Why henna spoils porous hair and how to avoid it

For a very long time, henna has been recommended as a natural hair color that doesn’t require chemicals. But not everyone experiences the same results, particularly those with porous hair. You’re not alone if you’ve noticed that using henna has made your hair drier or more brittle.

Because porous hair absorbs more moisture and products than other hair types, applying henna to it can produce unexpected results. Henna may exacerbate existing damage, leaving hair feeling dry and brittle rather than glossy and healthy.

You can still enjoy the advantages of natural hair dye and avoid this issue by learning a few tricks and understanding why henna reacts this way with porous hair.

Porous hair?

It took me a while to realize that my hair was porous. I can’t fathom having pores in my hair. I see looseness instead of pores when I look at my hair without henna! Frizz, dullness, and looseness. Hair is neither curly nor straight. Quite thin and dry looking, with a touch akin to a spider web.

Henna penetrates the hair’s open cuticles and binds too tightly, which can cause damage to porous hair by making it dry, brittle, and more prone to breaking. It’s crucial to apply a moisturizing treatment both before and after applying henna in order to prevent this, and to select pure, high-quality henna free of additives that could exacerbate the problem.

Henna spoils porous hair?

Both yes and no. Frizzy, loose hair can be considerably improved or made worse by henna. It’s more about the powdered form of the plant mask than it is about any particular plant (henna, basma, amla, etc.).

Envision two different kinds of dough: thick and thin. Sand them in your head. You can easily use your hand to brush sand off of dense dough. You won’t get everything unless you pick it out of the loose dough. Sand "eats into" the loose dough, adhering to its imperfections. In a metaphorical sense, this is what happens to hair when a lot of tiny grains are used to create a mask. Together with clay, coffee, and so forth td. with any kind of powder.

Henna highlights all the flaws in loose hair, making the situation worse. They become even more frizzy, completely stop shining, and the comb gets lodged in them. They can actually get dry, both to the touch and in appearance. Furthermore, it is evident how uneven the structure is. It is not possible to discuss a single canvas. Hair is coarse and hard. This was something I used to have.

Instead of drying hair, henna draws attention to how loosely structured it is. And the result of this is already dryness.

How I solve this problem?

1. I add vegetable oil to the henna paste. Most often macerate (a mixture of oils infused with herbs). I don’t know exactly how it works. I used to think that oil prevents henna from drying hair. Now I believe that slippery oil prevents henna grains from sticking strongly to the uneven surface of the hair and loosening it even more.
2. I apply henna paste only to dry hair. I tried it a couple of times on damp hair. Both times my hair became disgusting. Why does this happen? Wet hair is much more vulnerable than dry hair, it is easily damaged. Have you heard that, yes??) Similar with henna.
3. I wash off the henna mask with shampoo. This measure always causes controversy. And probably the first two too Firstly, I won’t wash my hair from oil with water. And I can’t not add oil to henna. Secondly, I won’t wash out all the grains with water alone. In my hair, the powder (even if the paste was with oil) gets stuck very tenaciously. This aggravates the looseness, and it leads to dryness and off we go. Shampooing can be replaced with co-washing with conditioner. The point is that the product pulls out all the grains from the hair.
4. After the henna mask, I always use a good conditioning product. Yes, it is desirable that it be without film formers. But if you don’t have anything like that at hand, a product with silicones will do. The main thing is that after the rough impact on fragile hair, the cuticle smoothly falls into place. We kind of smoothed the loose hair with our hand dough, creating a smooth surface. This is both an aesthetically beautiful look of hair after the procedure (smoothness, obedience and shine) and prevention of dry hair in the future.

For people whose hair is porous, henna can be problematic. Even though it’s a natural dye, over time it tends to stick to the hair’s porous structure, making the hair brittle and dry.

It’s crucial to concentrate on good hair care both before and after applying henna in order to avoid this. Deep conditioning and oil treatments are examples of moisturizing treatments that help lock in moisture and shield hair from henna’s drying effects.

If you want to continue using henna, consider combining it with hair-nourishing products like yogurt or oils. You can still get the color you want while balancing out the harshness with this.

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