How to Use Henna on Bleached or White Hair

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Henna has been used as a dye for thousands of years, and is a natural way to color and condition hair. The process of dyeing bleached hair with henna is the same as any other color of hair. If it's your first time dyeing with henna, you should use a test piece first. Stay away from compound henna, which is henna commercially sold as different-colored hair dyes. There is only one component of henna that dyes hair--it is a red-orange color. Natural henna is safe and produces a different color on each head of hair. Blonder hair tends to be a strawberry or vibrant red.

Prepare yourself and area for the application. Put on clothes you don't mind getting messy or stained. Put an old towel around your shoulders. Put on gloves. If you're worried about your skin staining, apply petroleum jelly to the skin around your hairline.

Put the henna powder in bowl. Slowly add lemon juice, or red wine or vinegar and stir until henna mixture is a smooth paste, about the consistency of yogurt.

Apply the mixture to your hair. You can do this any way you like as long as all of the hair becomes saturated. A methodical way is to separate hair into sections, applying it one section at a time. Once you have the henna on your hair, run the comb through to spread henna evenly throughout your hair.

Wrap your hair and let the henna sit. Wrap up your hair in a towel, shower cap or plastic wrap and allow the henna to saturate your hair. Allow the hair to sit for at least five hours, up to eight. The test piece of hair you used will help you determine how long you should wait before rinsing.

Rinse your hair with lukewarm water. Hot water will open hair follicles and you will lose some of the color. Do not use shampoo. If you have a hard time rinsing the henna, use a mild conditioner.