Why you should try Henna Color Lab hair dye
My freshman year of college I wanted hair like Beyonce and had my hair lightened to a dark blond color. I kept the bottom portion of my hair untouched, while the top part was a nice, caramel looking color. For a few months, my hair looked quite luxurious, until I realized that the hair that had been lightened was actually breaking off. Within three months, the lightened part of my hair fell out and I had to rock a mullet my first semester of college. Because I refused to cut the rest of my hair short, I pulled it back in a bun, sprayed it down with loads of hairspray and used hair clips and bobby pins to tame it down. By my second semester, the fried hair had grown to at least bangs length and I was able to cut the rest of my hair to my chin while adding layers as if the disaster never happened. The moral of the story is, don't try to look like Beyonce. It's pretty much impossible. Actually, the moral of my story is, don't use dyes with harsh chemicals in your hair.
I actually love my hair color and have embraced it now more than ever. However, since the day I gave birth to my son almost three years ago, I've noticed gray hairs popping up on my head all over the place. I had once heard that kids give you gray hairs, and whoever originally said this, was right. Kids give you gray hairs. Because of my past experience with hair breakage and because I love my natural hair color, I've been apprehensive about dying it. After doing some research, I found that Henna Color Lab based out of Portland, OR was the best option for me, which is why I have partnered up with them to share my experience using their dark brown henna hair dye.
I always knew henna could dye skin, but I never thought about using it to color my hair. Henna Color Lab dyes contain only one to five ingredients consisting of mainly henna and other herbs. The instructions are simple enough to comprehend, and all colors come in powder form, which are mixed with water until finding the right pasty consistency, and then added to clean damp hair. By the way, the dark brown hair color was actually green, which was kind of scary at first, but my hair is now a rich chocolatey brown. It took a couple of days and a few applications, but the color matured and turned out really pretty. Even though I'm used to a light brown hair color around my face, this color turned out quite nice because all my grays are auburn and brown, which gives my hair a natural highlighted look.
If you don't have any naughty little gray hairs, it only takes one application so that's the good news! However, if you have some gray hairs you want to cover, it takes a few applications for the color to hold and is a bit more involved. The good news is that because there are no harsh chemicals, you can literally color your hair back to back (which is what I did) until you get satisfied results.
Honestly, this hair dye is simple to use and if you don't get the results you want, just apply more without damaging your hair. Because the dye is close to my natural hair color, it only changes color for hair that is lighter than the actual dye. Other than giving me luxurious cocoa colored hair, here are a few more reasons why you should give Henna Color Lab products a shot.
They use all natural ingredients and no harsh chemicals
Did you know that most commercial hair color contains chemicals that cause birth defects and even cancer? A lot of these ingredients aren't toxic at low levels, but when you're combining them with other non-natural beauty products that contain these same levels of chemicals and higher, it's clearly not good for you!!! Chemicals like ammonia and parabens are among some of the chemicals used in most hair dyes. Henna Color Lab only uses one to five ingredients depending on the color. Oh yeah, and because there are no harmful ingredients in their hair color, it's not bad for the environment.
Cruelty-free business practices
Henna Color Lab does not test on animals. They only test their hair color on humans who actually consent to experiment with their products, like me! And rightfully so! If animals could talk, do you think they would want us testing products that have traces of carcinogenic chemicals in them? Would you wanna volunteer your beloved pet to use in labs for commercial hair dyes? I didn't think so.
They're global, yet sustainable
Their henna plants are grown by ethical henna farmers in Northern India where they have thousands of years of experience growing these plants, and where the plants can stay in their own uninvasive environment. The team in Portland does the rest! They "research, formulate, design, package, manage and ship the products". All materials for the packaging of the products are all in Portland within a 20 mile radius, and all employees live within a 10 mile radius.
The employees are provided a livable wage
Oh yeah, and did I mention that the Portlandians and the Northern Indians are both provided livable wages? This means they can afford their rent and food! Yesss!
They have more than just hair & beard dye
If coloring your hair or beard with their all natural henna dye isn't your thing, they also have other all natural shampoos, conditioners, extensive hair conditioning treatments and soaps.
Alright, so let's do a recap. There's no harsh chemicals so it doesn't damage your hair, skin or body while causing no harm to the environment. I was the only animal tested in this particular experiment and left with shiny dark brown hair and auburn and cocoa colored highlights. In addition, the company has sustainable and ethical business practices while also providing a livable wage for employees. Last, they have a variety of products to choose from other than hair and beard dye. Sounds like a winner to me!
Ok everyone, if you have Instagram, go ahead and give me a follow if you would like to check out my Instagram stories of the behind the scenes process from beginning to end of coloring your hair with this henna dye. But you gotta hurry quick, because my Instastories will only be up for 24 hours! Also, don't forget to subscribe to my newsletter if you haven't already to receive exclusive updates about more ethical and sustainable products in addition to the capsule wardrobe! xoxo
Ciao, Shelbi