henna

Kim,there will always be mixed opinions about this.I used red henna on my coarse hair for more than 10 years. I like the fact that it gives a very natural colour, people always thought it was my real colour. I find henna - as it coats the hair - to make it thicker. That might be a good thing for people with fine hair (there is a non-clolouring henna available), but for already coarse hair it's a challenge :-)Applying it is a task - it's thick and smells somewhat wooden and muddy and likes to stain like hell. But you can always make a mendhi out of the stains...Be sure to wear rubber gloves and really old clothes and use the darkest and oldest towel you find to protect you.As for allergies and skin reactions: I have sensitive skin and I never had any reaction, but there might be people who will react, even though it it "natural".Quality: I have seen several qualities of henna - it needs to be really fine, with no wood etc. in it. The best one I ever got was from an Arabic market in the Middle East. As for the US (or wherever you are) I don't know which brands are available.In Europe we now have products which are partly henna with some other ingredients, most of them "natural" (walnut, camomille etc)which are not so harsh in drying out hair as pure henna does.So, this is long - but I hope it helps a little.Leanan