new here, not to long hair!

Hi! We welcome your tips (and you!) and hope you find as much. I know I've found them to be very helpful. And keep growing your hair!

ataraxy....welcome   You have LOVELY hair!! Such a striking colour.

Maintaining that colour with henna is absoloutely possible. You will need to use indigo for the black. I am well-studied in henna, however I have not personally used indigo myself....so I will direct you to www.hennaforhair.com and tell you to visit the mixes section there.  Basically, you would mix henna and wait for dye release, then add in your desired quantity of mixed indigo and apply this right away (indigo does not keep for long).  Depending on the amount of indigo you use, you can achieve anything from brown to blue/black (as you desire). You can also use indigo by itself (however, once again, I have no experience with this).  You just mix it with water and apply to your hair and leave it on for a period of time.  Many ppl use indigo and achieve gorgeous hair colours and get stunning shine and healthy hair in the process!

At the moment I am helping my best friend with the henna/indigo thing for the first time (she wants to achieve chocolate brown) so I will be more helpful to you very soon I think

thanks for all the compliments 

since finding the site on monday, i've done the following:
mayonaise treatment
ordered sample of indigo henna
did a CO for the first time in many years
bought a boars bristle brush
stopped brushing hair when wet

2 years ago, i moved from a humid climate with little wind to a very dry windy place. i'm not much of a hat person, so i've been tucking my hair into my coat and trying to protect it any way i can. i guess i was diluting myself by thinking i could go with low maintenance lol.

i have alot of breakage, and the CO seemed to lift them away from my head, leaving a halo of small hairs from my scalp to the ends reaching for the sky. after using mayo last night, these have almost disappeared!

color: i've done blondes, reds, blue, purple, pink, and blue black. i WISH i had pics of the blue i did, it was beautiful! agreed that Rini's red is awesome. Rini, do you apply heat when doing your color? the only blue black i liked was Ultress, and they stopped making it years ago. since then it's been a battle, and i'm sick of harmful dyes that don't hold their color. looking forward to getting the indigo sample i ordered this morning...nice color with strengthening? gimme

Christine (only just saw your name!! doh!), the only heat I apply while the henna is doing it's thing is my own body heat. I put a thermal beanie on my head (over the gladwrap) and that really makes my head nice and warm.

I can't wait to see your indigo results!!!!!!!

Hi Ataraxy, I love your hair! Welcome to our community.

Long term braids such as cornrows, in my opinion, do a good amount of damage. Most of the damage is on the scalp - putting long term tension on the scalp is asking for a lot of shedding...

I don't think your hair needs it - it's much too beautiful already

Anais

Hi Ataraxy,

I just love your hair, colour and length. I am not a fan of corn row's and it
would be a shame to not show that beautiful head of hair daily. Keep up the
routine, you look gorgeous. Good luck with the henna. Follow Missrini's
advise with henna, her hair is divine.............. Hi Missrini from a fello aussie!

Hi Samsara....where you from?

Guess it's my time to say hello. That is if U don't mind a duck eater's attempt to welcome U...

~~Rini please keep me posted on the henna/indigo mix with your friend.  That's what I'm aiming to do soon and I'd be very interested to see her results.

Ataraxy, welcome!! I think I've seen you post a few times before.  Your picture always caught my eye!  That gorgeous hair layed out across your back.  It's awesome.  I'm sure with some love and tender care it'll bounce back. But I feel your pain with the coloring issue.  Have been down that road myself.

If you do end up using the indigo post some pictures of it.  I've never seen anyone dye with indigo, only henna.

good luck!

I just reinstalled my GFX drivers and was able to up the brightness of my screen. I must say, your hair is gorgeous! I never fully got to see it before.