Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I'm heading to a vegan workshop in two weeks time and there is a lush near it. Can't wait to get some henna and Big shampoo. My hair is missing Big something ferocious. I'm threatening to go without food so I can get them both.

I have my newest round of caca rouge on my head (tip: sleeping with wet muddy hair and saran wrap in the winter really sucks). I'm going to wash it off in a couple of hours, but I was also planning on going swimming tonight, and didn't really think about it being problematic until now. It's a low chlorine salt-water pool, but will my hair turn green? Googling tells me both yes and no so I figured the Lush experts might know.

My completely non-expert advice would be to at least wear some kind of fitted cap on your head just in case. And now I have a question for you! I usually only leave henna on my hair for a half an hour to an hour because I like bright orange hair, when you leave yours on for hours does it come out orangey or dark like an auburn?

Now a question about the liquid shampoos. I usually don't use them but at one point I had almost no money and had to deal with $1 White Rain shampoo and it's helping to kill my hair so now that I have a tiny bit of money I'm hoping to rectify my shampooing. I have dry hair and a ton of flyways. It seems like my hair breaks very easily. I want shiny hair, well moisturized and for it to be a bit stronger, maybe to smooth my flyaways more (don't we all?) so which would you guys recommend for me?

Hey Mr. Shankly,
I used to leave my red henna on for about 3 - 3 1/2 hours, and it turned out a fiery orange. I've posted pics before; maybe I can find them again...

Edit: Here you go. This is me a couple of years back, growing my hair out and putting henna on it (Lush Caca Rouge in both pics):

Phoenix, that is SUCH a pretty colour! I'm jealous! What is your natural hair colour? I have no idea that leaving it on briefly would actually result in a brighter colour.

My hair is naturally dark blonde (at least, it was 16 years ago when I first started dyeing my hair), and I leave caca rouge in for at least eight hours. I get a really nice auburn, (pics when I get home!) but it is never even, because my hair grows so slowly and I was using chemical dye before I switched to henna about a year ago.

Mr. Shankly--as much as I love Lush, their shampoos don't work for me. I have fine and dry hair, and I'm okay using Big shampoo, but it's not really helping enough to justify the cost. Even though my hair is barely wavy, I tried Jessicurl products and they are great! Also Nezza Naturals. Sorry if those products are a little bit too Canadian for your access, but I would seek out some sort of local hippie-dippy company. Honestly, their products are often great!

Mr. Shankly, I leave caca rouge in overnight on my medium brown hair and it turns out auburn. I have to leave it on that long or the color isn't very intense and I've never noticed a correlation between time and orangeness.

Do you have chemically treated hair? I have really fine hair and the only thing that saved it was to stop dyeing it and trimming my ends every month. I've heard that sulfate free shampoos can be much milder, so maybe you can look for some like that. I usually use the Lush shampoo and conditioner bars or Trader Joes liquid shampoos. I have no clue if they're good for repairing hair. I've also used Jason brand and it seems pretty gentle.

Does it really advertise itself as lightly scented?? I used half of one of their tiny sample tubs of Happy Happy Joy Joy and my hair smelt of it quite strongly. Good job I like the smell, but it's so strong I would feel anti-social using a large enough amount to do what I would consider a conditioning job, I'd just use it to make my hair smell pretty.

Oh so this is the colour I get form caca rouge in my hair for 8 hours:



Ug, it's a big photo, sorry! That was in the fall...this time it's a bit brighter for some reason.

Thank you so much you guys! I don't chemically treat my hair (just henna it twice a year) but I do use a flat iron every day on the highest setting (or else it won't straighten) and I air dry my hair. And yes, the longer you leave henna in the more intense the color is. My hair is naturally ginger and I just like to enhance/brighten the color, that's why I'm afraid to leave it in for too long.

I usually use the shampoo bars but I'm not sure if they can help my hair right now. Maybe I should try a new shampoo bar. Has anyone tried Ultimate Shine?

Ha, thanks! That was actually super experimental. I seem to go from black to various reds every couple of years, so that was the black bleached out and then treated with henna. (I know, some people say your hair will turn pink or green if you use henna on bleached or otherwise chemically treated hair, but that just never happened to me! And I don't know if it would have mattered much to me, anyway.) So the colour turned out super vibrant where my hair was lighter from having been bleached, and not quite as vibrant (but still super orangey) on the roots. Went well for about half a year or more, then I the contrast started to bother me, and I went back to chemical dyes.

P.S. My natural colour is something like "chestnut" (coppery in summer - if I go outside - and a rather bland brown in winter). ;)

And vijita, I love your colour! I had almost the same shade before I went back to black this time. :D

On the bottle, it says 'lightly scented' although I don't see anything on the website that says that.

Mr Shankley, Have you looked at Blousey? It is new and supposed to be conditioning. You could go in and ask for a sample if you are near a store.

I feel like everything smells kind of strong and their employees, man. SO pushy. I don't want to chat with you about how oily my skin is, which you helpfully pointed out, because I obviously don't know. I hate going into their stores so much. That said, their R&B hair stuff (it's leave in moisturizer but I used it like it's hair gel, before my hair is dry) is all I used on my hair to style it, and it's perfect for anyone with curls and one tub lasts forever.

My caca rouge barely lasted a week, I thought it was a waste of money. I put it in overnight, saran wrap, everything. Sigh. But you girls look gorgeous with your red hair! I am jealous. I am guessing you guys don't have dark brown hair :(

The reason is probably because henna takes approximately 3 days to set so the color that you have as soon as you get out of the shower won't be the color you'll have 3 days later.

I have darker brown hair (not dark enough to be confused with black) and the henna was permanent for me but I never tried caca rouge, that is the next on my list. I don't expect to have red hair but I use it to help cover my grays and give a slight tint.

So true. I put mine in a couple days ago and I'm still waiting for my roots to pick up the colour.

As for the expense; did you use the full block? I can get three applications out of one block, which I think is a pretty good deal.

One Lush employee suggested adding red stuff like red wine or paprika or beet juice to the mix. I almost added wine last time but instead I opted to drink it. :) Good luck if you try it again!

Wow 3 applications? I generally get 1.25 applications out of a bar, maybe I'm using too much.

Also, I generally add some brewed tea when I do the brown henna. Hibiscus tea might be a good option to add. I also want to do caca rouge and I have some red wine in my fridge that I don't know what to do with.

Well I do have really fine hair, and it's barely shoulder length. I think I add a bit more liquid than they recommend, but it seems to work better for the roots than packing in the muddy stuff.

I just didn't like it gloopy which is why I didn't add too much water and I have really thick hair and its longer than shoulder length.

How much you use depends on how much hair you have, length and thickness. My friend has dark brown hair and uses caca rouge to get a nice red tint but it definitely won't make your hair a fiery red. It's a stain without bleach. Bleaching before you henna it will help if you want the fiery red. Bleaching afterwards is what the problem is because it forces the stain deeper into your hair- but it also depends on the property of your henna. Lush henna isn't pure henna, it contains other additives and has some different properties (according to them) than other pure hennas do.

I also think it works better when it's thinner. Now I only have to keep topping up my roots I've started making it in a mug - 1/6 block caca brun and some boiling water to make a pouring custard consistency.

Oh also, mixing it with an acid will help you get a fiery red color. I mix mine with vinegar and water.

I wish I knew that! Next time...

Sorry, I don't mean 1/6, I mean more like 1/12!

Going back to my search to stop my hair looking like a scarecrow's, I've tried Happy Happy Joy Joy (not that impressed), Jasmine and Henna Fluff-Eaze (okay), R&B (LOVE the smell, and think it helped with the flyawayness a bit, but not enough).

Any more recommendations? I'd like to have an idea of products I might be interested in before I brave the onslaught of helpful assistants. My hair is really fine, not particularly thick, and quite dry.

Buche de Noel update! Kept it in the fridge, and it hasn't gone bad! There's still a bit left, and maybe it's a little bit drier than when it was fresh, but that's all. :D

I bought a tub of R&B, and have decanted some into the now empty sample pot so I can take some with me wherever I go!

I asked for samples of everything I thought might work that I haven't tried yet. I got given a nice slab of big conditioner bar, and she recommended some cythia sylvia stout and some veganese, but I've just realised she forgot the Blousey. I've written a note on the Big wrapper to ask for that when I finish this round of samples! (going to ask for Trichomania too, since I haven't tried that either).