Andy's Idea Factory

Yesterday was my first  Magic of Henna workshop with a great group of women in Moab, hosted by the Moonflower Market and Henna Sooq , and what an exciting afternoon it was!  I was thrilled that over half of the women who attended wanted to jump right in and try it then and there (I had planned on just doing a strand of hair with them)!  All of the participants had similar stories - either they dyed their hair with chemicals and wanted to switch to something natural for various reasons such as burning scalp, or they were sick of the gray and wanted to try something natural. Either way, they were all very eager and willing subjects - so awesome! All had brown hair and wanted to keep their brown color so we used a lot of indigo yesterday - more than I had anticipated - so some of them with longer, thicker hair were going to have to likely do a second round soon, but were ok with doing the top part of their hair. I started out with all my research - the history, the Ayu...

As you know from many blog posts about it , I am ecstatic about henna and what it's done for me, in order of importance: the overall health of my hair and scalp, the all-natural solution, the compliments-attracting color, the independence, the low cost... so of course, for all those reasons I am forever talking it up to my girlfriends - whether they already dye their hair or not, but especially if they do.  So far I have three friends who have gone with henna after my encouragement and all of them have gorgeous, lustrous, vibrant hair of various colors now! To continue to add validity to this topic, here's the story from the latest convert:  (Thanks Alicia for sharing!!) My henna experience…. Alicia Wright of Bella Sol Spa   I have to say first and foremost, I love henna! At first, I was nervous about my hair turning red, and I was not ready to take the plunge.  The grey hair that crept up on my head as my roots grew out had me frantic about solutions. Not ha...

View previous posts on Henna: 1- About Henna and my process 2- The first dying 3- Other products from Henna Sooq 4- Cleansing and Independence It's been almost a year since my last Henna post and I realized I have a few things to report that might be useful! If you've read the other posts, you'll know I'm a meticulous person. I like researching something until I know it fully, and then I like developing my own process and adapting it. I was made for an R&D department, unfortunately I'm not in that career, oh well. Accordingly, I've studied Henna until I'm blue in the face. I've found an awesome provider at Henna Sooq (my only complaint is that they run out of the good stuff so you have to plan ahead, a funny story on that to follow). And I've tried several new hair products now so that I'm proud to say there are no chemicals on my head any more. After two years, I feel I have this process honed. Here's what I continue to learn a...

(Continued from parts 3 , 2 , 1 ) Like clockwork, my hair grows about 1/2 an inch per month, as it has since I started paying attention 20 years ago. So that leaves me with an inch of increasingly gray roots every 2 months, and thus, a much needed regular schedule.  With each passing month since my switch to Henna in October, I must say I love the product more and more.  And I am pretty sure my key goal - matching momma's truly natural color - has finally been succeeded; something I simply wasn't able to do with chemical dyes. Proof: while down in Florida this past week my mom's college roommate pulls her aside and says, "Wow, Andrea got your red hair!", like she didn't remember that from 15 years ago when I'd seen her last.  My mom (and I) chuckled... "Nope, she uses Henna."  Personal victory, accomplished. So what's new in my experience? Cleansing success Well, I've honed in on the bar I like for my hair. I think if you switch to...

I am not exaggerating when I say I have been loving the switch to all natural Henna, and I have eagerly awaiting the next round with Teresa - the trooper that she is for going through this with me! Since October's posts [in case you missed Part 2 or Part 1 ], purchase, and treatment, I have had tons of comments on the color and health of my hair... Henna has - no question - improved the overall body and hydration of the hair strands and health of my scalp as well as giving it a more natural color tone than I've had since I started coloring it red 4 years ago. After the first dye, I went back to the girls at Mountain Hair Studio here in Steamboat and had them give me a once-over. While it didn't totally blend the full length of my hair (Teresa cut off about 3-4" of the dead ends, but the bottom 5-6" of my sternum-length hair still had darker, merlot colored ends), there were no "hot roots," and the tone looked more natural, continuing to settle f...

(Continued from Part 1) Henna Gods, I am truly impressed. Granted, my mantra has been, "the Indian women have such beautiful hair..." so the results had to be good.  But even so, my hair looks awesome. A more natural shade of red than the chem dye- slightly lighter than my natural brown tone (is that possible? is that from the chamomile?)- than I've ever had in the four years that my stylist and I have been tampering with tubes of colors like Michelangelo. Not wine red, not Redskins red, not Mahogany-Obsidian red.  I had been shooting for my mother's red. Scottish/Irish red, a dark Ginger. I think I'm finally there, or damn close. So how'd we get there? Here's the last 48 hours: 10pm Monday Large ceramic bowl Mixed 300g of fresh organic Rajasthani Indian Henna powder with 3.5c of warm chamomile tea from distilled water, steeped for 20 minutes and cooled with 6 cubes of ice Covered with plastic wrap, left on counter 9am Tuesday No "red...

Disclaimers A) The topic Henna is clouded by volumes of misinformation, and B) I'm no expert. Background I have been on a quest to go 100% "all natural" (in all aspects) for a decade, and hair color just happens to be my last chem standing. I have been DIYing bathroom and kitchen stuff for inside and outside the body for a very long time... but specifically within the last 4 years I have been doing so to manage- and hopefully remedy- two conditions I have developed, one recently, one a long time ago: psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. I have tried gluten free, grain free, vegetarian, sobriety, urban farming... I have made DIY lotions, washes, cleaners, salves...  and because I believe others could benefit from what I've studied, I have been writing along the way ( arthritis , DIY , gluten free , grain-free, psoriasis , see list on page's bottom left for more). Topic So after a month's worth of extensive research on Henna, here's what I've found...