henna - caca rouge

i finally got around to using some of Lush's henna. I'd been contemplating the idea for several months as my hair was feeling/looking dead and dull. all it really took was an invitation from my friend Sophie. she is our shop's main henna artist (haha). if anyone books in for some henna, she's on the job, she loves it! anyway, i went over to her house and we got right to it!

Lush uses persian henna and mixes it with cocoa butter, herbs, and spices to make completely natural, "no sh** hair colour". they press it into bricks so its easier to use (than guessing how much powder to put in), thus making them preservative free and ~naked~ (no packaging, less going to landfill! hi5 to the environment!) Lush has four different types of henna, les cacas~ there is caca rouge, caca marron, caca brun, and caca noir. caca meaning 'poo' in french, Lush wanted to make a point that there are absolutely no chemicals involved with their henna. bless them.

so i used caca rouge and sophie went for caca brun. the bricks come in 'blocks' of six, so its easy to measure out how many blocks you'd like to use. we each used three and chopped them up into smaller bits, sortof how you would chop up a bar of chocolate. you don't really have to do that, it just makes it easier to melt. next we added boiling hot water and mixed until we had the consistency of a runny paste.

all was set and ready to go. we had our raggedy clothes on, hands protected in our gloves, we'd applied pawpaw ointment to our hairline and ears (all to avoid staining) and we walked out to the garden. it was a really hilarious process. we decided to do our own hair, big mistake, because we should have done each others! we started with the top of our head, as to avoid getting a stained neck but instead we ended up straining our necks from bending over! we tried yoga positions and squats to get comfortable but in the end we made a bit of a mess. which to be expected when applying henna to one's own hair.

after the application process, we wrapped our henna fresh hair in cling wrap & knot wraps then waited for a few hours before washing out. i waited about three hours before washing mine. i used Lush's 'big' sea salt shampoo and used a wide toothed comb to get all the leaves and herbs out. i also used a bit of Lush's 'veganese' conditioner but i didn't really need it. the henna & cocoa butter are super nourishing for your hair.

i am sooo in love with the colour. my hair was already dyed before but this was exactly what i wanted, a bit of a colour boost and lots and lots of shine! my hair feels so healthy and smells so good. some might not like it but its so herbally. i'm really interested in trying new henna recipes. i've been reading lots of blogs and watching vlogs of different ways to mix the henna. some people use boiled wine instead of water to get a darker, richer effect. others have added different spices like tumeric and paprika. and i've also heard adding a spoonful of Lush's R&B makes it all the more conditioning. what a treatment! i'll let you know when i do another henna again. i'm definitely hooked on it now!