holy henna- lush henna hair dye

My first experience with the Lush Henna was definitely an experience. I was really looking forward to using henna to dye my hair as I had read that it leaves your hair lovely and soft and that it is chemical and harm free. Sounded good to me as the last time I dyed my hair clumps of it had fallen out in the shower (which was TERRIFYING). 

I got the caca marron and it started off well. I liked the big brick shape and lovely print detail on the top. It smelt quite strong but it seemed to be a lovely sweet smell. 

I had read a lot of reviews on using this product and due to my long(ish) hair decided to go the full whammy and use the whole brick. I melted it in a bowl over a pot of water. It took about twenty minutes to melt. I did it gradually adding more water when I needed to. Here was the result.

And a close up for those of you with poor eyesight..!

Lets be blunt, it looked like shite! It was fairly off putting having to put this on my head but I proceeded. Using this product will require a lot of TIME. Holy moly it took so long to get the henna in my hair. I started on the crown of my head painting it on with a hair colouring brush and twisting it into a bun on top. I continued this until I had a lovely massive bun and a sore arm from tiredness. 

The henna took easily an hour to apply and it was genuinely a horrible experience. I had to keep adding in water as the mixture continued to thicken constantly. It would crumble and fall in lumps on the floor when I tried to paint it on my hair. It was such a mess I can't even explain. I got so frustrated. I had put down newspaper on the floor preempting a mess but nothing could have prepared me for this, it just got everywhere. I had to stop a number of times to relay paper as the first layer was destroyed. It got on my floor, wall and mirror. I had to stop and start a lot to try and wipe down wherever it got. 

I left it on for about four hours. I thought that the hard part was over after finishing and cleaning up I could now be at ease but I was horribly mistaken. The mixture would drip down my neck and the side of my face despite having wrapped my hair in cling-film like. Four hours of a heavy wet substance on your head is just not fun.

Washing it off.. Again this took FOREVER. I think I shampoo'd my hair honestly about 10 times. It was like cement in my hair. When this came out it became like sand which refused to budge. I had to give up because my arms were so tired from trying to wash my hair. It still had a grainy feel to it when I finished up. Brushing it post shower would leave basically sand on the floor.

The colour difference wasn't much to boast about either. It left a kind of red tint to my hair which was barely noticeable  It did not feel like a treatment and my hair was not softer after it. 

I think it's pretty clear what my recommendation is going to be on this product. Leave it out! Don't bother. NEVER AGAIN. It's a pity that this turned out so poorly having heard such great reviews but for me it simply wasn't worth it. 

Goodbye for now

xx