hair with the white creates a sort of platinum blond look and I just go with that.

My mom won that genetic lottery too, she was already naturally golden haired, but her hair at 76 is a combo of white and golden which just looks platinum blonde. I have my dad's sandy coloring of the hair and starting having white hair mixed in as early as my 20s, but it has a buttery caste to it so it blends well. No toxins for me preferrably but I did a henna rinse in my 30s and it was super red. Other people liked it and it was fine with my pale skin but I felt that I looked like someone else, if that makes sense. I would see myself in the mirror and think, 'who's hair is on my head? Oh yeah I dyed it red'. And I've put chamomile and henna blends in to play around with it but it's always nice to just leave it alone as well, certainly easier than do-ing and -re-doing the hair.

Those package instructions were waaaaay off claiming henna fades out! Nope. Henna is forever.

I hennaed my graying auburn hair for years, switched to using more cassia in the mix to lighten it as I got more gray and root growth was more obvious. Now I want to just be my natural gray, and I'll have months of growing the henna out till the natural gray section gets long enough for me to chop off the henna.

I do love the henna red, and the more subtle cassia/henna strawberry blonde. I feel like a readhead is who I am. I'm not sure I will recognise myself in gray. It will be an interesting step into accepting the freedom of my crone years!

And, just imagine the gorgeous permanent colors on white wool or silk or a silk cellulose blend eg linen hemp or cotton!

Or I wonder what you would get dying a grey wool, or a golden cashmere.

I started this thread on dying protein fibers, because that’s what our hair is, but now I am curious whether henna would stain cellulose fibers.  Next time I henna my hair I will see what happens to the towel if I accidentally on purpose get the paste on it, and leave it there, all warm and moist, for a long time.

Probably needs a different mordant?  I wonder if anyone has any experience with that.

Thekla McDaniels wrote:And, just imagine the gorgeous permanent colors on white wool or silk or a silk cellulose blend eg linen hemp or cotton!

Or I wonder what you would get dying a grey wool, or a golden cashmere.

I started this thread on dying protein fibers, because that’s what our hair is, but now I am curious whether henna would stain cellulose fibers.  Next time I henna my hair I will see what happens to the towel if I accidentally on purpose get the paste on it, and leave it there, all warm and moist, for a long time.

Probably needs a different mordant?  I wonder if anyone has any experience with that.

I've seen henna dyed silk scarves and they are a browned down reddish color, like tea stain. There is also henna dyed wool yarn on etsy and it looks almost like golden blond dreadlocks, lol.

I just googled 'mordant for henna on cellulose' and it said, 'On cellulose fibres henna yields light yellow greens. Mordanting: Use alum mordant at 15% WOF for protein fibres. For cellulose, first mordant with tannin at 8% WOF, then either 1) use alum at 15% with soda ash at 2% or 2) use aluminum acetate at 8%.'

I've never dyed anything intentionally with it other than hair, but the white cotton towels that have absorbed it have a tea colored stain usually.

Hmmmm

Good idea, look on etsy to see what is there.

Too bad if it doesn’t give the really bright color I got on my hair.

I’ve got too many projects at present, else I would be getting in to some “research”.

I think on wool or mohair it could give a brighter colour, provided the henna mix had an acid added and was properly developed. One of the sites I've gone to got info on henna uses and showed samples of dyed fleece with good bright colours.
Only tiny amounts of fleece, though, that she applied a henna paste to just like we do with our hair. I think the volume of henna needed to apply a paste to a larger amount of yarn would be the issue. Most dyes work in a dye bath, but I'm not sure henna gives much colour intensity that way.  Probably why the henna dyed items Emily saw are lighter colours.