lush henna - caca marron/noir

I've never used Lush's henna, but I do have experience of using pure henna, and it does indeed darken over the first few days, as the henna oxidises with the air.  Lush's henna is not 100% pure, it's mixed with other ingredients, so I don't know if the oxidisation would be as intense with their henna as it is with 100% henna.  However, henna is a little bit like a veggie dye in terms of base colour, etc, as henna acts a bit like adding a transparent film of colour (usually red) over top of whatever base colour you already have.  Basically, I'm not sure how the fact that your base colour is green would affect the outcome of the henna, but it may not be the deep red-tinged brown that you're hoping for.  All you can do is try, and see how it comes out!

i see i see .. i had hoped that the best case scenario would be a muddy brown in the greenest sections as the red/green are on the opposite sides of the wheel (i THINK, i seem to remember someone suggesting using ketchup or red dye to tone green patches after a bleach), but then i was assuming a pure red and not a more natural ginger red. oops 😡 but it's very reassuring to hear that at least pure henna will darken over time, so i can expect at least some here, but i won't hold out for a massive change! i double checked the website and it said that the indigo in the caca marron will take 24 hours to fully develop after being washed off.

i shall reapply a few times, as you said with the base colour, maybe now that my base is a sandy gingery browny .. thing .. the next attempt will be better. thank you ^.^

[edit] just spent a little while grating half a block .. the amount of powder it produces is quite a bit i think and should make the "adding a little water at a time" thing easier. will try this batch as soon as i make a cup of coffee and can be bothered >.>

I'd be interested in your lil henna adventure. We rarely get henna users here so its good to learn what we can from those who do use it 🙂

happy to oblige! this latest batch is thicker than the first and is an actual paste. it went on easier than the runny version and did not drip at all because of it. only downside is that as bits started to dry, if i rubbed my hair it flaked off a bit. i hope i added enough water .. but yeah, currently sporting a rather (un)attractive pillowcase on my head, secured with bands to keep it tight around my temples so it doesn't fall off, and with a scarf around my neck - if anything flakes off, the pillowcase should catch most of it and save my carpet as i am not hanging out in the kitchen for four hours! the fibers should allow more oxygen to get through to assist in the oxidization too.

i get the feeling i read about someone else using a pillowcase before but i can't place it.

i'm looking forward to seeing how this one turns out ^.^

[edit] not sure if anyone will see this edit but i'm not sure if i can make a reply directly after one of my own even if it was written last night (actually, do the mechanics of posting support the idea of the "new" tag appearing when a post is edited so people are prompted to see said edit?) but anyway ..

morning after washing out the second application, and its definitely a deeper colour than before - which is nice! i actually rather like the colour itself, but so far i don't think it suits my complexion at all haha, which is a shame. its a deep auburn type indoors, with a firey "glow" in direct sunlight. it does follow the description of conkers, though it is lighter on my bleached hair than my roots and virgin hair. so lush had the thing right, i just don't suit it ^.^;

i should add that my virgin hair is a medium brown with no redeeming characteristics. it was pretty boring, and only ever looked nice when i had the mohawk freshly dyed and had a bit of regrowth on my sides, i liked the contrast.

i'll have some pics up later, i found one of my base faded green colour so there's a fair indication of what i started off with, plus the pic i took directly after the first application. will take a picture for today, and then possibly one tomorrow and then wednesday to show the three day oxidization bit.

i'm probably going to order the caca noir as that intrigues me as i definitely want to go darker. though i may mix half a block of noir with half a block of marron and see what happens! it may give me the darker tones with a slight reddish tint that i was after originally.

Oooooo cant wait to see pics 🙂

Tbh if you like the results from the lush henna you should look into baq henna. Once you have used it a few times its so much easier than trying to make the lush block into a paste and it is not as gritty. You could also go into a lush store and blagg a few piecies of noir to try.

i had considered popping into a store and asking for a sample to try, but it looks like the nearest brick store is in glasgow (i actually don't know where braehead is ^.^; oops), the train fare would cost about the same as a full set of the noir plus standard shipping. i don't know anything about baq henna or where to buy it .. is it pretty straight forward? i tried lush first because it looked pretty easy, and after my initial hiccup the second application was very simple, i didn't have any issues making the paste and my grater ate through the block with a little elbow grease. the grit i could live without, it was simple to remove in the shower but my hair is pretty darn short at the moment, i can only imagine it'll get harder the longer it becomes!

Using baq henna seems scary but it is really simple. I mix my henna with hibiscus tea to make a mud texture (not too runny but not too thick) then freeze it and take it out the freezer when i want to henna. Once its defrosted i apply it then leave for several hours. If you wanted to go brown/black you would add indigo (there is another herb you can use but cant mind its name) after the henna has defrosted. A mid brown mix would be 75% henna to 15% indigo. There are two lush stores in glasgow; one on buchanan st opposite tgi fridays and one on sauchiehall st in the savoy centre. If you want i can tell you how to get to braehead if you pm a rough idea of your location?

okaaaaaaaay here are some images. please forgive, they are far cry from the best. the lighting in the dyed ones were roughly the same from day to day, i'm just wearing makeup in the second one. the green one is just to show the base i had initially - and finally, one half block of grated caca marron ^.^

also! google puts the distance of braehead as just a mile or two closer than the glasgow stores, i suspect travel fares will be roughly the same unless i can con a family member to drive me :3 thank you anyway ^.^;

No problem 🙂 i like it! I think you could totes pull off a darker shade too.

thank you very much ^.^ i have to admit its growing on me .. i've wanted black hair since i was a very very very small girl, but that quickly changed when i discovered veggie dyes and then wished i had been born a natural platinum blonde instead >.> i'll see if the marron settles in to something i can enjoy rather than endure, but i definitely see myself trying out the noir - i think someone described it as going black with deep blue tones, i've always liked that too ^.^;

again i find myself wishing that life was not unlike the barber shop in world of warcraft. a handful of gold and change your hair as you like, length, cut, colour - no repercussions! hee

Wow!  It looks really good!  I also like the darker shade on you!  Can't wait to see how the lush noir one turns out!  However, another word of warning, it can be extremely difficult to actually get a proper black shade from henna & indigo, even with the pure BAQ stuff, so I wouldn't be too sure about the lush stuff coming out a proper black, it'll probably be more of a brown shade!

thank you ^.^ and for the warning! i think i'll be happy with a deep brown shade, a true black would be nice of course, but i suspect the deep brown would look more natural on me or something hehe

also on day .. three is it? the marron hasn't darkened any that i can tell, its no different from the last picture i put up so not going to bother, if i wanted to continue that route i think i'd need to repeat the application. but! my order should be arriving in a few days, hopefully will be able to test the noir this weekend ^.^

I like the results too 🙂 has it made a difference on hair consition? I hear henna has great benefits for hair, lush henna not so much but still something.