Hair Care

Henna Gloss Recipe {Hair Care}

Swathy · September 12, 2011 · 7 Comments

Applying henna is a very very tedious process so I found out that there is a simpler version of henna – Henna Gloss. It is easy to prepare, apply and wash off. So, I tried this one out.

What is Henna Gloss?

Henna is mixed with a conditioner and applied to the hair.

Henna Gloss vs Henna

Henna is drying for the hair and can make the hair straight and straw-like for people with dry hair. Henna doesn’t suit everyone and then, applying henna is a really tedious process. One has to make sure that the color doesn’t get on the hands or neck or ears or forehead and dripping is an issue if henna becomes too thin. And, applying thick henna is not easy as it doesn’t spread easily on the hair and very often, you need help to apply henna. Henna makes the hair straighter so people with curly hair who love their curls hate using henna on their hair.

So, henna is mixed in little quantity with henna to make it easy to apply henna, it helps with color touch ups for people who use henna and the roots begin to show and to avail the conditioning properties of henna without compromising on the hair texture. This also doesn’t affect the curls like henna does.

Henna Gloss Recipe

Often, henna is mixed with a conditioner which doesn’t have any silicone or protein in a ratio of 1:3 or 1:4 to make the texture of the mixture into a creamy paste just like those of the hair colors. The conditioners which have silicone or protein in them do not mix well with henna so try not to use such a conditioner as the results might not be that good.

My Henna Gloss Recipe

Since I wasn’t supposed to use a conditioner with protein or silicone, I thought of using the only natural conditioner I had – Biotique Watercress. I am yet to review it but for those interested, its an amazing conditioner. And, I had Biotique Henna Powder too which is again I found out amazing. I shall review that too but I am not using it for coloring purposes so I don’t know how much useful my review would be. But, one thing which I noticed was that when I mixed the powder with amla juice, it smelled exactly like the henna leaves smell when ground into a paste. Coming back to the recipe, I am elaborating it below.

Ingredients

5 table spoons Biotique Henna Powder
Amla Juice to make paste of Henna Powder
5 table spoons Biotique Watercress Conditioner

Method

I use amla juice because one should use acidic liquid to activate the henna color and also amla is very good conditioner for hair. You can use water or any liquid of your choice. Make a paste of henna powder and leave it overnight. Next day morning, mix in the conditioner. Ok, since Biotique conditioner is very watery and thin in consistency so my mixture became thin in consistency but it wasn’t dripping but it wasn’t creamy which you would get of you use creamy conditioners. Btw, you can’t use Dove as it has a cone ingredient in it. Anyway, I used Biotique conditioner because of another reason too – I didn’t want to use any heavy conditioner on my scalp. I use conditioners only below my ear level. You might want to consider that point also. Anyways, after all that mixing done, the mixture is prepared and applied on the hair. It is easy to apply and then, leave it on for as long as you desire. If you are going for a deep conditioning treatment which henna gloss is meant to be, keep it on for 3-4 hours as I did. I kept it on for 3 hours I guess. While washing off, use a conditioner to wash off all the gunk from your head. And, make sure your hair is completely clean before stepping out. Do not shampoo.

Results

without flash

My hair is shinier and so soft that I really don’t have words for it. But, the results of this was damn good. My hair is more hydrated and silkier too. And, my curls are looking great. And, I do think that there is a little bit of brown which my hair caught on to but I am not very sure of that. Next time, I shall take a before photograph too to see the difference in color and texture. But, I think my hair is looking awesome!!!

with flash

I would definitely recommend this treatment for your hair. If you don’t want henna color on your hair, you can use more of conditioner and less of henna in the original ratio of 1:4 or 1:3 as I pointed out earlier in the post.

Hydration for Hair {Hair Care}

Swathy · August 29, 2011 · 1 Comment

Rule 1 for Hair Care: Constantly hydrate your hair.

One of the very basic principle of hair care is to keep your hydrated at all times. Dry hair is prone to damage and same goes with excessively oily hair. Oily hair is just excess in oil which is also harmful for the hair as it might cause excess buildup on the scalp and hair and of course, you need to wash your hair regularly to get rid of the grease. So, let us return to hydration of hair. If you want to keep your hair in optimal health, go for regular hydrating treatments. A hair spa is a good indulgence which will bring a lot of life to your hair too. And, whipping up various home remedies is also not such a bad option. Make it a routine to treat your hair at least once a week to a hydrating treatment whether its a hair mask from the brands or a homemade one.

Hair Products and Hair {Hair Care}

Swathy · August 20, 2011 · 3 Comments

Hey All!!!

Since it’s been a long time I have written anything about hair and the situation I am going to talk about is something I have been facing recently so I will begin with asking a question – how many hair products do you use on your hair? Well, no the today’s topic is not exactly this. I am going to talk about the myth that changing hair products frequently reduces the build up and keeps the hair shiny.

Well, from my personal experience, I don’t really think it is true. The chemicals might end up coating each other on the hair instead of cleaning each other. Anyways, the best way to remove residue is to use baking soda or Apple Cider Vinegar. So, moving on from residue issue, the product cycle change is also advised coz the hair may get bored of the same products being used and stops behaving nicely after sometime. So, firstly, hair is a dead body part so it doesn’t have a mind of its own that it will behave and stop behaving at will. Ok, one might say that products stop affecting the hair. May be its not the fault of the products but ours. Every product affects the hair differently so a major difference is visible in the first usage, consequently with the uses, the difference reduces because the hair is behaving in accordance with the product.

But, there is a major downfall to using and jumping on various brand wagons. Hair loses its own strength if you treat it with different products every time. So, sticking to one single product is a better idea. I have lately observed that people who stick to the same product for quite a lot of years have good amount of well-behaved hair. The problem arises only when one starts to experiment for the want of better products. Well, that did happen in my case. So, my advice to all of you is to stick to the products which have worked best for your hair and stop changing them often. It is not good for hair at all.

And, the products I am talking about includes everything starting from the hair oils to the serums and other styling products you use. Shampoos and conditioners are the most often changed products and there should be a control over that too. Don’t worry if your shampoo contains SLS / SLES coz there are hardly any products in the market without them including Lush and most of them do not work well with the hair. So, stick to your own shampoo whether its Pantene, Garnier or Dove and when combined with the home remedies and their corresponding conditioners, they yield good results. If you want to try salon products, I would suggest Kerastese which are costly but work really well with the hair.

The reason I have written this post is that lately in the last few months, I had changed my shampoos pretty often from Biotique to Meera to Sunsilk to Dove and my hair has definitely suffered the consequences so I would really like to suggest you all not to make the same mistake.