I am a natural redhead. These last few years I have been fading and going a little gray early on (I'm only 30).I saw everything about henna and went back and forth as to whether or not to try it. I am SO glad I did! I almost bought another brand, but it would have been here after my day off. Not only did I get an amazing color, but my hair is healthier than it has been for years.After scouring the web, I DID NOT follow the directions on the package.I did the following:1. Heated up water. I used the coffee maker without coffee in it (wanted to see what henna would do without altering it).2. Mixed heated water slowing into the henna until a thick, yogurty texture was formed.3. Covered the tupperware I made it in overnight (about 11 hours total).4. Put Vaseline everywhere on my forehead, neck and ears. DO NOT skip this step! It is so important. If you don't like Vaseline, there are other skin protectants that you can use. The gloves I used got a tiny hole from my nail and the tip of my finger is orange still after 3 days.4.5 At this point I mixed some lemongrass oil into the mixture because, let's face it, it stinks. It smells kind of like fish food mixed with matcha. I don't know if the lemongrass altered the color any, but it sure as heck made it smell better, and my hair still smells like lemongrass a bit but the fish food undertone went away within a few hours of rinsing.5. Put on some good gloves.6. Slather it everywhere. I used a whole little tub, it made a little extra than I probably needed, but I fit it all on my head, and it made me feel like it covered well enough that I wouldn't have any missing spots.7. Protect your head. I used two shower caps (making sure one covered the front hairline and one the back) then tied a bandana around the edges where my small side burns and my lower hair in the back of my head were peaking out a bit. I have kids and I didn't want it getting on them, I was also doing housework while I waited.8. Wait. I only waited about 3 hours. Some people wait 1, some people keep it on overnight. From what I saw reading various websites, 3 hours is pretty normal.9. Rinse it out. It didn't take nearly as long as I've heard it taking. I got my head good and soaked, massaged conditioner in for a few minutes, wetting now and then, and rinsed it out. Maybe took 10 minutes.10. Wait a few days. The color immediately after doing this vs. today are completely different. It didn't look like it was even at first, but now it is perfect.I am adding a few pictures. One is of my and my daughter a few months back ( the only pre henna picture in natural light) the other is today in the sun. I hope this gives someone a good reference of what it did to my hair.I am in love. So in love. I can't believe I had never been brave enough to try it before. Now, I will never go back. Read more

Before you rate this product with a low rating, here are things you need to know:1. You should do some research on henna for hair. There are multiple blogs and websites out there that discuss henna and ways to tweak it to make it do what you want it to do. Different methods for heating, setting, mixing, application, darkening, lightening, etc. If you want henna to do something, do a google search on how to make it do that for you.2. Henna will not lighten your hair like chemical dyes, so if you are expecting a huge deposit of color the first time you use this, you will not get it. Henna will shade your hair so that your current color starts to skew towards the color of the henna you have chosen. If you have dark hair, you will get dark hair with a red tint and it will glow red in the sun. If you have light hair, you will get straight up red red.3. Henna needs a few days to set in to its permanent color. If you don't get much of a tint right after you henna, wait a day and it will darken. If your hair was really light and it came out a little carrot orange for you taste, give it a couple days to settle and it will darken into a red. Wait for the henna to sit in your hair for a couple days before you do anything else to it.4. There are a plethora of methods on how to mix the henna powder with different liquids and acids, along with other plants like Indigo and Cassia and Amla powder (all of which are available for cheap on Amazon) to help you achieve a specific tint to your hair. It's a really easy process and the information is out there, all over the internet. Take a moment to look around. Read more

I rated this a 4 star because i's not their fault for the lack of info on the container or my knowledge of Henna. I wanted to try Henna because I damage my hair using Boxed - Red dye every few weeks. Henna (real henna) is nothing but GREAT for hair. I'm soooo happy that I did a "strand test" and didn't do my whole head. I followed the directions to a T and my hair was bright Orange! It did darken to a more red color after a few days. (Which I read online can be normal with Henna) I learned some information about Henna, AFTER I was doing my hair. You are supposed to let the mixture set-up for Hours, I've read anywhere from 3-12 hrs. Also that when doing a shade of Red it can be Orange at first and after a few days change to a Red. However, ALL HAIR IS DIFFERENT so results can not be certain. This is why a Strand Test is so important to see how long you want your Henna on for what color you are looking for AND if you want to had Coffee to the mixture for deepening Reds, or add Apple Cider vinegar to help cover Grays. There are TONS of recipes online to achieve the color shade/brightness you want. Also, Henna is VERY permanent if you want to bleach or lighten your hair after using Henna you can't. The cuticle becomes sealed. I read to apply warm mineral oil to your hair for 25-30 min to help remove henna. Henna is a great conditioner and free of terrible chemicals though. I also found out that REAL Henna is ONLY Red. The plant Henna, (AKA- lawsonia inermis), has only one dye molecule and that molecule is red-orange. Any other color usually has other stuff added like Indigo for Blacks, Chemicals, metallic salts or other plants must be added to henna to make any color other than red. These pre-mixed colors are compound hennas. If you buy a box labeled henna that claims to dye hair blonde, brown or black, there is something other than henna in that box. Hair bleach, permanent hair color, and permanent wave solution are a disastrous combination with compound (metallic salt) henna dyes. These can result in green, purple, or totally fried hair. Sorry I rambled so much I just wish I knew more before hand and I've never ever done one of these... just thought it might help someone. I'm not AGAINST Henna I just wasn't very informed at first, I'm glad I wanted Red so that i can still dye my hair with regular dye if I want to. I'm going to try another strand test now that I have a couple mixtures that I've left out overnight and the paste looks so much different so I can see there is a reason to leave it for a while. Good luck! Read more