LIGHT MOUNTAINHenna Hair Color & Conditioner - Auburn Hair Dye for Men/Women, Organic Henna Leaf Powder and Botanicals, Chemical-Free, Semi-Permanent Hair Color, 4 OzUSDA Organic

I have mid-back length, natural (virgin) light brown hair that darkens a little in the winter, with golden highlights, and more than a few strands of gray coming in at the crown and temples. My natural color has no red, but people have told me they see a few red strands in sunlight. I started using henna about four months ago with a different brand (Rainbow light brown) that applied just fine but smelled very strong of hay for days afterwards and the result washed out after about two or three weeks. (Probably my fault: I used no heat and left it in for only an hour and a half, and I didn’t think to switch to color-safe shampoo and conditioner until it was too late.)The second time, about three months later, I decided to try again and switched to Light Mountain auburn. I was going for slight red highlights, so I was a little surprised and dismayed by how red my hair turned out. However, it looked very natural (medium reddish-brown), my husband loved it, and I got a lot of compliments from friends and strangers about the color and how beautiful, shiny, and healthy it looked. The color really grew on me.The only problem with auburn on my light brown hair is that as my roots grew in, the red didn’t fade. It seemed like the indigo faded and the red actually stood out more and became a bit orangy. The contrast made my mousy brown/graying roots more pronounced than I wanted. Evidently, from what i’m reading, red henna doesn’t fully fade away, so I imagine that repeated use of auburn on my red-stained graying brown hair will just make it oranger and oranger, which is something I don’t want.Today, I applied LM light brown to try to diminish the orange; so far, it’s darker than expected, but it’s too soon to tell how the color will settle. One thing is for sure, i’m not seeing any red at all, except for a few highlighted strands around my face (the gray, i guess). I actually kind of miss the darker red I had during the first few weeks of auburn. Next time, I might end up trying a 2:1 mixture of light brown and auburn to see if i can get a good balance that won’t clash with my incoming roots and that will fade a little more nicely. Overall, I’m very happy using henna. It conditions my hair and leaves it super soft. I just need to find the right color blend for me.Here are some prep/application tips that work well for me now:— I wash my hair with a clarifying shampoo, followed by a citric acid rinse (a tablespoon of citric acid powder in 16 oz. warm-hot water; you can also use lemon juice in water). No conditioner.— I follow the package instructions, use brewed tea instead of plain water (black tea the first time, but lately red zinger) and add about a tablespoon or two of Chinese five spice, which really improves the smell. (Now, my hair just has a pleasantly spicy earthy smell.) I don’t let it sit and cure like some people do; the instructions don’t say to do this.— I protect my hairline and ears with vaseline. I start with the henna at the crown and use my gloved hands to part out a small section and coat the roots, and then spread the mixture to the ends. Then I wrap the section into a little bun on top of my head, and repeat with sectioning, wrapping each coated section around the bun, and coat extra on my roots as i go. I end up with a kind of muddy beehive on top.— I wrap my head in saran wrap and then wrap aluminum foil over that (metal should not touch henna directly) and use a bonnet hair dryer on medium for 15 minutes on, 15 minutes off, for 2-3 hours.— Using a hand-held shower head (I can’t imagine doing this without one!), I crouch down in the tub and rinse my hair out upside down until the water runs mostly clear. Then I get the remaining grit and residue out by washing with copious amounts of color-safe conditioner. I avoid washing my hair for at least two days, or three if I can stand it.I will say that during a trim appointment with my hairdresser, she said my hair looked wonderful and far healthier than it would be with chemical dying. However, she did warn me that if i started doing any kind of chemical coloring, perms, etc., the chemicals might react badly with the henna stain, even months after the last use, and it could weaken and break my hair. She said the reaction can break the molecular bonds in the hair. I have no plans to go chemical—a perm broke my hair at the scalp years ago, and i won’t go there again, and i have no desire to go the chemical dye/damage/fried hair route, either. However, i feel I should caution others that henna and chemicals probably won’t mix well.

Great if you want bright orange hair and it does not wash out!

My favorite henna, I am 69, but I have almost no gray hair, I won’t use chemical hair dye, my hair is to my hips and it’s one of my best features. I inherited my mom’s young looking genes. She passed away at 88 last year and she still had perfect skin and partially gray hair. I miss her very much, but I see her whenever I look in the mirror. One of my many many nieces told me that part of the reason she loves me so much, is I look just like grandma.

Very good

I read a few reviews that were not all that great, and what it comes down to is this - READ THE PRODUCT DESCRIPTION. DO YOUR RESEARCH. You can not go into henna without knowing at least, the bare minimum. For example - yes, it’s messy, yes, it’s stinky, it won’t apply as easily as regular box hair dye. Watch some YT videos, go to community forums, these things are not kept secret. You can not complain about a messy application if going in, you knew this was a trademark of the product. And how would you know that ? Oh, you know, by doing research.Now, I’ve used this brand several times, and I found this one to be the easiest to apply. I’m not sure how different the ingredients and pigments are from the Red one, but man, this one was a breeze for me. Took me maybe 20ish minutes to do my whole head, and I do have shoulder length hair. The key is to use A LOT of conditioner to rinse this out, about a week later, use a deep conditioner. I follow the CGM which is why I use henna, and my hair always looks healthy, shiny, doesn’t feel like straw at all. So you know, perhaps it’s not the henna making people’s hair feel like straw, but rather the rest of their hair products.

I have been using this brand for MANY years and am always satisfied with the consistency of my results.

I have strawberry blonde hair and this turned my hair ugly brown. I did not use anything metal during application. There is too much indigo dye in this mixture. Not sure why there is any indigo at all for auburn color. I ended up putting level 30 developer cream on my hair overnight, which actually gave me the nice warm blonde I wanted.. Won't be using henna ever again!

A few things:1. Know what you are doing when using henna products. They are amazing but artificial dyes do not work well over henna.2. Henna does dye the skin so be careful3. If you are going with natural dye this product is amazing and for me gave a nice natural color and made my hair super shiny4. I currently have short hair and have been able to easily get 4 applications out of one box.I chose henna because I was tired of regular hair dye and wanted something closer to my natural color with just a little boost. This worked perfectly, I could not be happier. If you are used to regular hair dye do some checking up before using henna. If you are used to henna, this is an amazing product.Remember, if you want to go back to using regular hair dye after henna, the results are at best mixed but if you want a natural dye that looks amazing and has good coverage, this product is amazing.