...although I was born a brunette. I showed up via King County Adoptive Services at eight days old with a shock of dark brown hair, kind of a baby "Calvin" but brunette. If only it had stayed so nice and dark, but, alas, 40 years later it's a kind of mousy brown. So I've turned, over the years, to various methods of enhancing the color.
In the '80s I would go to the cosmetology school in the "U" district and get a "cellophane" in a nice cinnamon brown color. Later, I discovered the joys of henna, and that's my MO these days. I like it because I know what it is (ground-up leaves of the lawsonia shrub), it goes back to pre-history as a home-made cosmetic, and it smells great! Plus, I can play with additives to keep the color subdued. I add walnut hull powder, clove oil, olive oil, and use coffee instead of water. Did I mention it smells great?
Last night I hennaed my hair and I can still smell it. Oh, and it's also mildly astringent, so it's great for your scalp in hot weather (like right now). Once, a few years ago, I decided to treat myself and actually go to a salon and have somebody else do it. The well-meaning gal who worked on me took the henna mixture...and added some nasty-smelling over-perfumed conditioner to the paste. The lovely green, spicy-smelling henna now smelled like a perfume counter. Bleh. Talk about "unclear on the concept." Anyway, I feel better now.
Yup. You just have to sift it really fine so it doesn't clump, plus mixing in some lime peel juice to make it darker. I have trouble getting a good dark color on my whitebread N Euro skin, but it's fun to experiment with. Also: Staining the bottoms of the feet with henna helps in hot weather to cool and disinfect! Today's trivia from the Henna Council...
ReplyDelete