Natural Hair Coloring: How to Use Henna and Other Pure Herbal Pigments for Chemical-Free Beauty

I have been using henna since I was in high school in the 80's. My strawberry blonde hair had faded to dark blonde and I wanted to keep being a red head. Unfortunately, I put henna products that had other chemicals added onto my hair for years until one day, I stumbled upon Hennaforhair.com, which explained you need to be extremely careful not to use henna that has bad stuff added into it. I purchase my henna from Hennaforhair.com because they look at all of their plant pigments under the microscope and do tests to insure they are pure. Though I love Hennaforhair.com, the information (specific recipes) to achieve different colors with different base colored hair is not easily accessible; Their websites need editing and need to have specific recipes to help those who are mixing their own. (Their site does have kits, but they are expensive and I want to mix my own.) I wanted to change my color using cassia and amla, so I tried reading Hennaforhair's info but I could not find recipes, ie: how much amla do I mix with how much henna and how much cassia to achieve a toned down copper red given my base is dark blonde? This is when I found Christine Shahin's book on Amazon. Now that I have it, I am so grateful because Chirstine Shahin makes almost everything clear/simple because her book is well written AND has beautiful picture examples. The only thing I question is that she says to use lemon juice or apple cider vinegar when mixing henna and cassia. I never use full strength lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, please water it down, or it may be too harsh for your hair. Mild lemonade is what I go for, not pure lemon juice. Hennaforhair.com goes into different kinds of fruit juices and acids you can use in great detail on their site. Different fruit juices/acids create different color effects, so if you are interested in this, use info on Hennaforhair.com. Chriestine Shahin also tells you what the base color (natural color) of each of the picture examples (real people) started with, which is very important info when formulating your specific mix for your hair. Christine's book is both beautiful (great picture examples) and full of what you need to know to successfully use plant pigments to color your own hair. Hennaforhair.com is a great source for purchasing safe, pure plant pigments, and it has tons of information if you have the time... Christine Shahin's book saves time, just think twice before using 100% lemon juice or 100% apple cider vinegar. I now mix my henna only with amla and water so I don't even need to use any other acid because amla is naturally acidic.

Like many women in my 50s, I don't want to be gray-haired. But cheap "box" color from the drugstore makes my scalp red and itchy and I've also had reactions to salon colors (Goldwell, Redken, etc.). In this era of microbeads in soaps and so on, I was also beginning to have misgivings about what substances I was washing down the drain and sending back out into our already beleaguered environment.This gorgeous, detailed, empowering handbook shows us another way--natural plant dyes. This is a good alternative! Our sisters (and brothers) have been using these materials, in many cultures and lands, for centuries. The author clearly has plentiful hands-on experience, and the savvy but approachable text has an exciting message that inspires me and is sure to inspire others. (Salon owners: please offer us these products and recipes!!)PS - I also appreciate the many photos of *real* people in these pages--young, old, various ethnicities, men and women.

I cannot speak as others have as to how much similar information can be found online concerning the use of henna for your hair. But I can add that i found the information in the book somewhat of a pleasant surprise. The author describes the uses for alma, henna, indigo and cassia. Shows pictures of the powder form and the mixed forms also. There is a table, covering several pages in which she describes the recipient's base color before one or more of these items were used to dye the recipient's hair. However, I find those pictures to be too small to be of use for my eyes. The full pages, one per person, showing the recipients' 'after' photo proved to be more helpful.Other than the pictures used on the table I had no real problem with the book. But I would like to add that although the author did indicate, several times, that results could be beautify I truly was surprised at how my hair had turned out. I had been using henna for a couple of years now and to be frank I wasn't exactly loving the results. I didn't hate them either but it wasn't something I was going to rush to recommend either. My hair, with henna use after a couple of years was already turning a reddish brown. However, with the addition of indigo it truly turned into a pretty shade of brown. It's hard to describe. No one truly thinks of the color brown as anything but drab. But the color was attractive and former greys turned out as interesting 'highlights.'Okay more about what is actually contained within the pages of the book. The author used 'real people' as the models. She does provide recipes in the table about how much of each product to use to obtain a certain amount of red, copper, etc. on your base color. She also offers suggestions on how you can experiment with your hair. Overall I would recommend this book to most people unless you have been using these products for years and have been getting consist results you were looking for.

However much of the information contained on this book is available on youtube.

Not very useful - I cannot use henna as it ruins my hair

Excellent book. Christine really knows how to teach and write. An absolute pleasure to read.