Colour Me Red...Maybe Not?

Once upon a long overdue henna wash day I felt like adding a pop of colour to my hair….

 

100grams henna mixed with cold black tea and fresh lemon juice. I realised that my hair is getting too thick for 100grams of henna so I intend to use 150grams next time

So I added a heaped teaspoon of maroon powdered food colour to my henna mix…

 

Powdered maroon food colour even though it looks red when mixed with water

Applied the mix to my hair and let it sit for about an hour and a half expecting to have a pop of vibrant colour as a result on rinsing…

 

Henna food colour combo

Alas that was not to be….I had the reddish/brown henna tint visible under natural light but no maroon from the food colour…

 

Results or lack of???

So I asked my cousin who is a pro at henna and food colour combos what went wrong and beat myself up for not asking  for her advice beforehand. She said it was probably because I did not use heat and also because I did not let it sit long enough for the colour to take, since I was not using heat she recommended 6 hours plus without heat or overnight. So I guess it will take a few more henna food colour wash days to get some colour into my hair. The idea of sitting with henna on my head for 6 hours plus does not excite me though, maybe I will mix it with conditioner instead, use more food colour next time and use heat. Rookie mistake; I shampooed on rinsing hence washing off whatever dye that had stuck to my strands.

I was simply experimenting with alternative hair dyes; I have no desire to use commercial hair dyes at this moment so I will continue playing around by adding food colour to my henna mix or conditioner on wash days until I get it right. And that ladies was my henna food colour wash day.