Henna and Indigo Application to Dye Hair Black

Muzna · June 17, 2015, 2:04pm

Has anyone tried this?

Indigo is a plant that has a blue dye in it. You probably have indigo dyed cloth in your closet, in a pair of blue jeans. Jeans are dyed with indigo. People have used indigo alone or in combination with henna to dye their hair black for at least 4000 years. During the 19th and 20th century indigo was such a common hair dye in Europe and the US, that it was marketed as “black henna”. Henna is never black, henna never dyes hair black, but powdered indigo resembles powdered henna and it DOES dye hair black. So, when indigo was sold as hair dye, it was called “black henna”. When it was sold to dye cloth, it was called indigo. There are are still many boxes of indigo in stores marked “black henna” as a legacy of this old misnomer.
Some boxes of “black henna” are real indigo. Some boxes are cellulostic material and PPD, para-phenylenediamine, a hazardous aniline (coal tar) dye. If you open a box of “black henna” that is indigo, you’ll see green powder that smells like frozen peas. If you mix that with water, you’ll see a blue glaze form on the surface after a while. If you plop some wet indigo powder on paper or cotton, blue dye will leak out. Indigo hair dye looks like what you see above. This indigo is from Mehandi.

If you open a box of “black henna” or “black mehndi” and the powder is brownish black or black, it probably has PPD in it. If you mix it with water, blackish brown liquid will leak out. That stuff is not henna. It’s not indigo. It’s chemicals and it may hurt you.

Indigo is a bit of a chore to use as a hair dye, but the results are gorgeous!
Henna for Hair: How to dye your hair black with Indigo … no chemicals

arabianights · June 17, 2015, 5:30pm

Re: Henna and Indigo Application to Dye Hair Black

A relative tried it. It was the same as henna you mix it with water and you can find it in asian store, im not sure what colour the powder since i didn’t see it when she used it. It made her hair go extremely black similar to the effect you get from black hair dye it also made her look really washed out and pale so be careful if you don’t want and extremely black colour.

Muzna · June 17, 2015, 6:42pm

Re: Henna and Indigo Application to Dye Hair Black

I will have to find a happy medium of mixing the Indigo and the Henna because I really don’t have a choice since my allergic reactions to chemical hair colours are getting more and more intolerable.

Ess_Emm · June 17, 2015, 6:57pm

Re: Henna and Indigo Application to Dye Hair Black

Have you looked into Lush’s Henna bars? They have a formulation that already comes with indigo Caca Noir Mama Hair Henna | Henna Hair Dyes | LUSH Cosmetics

arabianights · June 17, 2015, 7:10pm

Re: Henna and Indigo Application to Dye Hair Black

No i think indigo is good since it colours hair to a great extent.

i just mean it didn’t suit her and also didn’t look very natural as her hair was previously light perhaps thats why it took up the colour alot?

I think it will be perfect for a natural dark colour if you mix it , and you might not need to mix it if your hair is naturally dark .

Sehar · June 17, 2015, 7:42pm

Re: Henna and Indigo Application to Dye Hair Black

I was actually doing some reading on this couple of weeks ago. There are a couple of great threads at Hennacaravan regaring indigo/henna, read the comments section, it has a lot of info. I think for dark brown hair the ratio is 70% henna to 30% indigo.

Have you tried ion demi? It does not have PPD.

Muzna · June 18, 2015, 4:29pm

Re: Henna and Indigo Application to Dye Hair Black

This looks quite interesting…and less time consuming than the two-step process that I’ve read for henna/indigo which could mean up to 6-7 hours in total.
I will definitely read up and give this a try.

Thanks!

Muzna · June 18, 2015, 4:31pm

Re: Henna and Indigo Application to Dye Hair Black

I haven’t read about ion demi, I’ll do that now but I did try another product that was PPD free and still had the reaction. So I’m at a loss and don’t want to keep on spending money on more chemical products. I"m trying to switch to something all natural so there is no chance of any chemicals being involved.

Muzna · June 18, 2015, 4:40pm

Re: Henna and Indigo Application to Dye Hair Black

Did some reading on the Lush Caca Noir product and I don’t think that it will work for me because it doesn’t really cover gray and that’s the only reason for me to colour my hair…

A: No, our Caca Noir does not cover grays. Although, if you’d like to try our Caca Rouge that actually gives really amazing gray coverage, it will just be a bit of a process achieving a darker color, because you have to layer the hennas to get to your desired black hair.
Answered on 2/14/2015 by Anonymous

A: It will have an effect, but not anything near the same effect as it would on hair that has not grayed. I think it’s a combination of the loss of pigment and the change in texture that occurs with gray hairs, they are very tricky to color. I would definitely spot test it before applying it to your whole head. I know I have received samples of other products in store, but I am not sure if they offer it with this product- can’t hurt to ask! I have tried all of the options, and all provide a light reddish effect on my grays. Caca rouge and caca maroon tend to be more orange, while caca brun and caca noir have a bit more brown to them (but not a lot).
Answered on 2/5/2015 by Jaime from Seattle, WA

The henna/indigo process described by HennaSook is supposed to give you gray coverage. I guess I’ll have to invest the time.
I went yesterday and picked up some Henna Sook products. I’ll give it a try this weekend insha Allah.

www.hennasook.ca

Sehrysh · June 18, 2015, 5:03pm

Re: Henna and Indigo Application to Dye Hair Black

True. The Lush Henna will place on top of the hair shaft and will not penetrate it - so you’ll get a blond-ish colour for white hairs. I was told my the Lush-counter girl that you could potentially build colour with repeated applications and the white would become blonde and then eventually darker - but each application is like a 4 to 6 hour ordeal. Sadly, ain’t nobody got time fo’ that!!

Sehar · June 18, 2015, 7:27pm

Re: Henna and Indigo Application to Dye Hair Black

@Muzna it was hennasook and not hennacaravan as i said earlier. Please do let us know how it works out.

Sidra_1 · June 18, 2015, 9:27pm

Re: Henna and Indigo Application to Dye Hair Black

@Muzna

Yes I did it for more than a year, even blogged about it.
http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/sidra/114066-how-to-hennafy-your-hair.html

The thing with Indigo is that you shouldn’t let it rest for more than 20 minutes.

Muzna · June 19, 2015, 12:23pm

Re: Henna and Indigo Application to Dye Hair Black

Thanks Sidra.
I noticed in your blog before/after pic you have the same shirt on but the colour appears different so I’m not sure what to make of your hair colour.
Did it really go from brown to jet black?

If this works for me I’ll be so very, very relieved to be rid of this allergy business that has scarred the back of my neck and several parts of my ears and scalp.

Sidra_1 · June 19, 2015, 8:00pm

Re: Henna and Indigo Application to Dye Hair Black

I had dark brown hair with slightly reddish tones where I had bleached before. I think it was going to be the 4th or 5th time I was going to put henna.
The middle picture was right after I took shower/dried them. And the last one was the next day in the morning with no artificial lights. It was pretty dark (not jet black), but it had a light red-brownish hue.

Just like when you have dark hair and you color it blonde. It still looks darks but it has a dark blonde tint in day light. I hope I make sense.

You will have to play with the ratio to have the desired effect. Make sure you apply a deep conditioning mask, because indigo dries your hair !

Muzna · June 23, 2015, 2:35pm

Re: Henna and Indigo Application to Dye Hair Black

So it’s the day after…and my greys are a reddish-brown. Not what I had hoped to achieve but I’m going to be patient for a couple of days to let the colour settle as most instructions recommend.

Then if it’s still not dark enough I’m going to re-apply and see what happens.

And thanks for the tip on the deep conditioning…you’re right, the indigo does dry out the hair.

Muzna · December 3, 2015, 1:38pm

Re: Henna and Indigo Application to Dye Hair Black

Coming back to this thread to provide further updates…
It seems the single step process of mixing henna with indigo really wasn’t working for me.
I tried it a few times with different concentrations of indigo and I still kept getting red results and definitely not the black that everyone else was talking about.
Finally I just bit the bullet and did the two step process:

mix henna and leave overnight to release colour
apply henna and leave in for minimum 2 hours
rinse well (do not shampoo…very few people who describe this process mention this but I think it’s important so the hair shaft has no chemical treatment after the henna, even if it’s only shampoo)
mix indigo (be sure to add the right amount of salt) and let it sit for 5-10 minutes before you apply to rinsed, damp hair.
let indigo set for minimum 2 hours
wash hair and style

My results were excellent considering the job I did applying the indigo. Hair turned black the way I wanted it to.
(Some light roots were still visible if you really hunted for them but I think that’s because I didn’t apply the products carefully enough.)

Another thing that I learned in this process is that the allergy to hair colour is something that can happen to anyone. It’s not like you’re allergic or you’re not. It can develop through repeated use of chemical-based colourants. As time goes on the chemicals accumulate in your body and eventually you react. So if you do struggle with premature greying, try to switch to a non-chemical process as early in your life as you can.