Henna Hair Experience

So on a whim I decided that I was tired of being gray at ripe old age of 31.  I have dyed my hair in the past with the cheapo walmart dye and I quit because a) aint nobody got time for that, b)it made me look like a witch, and c)gray is my crown of wisdom (ha).   But out of nowhere I decided to give henna a try, you know, because it takes WAY less time (yeah right).  Plus its natural and its the cool hippy thing to do.
Just know, henna takes a million years.  I started at 5:30 am, which gave me 1.5 hours before the kids get up to get started. I was done by 11am.  So it takes many hours (not a million years, I exaggerated).  I bought the Henna especially for gray hair; its a 2 step process.


So just know going in that I am not a pro at taking selfies, in fact I make a point NOT to do that.  So I have probably captured the worst angles possible.
This is me going in, pretty gray.









Looks worse in person, trust me. lol.














So you have to mix the henna (2 different packages) in bowls and they have to sit there for the exact right amt of time.  Of course i have no idea what that amt of time is so I just guessed.
Mud head take 1:

It felt just as gross going on as it looks.  It was the consistency of wet mud.  You only keep this on for 5-15 min (??) or until your hair is pink/orange.  Well I had no way of knowing that since my hair was muddy.  So again, I guess and did the full 15 min, probably should have done 30.
Bag head for mud #1: 

Not bad for 5am right..ha!  Guess this the time of day I go cross-eyed

Oh I forgot to mention that you put oil around your face to keep the dye from sticking to your skin.  All I had was nipple cream..not sure if it did the job...

So after my hair was pink (?).  I washed it out.  When washing this out I thought about easy this was.  It came out way easier than normal dye.  And you cant use conditioner so my hair was nappy.
On to step 2.  I had to rub this green mud into my hair that smelled too much like green tea.  Gag. 

This was around the time the kids got up, they are like "MOM what are you doing?". Im like "kids its rough being a hippy".  

So this was fine for the first 2 hours, I did my normally mothering duties.  But right around 3.5 hours I started to get a headache and decided I was done with this gig.  I probably should have waited longer but not sure if I could have.
So into the shower, my oldest watched as I washed it out..it was gross.  There was henna everywhere, walls, shower curtain, floor, tub.  Thankfully it wasnt too difficult to get off.  But it really does go everywhere. I washed and washed and WASHED.  And no shampoo allowed for at least 24 hours so there was way I could get it all out.  Thankfully after my hair dried it didnt rub off on anything but it felt gross and it was like swimming in green tea all day.  I did use conditioner though.  

Right at first it looked like I had completely covered the gray.  

Once I washed it finally with shampoo though (2 days later) so much more came out.  Its hard to tell in the pictures but its kind of a light reddish color. Im worried that the gray will come back with each wash...and if that happens I wont be doing this again. BUT if it really stays "colored-ish" for 6 weeks I may attempt it once I forget how long it took.
Me now 3 days later: 

Have you had your fill of forehead shots of me? Hope so bc that is all!