Henna Gloss

So...last Friday I decided to try my hand at Henna again but this time I decided to try what others have coined a "henna gloss".  A Henna Gloss or Conditioning Henna is simply a 50/50 mix of henna and conditioner which results in a deep, deep conditioning for the hair.  As full strength henna can be a bit drying to some, myself included, I thought maybe this would be a great alternative as henna has really great benefits for strengthening the hair. 

Prior to making this decision to henna again, I did my research and found lots of recipes for online to accomplish this task.  The recipe I chose was from Curly Nikki, as she has the most detailed information I've found so far on the use of henna for natural hair.  I, of course, tweaked it a bit in an effort to achieve the most moisturizing benefits I possibly could.  So here's my recipe:

Henna Gloss (Conditioning Henna)
50g BAQ Henna (I use this small amount because I only have about 2 inches of hair on a pretty small head)
1/2 cup cooled black tea (I used 3 tea bags)
1/2 cup Hello Hydration conditioner
2 tbs Sweet Almond & Avocado Oil mixture
1 tbs Oyin Handmade Whipped Pudding
1 tbs Honey

I mixed the henna and tea and let sit for about 16 hours, I usually don't let it sit this long but I went to work then came home and trained for 1 hour as I will be running in a 5K in November (woot! woot!).  After my training session, I added the conditioner, oils, honey and whipped pudding just prior to adding the henna to my freshly co-washed hair.  After I added the conditioner et al. I immediately noticed a drastic change in the texture of the henna from the consistency of mashed potatoes to a smooth, velvety chocolate-like texture.  I wrapped my hair in Saran Wrap and sat around chilling with my hubby for 3.5 hours after which I finally washed it out.

Now the first thing I noticed during the rinse and before I added any conditioner was my hair felt really, really soft.  I didn't get too excited about this though since if I have water in my hair, it feels pretty soft.  I moved on to co-washing the henna out of my hair using Giovanni moisturizing conditioner.  I co-washed about 4 times to ensure the henna was thoroughly removed from my hair, then moved on to deep-conditioning with My Honey Child's Olive You deep conditioner for 30 minutes with heat.

The results...super-soft hair that STAYED soft.  Since Friday I have not experienced breakage of any with very little hair lost during detangling and combing.  This morning (Sunday) during my morning co-wash, I did notice my hair felt and looked significantly thicker so I'm hoping the henna treatments will work to strengthen my hair and enable me to reduce shedding and breakage to allow my hair to reach it's maximum health and growth potential.  Since this henna gloss seemed to be much kinder to my strands, I think I'll add this to my monthly regimen; I'm all for anything that will add strength to my hair and not damage it in the process.

So what about you?  Have you henna'ed?