I gave henna a shot for the first time last week and while my hair is now thick and shiny and soft and lovely, it also smells like an old moo-cow barfed on my head.
I’ve washed it a few times, applied lavender oil and rosewater, and even used vinegar in my final rinse, but the hay smell is still going strong. If anyone can explain to me why vinegar will remove cat pee from a carpet but not hay funk from a head of hair, I’ll send you a cookie shaped like a Nobel prize.
On the plus side, my daughter’s guinea pig completely adores me right now.
My hay smell lasted about 3 days, gradually fading. I, too, love the smell of hay, but there is something about the henna smell that goes kind of beyond hay…it’s hard to describe, but it gets old fast. My hair looks gorgeous, though, so it’s worth it. You might try a basin of straight apple cider vinegar to really attack the smell.
Hairdresser: The first thing we’re gonna do is flush the follicles with the five essential oils. Then, we put you under a vapor machine, and then a heated cap. Then, we shampoo and shampoo and condition and condition. Then, we saturate the hair in diluted vinegar-- two parts vinegar, 10 parts water. Now, if that doesn’t work, we have one last resort. Tomato sauce.
I’m a henna-head also, got my hair done up last week. I’ve found that nothing but time will make the smell go away. I’ve been known to spritz my hair with a little perfume or body spray to cover up the smell. A week or two of slight henna smell is nothing to pay for the months of gorgeous hair!
I adore henna. Apart from the shiny lustrous RED hair, it also makes my scalp all happy. And yeah, every time my hair gets wet, I can still smell it. But, I do the simplest mix with pretty much just lemon, henna, and vinegar. If you add lavender oil to the mix itself, does it still smell hay-ey in the future?
Sauve had a shampoo with a peperment smell. It working on taking away many smells that are hard to remove from your hands or hair. You had better be able to stand the smell of pepermint though. It doesn’t contain pepermint listed in the ingrediants, but thats the smell. Sauve Daily Clarifying UPC 79400-76440
I find adding clove to the henna mix, while it didn’t change the color dramatically, cuts down on the hay smell.
Of course, my head smells like cloves, instead.
With thick hair to my ass, regular henna is so frigging heavy it hurts my neck after an hour. I’m going to try one of Fia’s gelled henna recipes next - the "Smooth gelled henna, tedious preparation but very smooth and easily applied gel " in the middle of the page that’s unfortunately not bolded. This calls for basically straining the henna mix after dye release and then mixing it with pectin. This should give a smooth, Nice-and-Easy-like dye. I’m not sure if it will make it less hayey or not. I’ll let you know.
Yes. (According to unscientific studies performed in my kitchen.) Seriously, we put a good amount of lavender eo in last week’s batch. Still stinky. The best friend claims that it smells slightly less stinky, though. We use just henna and lemon juice.
I used lavender EO in my mix. Didn’t do a darned thing for the smell. I used molasses and black tea to mix it; I considered using coffee, but I’ve done hair coloring with coffee before and ended up smelling like a Starbucks for a week.
And, of course, after I finished plastering the 6 pounds of cowpie colored mud into my hair and got it wrapped up, work called wanting to know if I could come in.
Um…no.
The smells starting to fade. And you know, it just occurred to me that it might fade faster if I take it down out of its customary bun and let it air out. :smack:
That reminds me; I need to find a good local Indian store that actually sells body art henna, as the health food store henna is old enough to not dye too effectively. (I guess nobody buys it. ::shrugs: Too bad all the close ones don’t sell henna at all, otherwise I’d hit them up. Maybe I’ll give the health food store henna one more try, but give it overnight to develop for maximum color. (I’m trying to go for a dark copper color, but I keep getting dark brown-auburn instead.)
The hay smell will go away, but it’s kind of inevitable that you’ll be a guinea pig friendly scent for a while.
nashiitashii, I swear I don’t work for her (in actual truth, I don’t even like her much, she’s a bit of a bee-yotch, but boy does she know her henna!) but Catherine Cartwright-Jones sells body art quality henna for hair at [LINK REMOVED VIA GOOGLE LEGAL ACTION], along with indigo and gloves and all the other stuff you may want. She even gives away samples of terps and other dye related herbs and things for $1 for shipping, if you want to try something new.
Her stuff is really, really good. It was the first time I discovered that henna is, y’know, green! Like bright vibrant grassy green, not dull green or yellow or brown. And hers is all leaf, with scarcely a bit of stem to be found.
Also, scroll down and check out the hair colors and mixes on this page. Lots of them have before and after pics, so you can find something like your starting color and work from there.
Another vote for buying from the Reverend Bunny, she’s got the goods. Although I think they laugh at me every time I order and actually pay for shipping when I could just drive over I’m lazy, what can I say.
Don’t even bother with the local stores, the just don’t have enough buyers of henna to keep fresh product on the shelf. Go buy something else from them if you want to support 'em.
I use cloves too. I’ve been told they make a darker red, but I’m not sure I’ve noticed a difference. I DO love the cloves smell though, so I keep using them anyway.
Too bad all the close ones don’t sell henna at all, otherwise I’d hit them up. Maybe I’ll give the health food store henna one more try, but give it overnight to develop for maximum color. (I’m trying to go for a dark copper color, but I keep getting dark brown-auburn instead.)
I’m lazy, what can I say.