It's just adding conditioner to your henna + acidic component.
Why henna gloss?
Several reasons:
Henna glosses provides minimal color change, BUT has great deep conditioning properties.
Henna glosses refreshes your hair color between regular henna applications.
Henna glosses are great for people who don't want the dramatic color received from a full henna treatment. They may only want a very subtle color change.
How often should you henna gloss?
That is solely up to the individual.
I henna gloss once per week, in between my henna treatments.
I usually perform a full henna treatment on my hair as soon as I see the new growth in my hair and it's a sparkling white or grey.
I used to full henna, religiously, EVERY 4 weeks. Now that my hair is longer, and my hair takes to the henna well, I full henna when I see grey hairs. Hmmm, maybe I should start recording on my calendar when that is.
How long should the gloss stay on?
I apply the gloss, then wrap my hair with a plastic cap & saran wrap as I would when I am doing a full henna treatment.
I sit under a hooded dryer for 30 minutes to an hour.
If my mixture starts dripping from my hair-and believe me...IT WILL-I stop the dryer.
Let hair cool off, and rinse out.
Is it hard to rinse the henna gloss out?
NO way Jose!
It's way easier to rinse out than a full henna treatment.
After rinsing the henna gloss out of my hair, I simply apply a really good conditioner to my hair, shower and then rinse it out. In my personal experiences, I didn't see a need to sit under the dryer for an additional 45-minute deep conditioning after a henna gloss.
The conditioner I use is Aphogee Keratin 2 Minute Reconstructor. (This is NOT a recommendation, just information!)
REMEMBER: The recipe I am providing is through my own research, testing on my own hair and what I found to work really well for me.
I combined my treatments of sour cream & lime juice and left over henna together. To be quite honest, my schedule is NOT flexible enough for me to get the benefits of both treatments at different times. I also didn't see any benefits, (FOR ME), in using the sour cream & lime mixes (whole topic later).
Ingredients: (This makes a big batch, you can refrigerate/freeze what you are not using for later use.)
5.25 oz. Henna
1-16 oz. of RealLemon
3.5 T. Sour Cream (Full Fat)
2 T. Raw Honey
4 T. Aloe Vera gel
1 T. Coconut oil
3 T. Macadamia Nut oil or Olive Oil (Full strength)
1 t. Amla powder (optional-if you don't have any, the gloss will be fine without this)
2 t. Maka (bhringeraj) powder (optional-if you don't have any, the gloss will be fine without this)
1 c. Inexpensive Conditioner (i.e. Suave Tropical Coconut)
Items needed:
Bowl - some say not to use metal. In MY personal experience, I use metal, glass or plastic.
Measuring Spoons
Mixing spoon
Rubber Spatula
Funnel
Squeeze bottle containers (I found some clear ones from Wal-Mart - cheap...you'll also find some at the beauty supply store.)
Directions:
- Mix the henna and lemon juice until you get a thick brownie or cake batter consistency.
- Seal with saran/plastic wrap, removing as much air as possible from the mixture & let sit in a warm room over night. After color has released from the henna, proceed to the next step. (This step can be eliminated if you are not looking for ANY sort of color...proceed to step #3.)
- Add all of the other ingredients except the conditioner.
- Once the all of the ingredients are well blended, begin adding the conditioner.
- Mix in the conditioner until you get a yogurt-like consistency. (This mixture is MUCH thinner than a henna paste.)
