Long Overdue Henna Gloss - 10.05.12

"I've finally had time to schedule in my henna gloss treatment which is over 4 months later than planned!  I would like to do these monthly but haven't managed to do it since starting this HHJ."








These are the steps I followed:


1.  For this henna gloss I decided to make it using a hot cup of black tea, instead of  plain hot water.  I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that tea helps with the dye release.  I also thought that adding black tea to the henna could double up as my black tea rinse for this wash day which I knew I wouldn't be doing seperately.  I made the tea using 2 x PG Tips tea bags in a mug which I let steep for 3mins before adding to 1 x 100g box of Ayuuri Henna.  I mixed this until all lumps of dry henna were removed and it reached a thick consistency.  I then covered it with cling film/saran wrap, put it in a carrier bag and popped it in the airing cupboard for about 3 hrs for the dye to release.

2.  Once the dye had released from the henna I set about finger detangling my hair which had not been combed since my last wash day.   After baggying earlier this week, my hair was really damp so I couldn't continue with my pin curls past Tuesday so I had been rocking a bun for 2 days.  I sectioned my hair into 4 then lightly spritzed each section of hair with a moisturising concoction I'd made a while back just to dampen/lubricate my strands to minmise breakage and then added a little grapeseed oil to the section before  finger detangling and then following this up carefully with my HS Jumbo Rake comb.  Surprisingly detangling only took about 20mins.  After detangling I added some hemp seed oil which made my hair look and feel amazing.

Just a couple of pics of my newgrowth at 5 weeks post, prior to detangling.  Looking at the bottom pictures there doesn't appear tp be alot of newgrowth but in the top two picutre that were taken of secitons beneath the centre parting there is a little more going on.

3.  I then set about completing the henna gloss mix by adding conditioners and oil. I used Treseme Moisture Rich Conditioner as my base conditioner but this time I also used some Vo5 Moisture Elixir to use it up and Natures Gate Aloe Vera Conditioner.  To amp up the moisture even more I added a good glug of Aloe Vera Juice to try to combat any dryness since I used protein in my last wash and my hair has felt dry ever since.
 

I added Black Tea, Treseme Moisture Rich Conditoner, VO5 Moisture Soak Elixir Conditioner, Nature's Gate Aloe Vera Conditioner, Grapeseed Oil and Aloe Vera Juice to the mix

Top Left:  Mix with Tea  Top Right:  Mix left to sit for 3 hrs  Bottom Left:  Mix with conditioner added  Bottom Right:  Mix complete.

4.  I covered the floor with plastic and then set about applying the henna.  This mix smoothed onto my hair really nicely - I could feel that it was packed full of moisture and it always feels like this when I remember to add aloe vera juice to the mix.  I applied the henna in the 4 sections splitting each of the back sections in two and each of the front sections in three before putting completed section into a bantu knot then moving onto the next.  Application took about 30mins max.  I then popped some cotton wool in my ears to stop the drips getting inside my ear and then covered with a small plastic bag before jumping into the shower to get all the bits of henna off my skin.  I only had one glove available so I now have orange fingertips on my left hand!  I then covered the plastic bag with my wooly hat and went to run some errands.  Luckily the mixutre didn't drip at all whilst I was out and about.

5.   I left the henna on my hair for just over 5hrs before rinsing out.  When I removed the plastic bag a load of watery henna spilled out.  This has never happened before.  It was messy, but I saw it as a good sign that it should result in a nice moisturising henna gloss.

This time around I rinsed the henna out in the shower which has variable water pressure.  OMG!!!!  That drastically cut down the rinse time by more than half!!!!  I didn't have the water pressure on high as this can thin your hair but it was brilliant.  I rinsed each section using my shower filter head starting at the back and then cowashed each section using about 12 pumps of Nature's Gate Aloe Conditioner on each of the sections before rinsing out completely until the water ran clear.  I made sure to rub my scalp to dislodge any residue of the conditioner and the henna.   I then covered my hair with a Tshirt for for about 20mins.

6.  After removing the Tshir I applied my leave ins Elasta QP H2, SCurl and sealed with hempseed oil.  I then air dried to about 80% dry with a satin scarf around my shoulders to protect my ends.  I then applied more moisturiser, Elasta Mango Butter, Mixed Chicks Leave In (a freebie sample from BritishCurlies.co.uk) and grapeseed oil to each section before detangling with my HS Jumbo Rake comb followed by my Denman Ebonite comb.   I really love how my hair felt during my last wash day when I double detangled and although I loose more hair this way I think it makes more sense to get any tangles out on wash day when my hair is most supple, rather than leave them there to get worse by my next wash day.  I know it's only been a week but using this method has cut down on the amount of large tangles and knots as all the shed hair is removed.

If I am honest, I probably wasn't as carefull as I could have been during the final detangling as I was tired but I still took my time with it but I definitely heard some breakage in one or two areas.

7.  I then applied some grapseed oil and Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum to each section before putting my hair into two strand twists and covering with a satin scarf.

Shedding = Medium to low

Breakage = Medium

SHEDDING & BREAKAGE   Top:  During pre wash detangling.  Middle:  During cowashing  Bottom:  During final detangling.  This looks like a lot but it's not that much (for me) and the balls of hair have not been compacted.

 
The plan for today is to install my kinky twists.  I am thinking now that my hair might be too long for me to install the hair if it is cut in half.  I don't want long twists again so I am going to have to try to work something out during this install if I run into length issues.

Ciao 4 Now

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