This afternoon my friend Sally came over and helped me dye my hair with henna. The henna smelled nice– like cooked spinach. It was the same green as cooked spinach as well:
I was happy with the natural scent, but a little alarmed at the strong green color. On my head, the effect was even more alarming:
I put the plastic bag that came with the henna on my head and spent the next two hours grading homework, reading, and wondering if the green would wash out or if I would be teaching my classes with spinach-hair on Monday.
I then took a shower and washed the green muck down the drain (no picture available). My hair is darker than normal but softer as well.
Now, if I need one of my nineteenth century characters to dye her hair, I know how to use henna.
Since writing this post in Feb 2011, I’ve learned a lot about dyeing with henna, so I encourage you to read my Dyeing with Henna Update post.
Elizabeth Caulfield Felt 
It’s been almost a year since I first tried henna, and I’m still using it and still happy with the results. I discovered that the “regular” henna did not cover my gray very well, so I’m using a two-stage process. It is sort of a pain to apply, but it is cheap and I like how it looks. I use Light Mountain Natural’s Color the Gray. There is so much dye in the package, that I only use half at a time. A great money saver.
(Note: I have no connection to Light Mountain Natural.)
[…] blog post that gets looked at the most is the one I wrote after dyeing my hair with henna the first time. That was written about a year and a half ago, and I’ve learned a lot since […]