I use herbal treatments on my daughter's hair.

 

this is how my daughter's hair looked before I started using herbal treatments. her hair was air dried without any product.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have more pics, but i get an error message when i try to upload them.

 

 

 Here is a link to a post with some recently posted pics, http://talk.hairboutique.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=49012 - http://talk.hairboutique.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=49012

 

 

http://b4nafterpics.blogspot.com/ - http://b4nafterpics.blogspot.com/

I pulverize and add an over the counter vitamin to help all these vegetable dyes stick, plus a natural mordant.

 

I use a leave in herbal conditioner, water, and milk to make the mix creamy.

 

I slather all that on her head, cover with plastic wrap, and use a bonnet dryer attachment to heat her head. I try to get her to leave it on for two hours, using the dryer, on low heat, as much as possible.

 

I am going to add grape juice next time, it will also help to lower the ph, add acidity, and act as a mordant and natural dye. You can also use vinegar, wine, or lemon juice. I am not crazy about the lemon juice, and my daughter does not want wine or vinegar on her hair, so that leaves grape juice for me.

 

Henna and plant extracts are wonderful for curly natural hair, but you must be committed to a natural hair lifestyle to use plant extracts. Some of the henna like plants and vegetable dyes react badly with metallic salts. This is only a problem if you plan on using chemical products again. The herbal treated hair must be cut off before you use a chemical relaxer, or hair color, partially because the chemicals will react badly with the treated hair, and partially because the henna treated hair has absorbed the plants, which may inhibit the chemicals.

 

I have given up on relaxing my daughter's hair with chemicals. I have tried everything on the planet, and nothing has ever made her hair better.  I was using easystraight until about 3 months ago. It worked the best, and caused the least ammount of damage, but the herbal treatments relax her hair the same amount and without any damage.

 

I am going to use more indigo in the next mix, I am hoping for a very dark brown hair color. I will post those results in about  2 weeks.

 

Oh yeah, I advise anyone who uses henna{s}, or herbal relaxers to use a non metal plated flat iron. The plates should not be metal coated, they chould be ceramic, due to the whole metal and plants don't mix issues.

 

Your curls are beautiful. I don't know how henna would affect your curls, but I do know that people who love their pretty curls are not happy after using henna, they complain that their hair is only wavy. I would only suggest henna and herbal treatments for people who are battling unmanageable, naturally curly hair that is frizzy, wiry and dry, like my daughter's.