Henna

How Henna Works On Hair from The Henna Company™

Henna coats each hair shaft with a natural, semi-permanent protein called hennatannic acid. Heat causes the hennatannic acid to cling to the proteins found in the hair (or nails and skin, if desired). Because henna coats and seals the hair shaft, it helps protect the hair from damaging effects of sun, salt, chlorine, wind and pollution in the environment. It can help minimize split ends and acts as "hair insurance" if you spend a lot of time in the sun, surf or wind. In addition to protecting the hair shaft, henna will tighten the hair cuticle and create a more solid surface which reflects light; the result is gleaming, lustrous hair.

Rather than producing dramatic color changes, henna enhances and deepens existing color. The darker your natural color, the less drastic the change will be in your natural color. Because color from henna is transparent or "see through," henna cannot lighten dark hair; it will, however, add highlights to dark hair and can darken the color of lighter hair. To determine which shade of henna is best for you based on your original color and the desired result, consult the Light Mountain color chart below.

Natural vs. Chemical Hair Color

Most hair coloring agents rely on harsh chemicals like hydrogen peroxide or ammonia to strip the hair and allow it to "take", or absorb, the chemical color applied to it. The word "natural" on a bottle of hair color doesn't necessarily mean chemical-free; some brands commonly found in natural products stores rely on peroxide to prepare the hair for their colorants.

What effect do these chemicals have on the hair?

First, they weaken and destroy the hair shaft over time. Additionally, many of the chemical hair colorants use various petroleum of coal tar-based ingredients derived from the environmentally harmful processing of oil or coal-tar processing ingredients that have been found, over time, to increase the long-term risk of various forms of cancer.

In contrast, henna has a long history as a safe, gentle hair color. The Food and Drug Administration has issued a monograph that approves henna for this use; henna is one of a select group of natural products to achieve official FDA recognition.

Henna and Gray Hair

Using henna on gray hair has always been possible, but somewhat difficult. Henna has a harder time attaching to gray hair because of changes in the protein base of gray hair. After years of research, Light Mountain has developed a two-step product, Color the Gray! that effectively colors most gray hair.