midnightsnow: 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.)