I think this might be a review in two installments. One now and one in a few weeks time after the hair has settled or whatever it is it might be doing.
Lush's 'Caca' range is simply henna hair colouring.
I know what you're thinking. Anyone who has heard of henna has heard the horror stories. Hair falling out or burning, disintegrating or turning green. And yes, that does happen, if you use the wrong kind of henna.
Yes, I've done my research.
The wrong kind of henna would be any henna that comes in bottles, packaged up with such things as a bottle of developer, or anything to mix with it, like regular hair dyes do. Those 'henna' dyes rarely even contain henna in the slightest amount. 'Henna' with added metallic compounds are the ones that do the most damage. If you're going to try henna make sure you know whats in it. For example, added silver compounds turns hair (especially already dyed hair) green, while added copper compound will actually dissolve your hair and burn your scalp. Not an attractive look. So DO NOT BUY HENNA WITHOUT CHECKING THE INGREDIENTS FIRST.
There are two safe ways of using henna, as far as I am sure of. You can buy tattoo-quality powdered henna, which is purely the henna plant all ground up. You have to add your own oils,etc, to make it work properly. Anyone that will sell this top notch henna will give you full instructions on what to do and how to do it. You're more likely to find such people on the internet, but do be very careful and check what they are selling. Remember you want the powder stuff, not bottles of developer.
Or if you want an easy, simple, cost effective way to do it, go to Lush. They sell their henna already mixed with essential oils and butter, compounded into a dry-but-slightly-oily brick. It looks like a giant chocolate bar, but really doesn't smell like one. They come in four shades...
Actually, that reminds me, henna ONLY comes in red and variations of red. If you see anything claiming to be henna that is blonde or blue or crazy non-red/brown then DON'T GET IT. It's one of those metallic compound ones. In fact, even black henna isn't 100% henna... but black henna is safe... allow me to continue...
Where was I? Oh, yes, four shades. Caca Brun is the mellow, subtle brown one. Caca Maron is like a chestnutty, mahogany, dark reddish brown. Caca Rouge is the red one, which they actually tell people to only get if they want their hair RED! And Caca Noir is henna and indigo (another plant) which can make your hair black with either purple/blue hints or red hints, depending on whether you let it dry or keep it wet and warm during the development time.
You should also know that Henna doesn't work like ordinary dyes. It stains the hair and the end result will be relative to your natural or previous colour. For example, Caca Rouge on dark brown hair will make it deep chocolate brown with reddish highlights in the sun. Caca Rouge on blonde or grey hair will turn it vibrant ginger. This works really great it you have a few stray strands of grey hair of old highlights on dark hair, as these will turn gingery red while the rest will go brown. I will, however, warn people with blonde or grey roots that it WILL turn your roots ginger, and leave the rest of your hair dark. It will look silly. So go for Caca Marun or Brun or Noir instead.
Henna colour is permanent.
Once you put the slop on your hair it takes AT LEAST one hour to develop, but they recommend 4 hours 'officially', but the majority of Lush Henna people will say to leave it on longer, or even overnight. Why? Well, because it's like a mud mask for your hair as well as a hair dye! It leaves your hair thicker, softer, less likely to tangle, easier to manage... it's really amazing stuff, so why wouldn't you leave it on for as long as possible? It's GOOD for your hair!
I will say that it is very messy and very tedious to prepare it. You will need help (thank you again, Laura) if your hair is longer than a few inches.
It is definitely worth it, though.
As with everything, if you are going to henna your hair, get instructions (provided by lovely Lush staff) and stick to them. Trust me.
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