How to Ombré Hair with Henna

me with my ombre henna hair

Dying hair with henna is a simple & cheap way to test out a new hair color without blowing all of your money at the salon.

It was too messy for me to take pictures while in the process of dying my hair, but I will explain as much as I can!

*click below to learn how to get ombre henna hair*

What you will need:

• Henna hair dye (I purchased Rainbow Henna in Persian Red from Whole Foods for $6)
• gloves!
• boiling water (I used Raspberry Zinger Tea to enhance redness)
• a glass bowl for mixing
• hair dye applicator brush (or you could use your hands)
• plastic wrap
• hair clips or ties to section off your hair
• optional - 1 or 2 tablespoons of olive oil to condition the hair

**wear old clothes that you don't mind staining!**

**do the whole process on a small section of hair first to test it out! then you can judge how long to leave the dye on for your whole head!**

Step 1

• pour the green henna powder into the glass bowl
• I used half of the 4 oz. container and I have fairly long hair 
• you can always add more, so don't worry about the amount

Step 2

• boil water (in my case, I made tea and then re-boiled it)
• add slowly into the glass bowl & mix until a thick paste
• optional - add in 1 or 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• depending on the brand of henna, you may have to let the mixture sit for a few hours or overnight to bring out the color (I did NOT have to do this)

Step 3

• section off your hair into small sections
• put on your gloves!
• begin painting the mixture on your hair with either the brush or your hands (I dyed about the bottom 1/3 of my hair)
• make sure the ends of the hair are fully coated and then you can apply less & less of the mixture as you travel up the hair
• if you want, you can deliberately apply shorter & longer coats of henna to different sections of hair for a more blended ombre look

Step 4

• when finished applying the dye, I curled my hair around my fingers until they formed two dreadlock-like pigtails (I just found this easiest to wrap in plastic wrap)
• wrap the dyed portion of your hair tightly in plastic wrap so it looks like you have plastic-coated pigtails (don't plastic wrap your whole head like you would if your were dying all of your hair)

Step 5

• let the dye sit as long as desired based on your test strand of hair (I waited 4 hours even though the package suggested less than an hour)
• unwrap the plastic and rinse out your hair in either the sick or shower (it WILL get everywhere so wash somewhere that's easiest to clean up)
• you will probably have to rinse & shampoo multiple times until the water runs mostly clear
• it will likely take a couple more days worth of showers until the water runs COMPLETELY clear, so don't stress!
• let your hair dry naturally or blow dry it to see your new ombre hair!
• the color WILL darken/intensify over the next 2 or 3 days

 (This is the second time I've dyed my hair with henna, the first being over the summer.)

the left side is natural & the right side is henna