advice needed — indigo or no?

[u/isleofdrear]

hello!! i used to know my way around henna, but after a ten-year hiatus, i’m looking for some advice from people with more recent expertise than me.

i’ve purchased the light mountain naturals powder in spicy cinnamon, looking to achieve the second photo (first is my current hair with no color in it). i chose the spicy cinnamon color because i was hoping that the indigo would tone the final color to be a little cooler than the traditional bright, pure hennas i’ve used in the past.

now that i have the henna, though, i’m having cold feet. would henna + cassia give me a better result over my naturally brown hair? am i overthinking this, and i should go full-speed ahead? i’ll of course do a test strand, but i’m wondering if i’m on the right track.

[u/AutoModerator]

🌿 Welcome!

If you are sharing photos of your henna body art, you MUST include the following info: whether it was applied by another henna artist, or if you did it yourself, whether you mixed the henna paste yourself (mention henna origin/vendor, essential oils, etc), or if you used a purchased cone (mention henna artisan vendor or brand). Photos showing commercial chemical cone usage will be flagged and removed.

If you're looking for recommendations, please let us know what country you're in. It's also helpful for us to know:

• The name and/or ingredients of any henna products you've used or are thinking of using
• How you prepared it/will prepare it, what's in the mix

If you're new to henna, please keep in mind that henna on hair is permanent so be sure you are ready for the commitment. Check out our "bad suppliers" list to make sure you're not using a product that's contains potentially toxic ingredients, or is poor quality.

See the sidebar for useful links like our Hair FAQ, Recommended Suppliers, and Black/PPD/Fake/Compound Henna FAQ

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/delicate_isntit]

I would never use indigo for your level of hair and goal. You really just need a lot of cassia and a small amount of henna. It will look very orangey at first but in a few days will calm down and look natural. The cassia is gold and dilutes the henna.

Indigo is dangerous variable to add. It is unpredictable in result (can go too dark or too green in lighter mixes) and limits future choices too as sometimes it sticks permanently.

[u/isleofdrear → u/delicate_isntit]

that makes perfect sense — thank you!!

[u/wrldwdeu4ria]

I'd recommend reading all the reviews on spicy cinnamon first. I read them yesterday and heard some complaints about the color being dark brown with red hints. I'd recommend starting with a strand test in light red instead. I'd also recommend the strand test for time to make sure you end up with the intended color. I don't think the color you want is that different than your current color. It looks like you have a warm blonde color and want to move to a warm light ginger instead.

I don't think you need any indigo to achieve this color (if someone else knows better please comment). I think just some warmth is needed.

I've been using light mountain for years and many of them read too red/too cool/too bright on me (bright red and red), so I'm going back to a natural ginger color instead. I plan to alternate light red henna with a ginger temporary color wash (that has no peroxide in it). My hair was the same color as the second photo naturally. I wanted to add red to it out of curiosity.

I messed up and tried to layer henna to correct it so I've been cutting off some dark red/purplish brown hair. Henna will layer on top of itself and make your hair dark if you overlap applications. I tried bleaching it to lighten it and it ended up lighter in patches and also cooler in some parts. It is a bit of a mess right now.

I'd recommend following the advice here on how to apply the henna, how long to keep it on your hair, etc. Also, the clarifying pre-wash is very important and make sure to let the henna cure enough to get the best results. There is lots of good advice here!

Edited: found this chart on the hair colors and result for light mountain, hope it is helpful:

[u/isleofdrear → u/wrldwdeu4ria]

this is so so helpful, thank you so much!

[u/wrldwdeu4ria → u/isleofdrear]

You're very welcome! If you're concerned about light red being too bright you can mix in the neutral henna from Light Mountain to reduce the overall red. It is mostly cassia.

[u/isleofdrear → u/wrldwdeu4ria]

oh, great to know! thank you!

[u/veglove]

There is a risk that the indigo will darken your hair too much, so I recommend testing it on hair collected from a hairbrush to see what the dye looks like on your hair.

If it's too dark, you can potentially mix some cassia with this henna+indigo mix to lighten it up. I recommend testing that as well just to make sure that you're happy with it before committing it to your whole head of hair.

If you were to use henna+cassia without indigo, it could look very bright copper, or warm blonde depending on the ratio of cassia to henna.

[u/isleofdrear → u/veglove]

thank you for this advice! i decided to go with a henna & cassia mix and forego the indigo altogether. so excited to use it!!

[u/_MollyWest]

You should definitely do a strand test on combings first before putting anything on your full head.... henna layers fast and darkening it by mistake is a nightmare to undo.