Hey babe, I'm a redhead

So not like "ginger, ginger BAM!, in- your- face" red (which is great too btw), but a lovely dark auburn just red enough- and I'm loving it!

So here's a bit of a run-through of my evening/night (started before 7, finished right before midnight):

What you need: some UGLY clothes that you don't mind getting yucky, newspaper to cover the floor (it gets SO messy),  some sort of container for the mixture, a towel you don't mind getting dirty, rubber-gloves and clingfilm (my favourite part!)

Most people on the forums that I read said to grate the caca (haha I know, but it gets funnier), but lazy as I am I just cut it into roughly 1cm x 1cm cubes. It worked perfectly!

I put the lovely little cubes in a heat proof dish (a vase in my case) and poured boiling water on them little  by little.

 I did this until the consistency was sort of like baby poop (or greek yogurt if you want to be less vulgar).  But I mean look at the stuff! People on the forums also complained about its smell, but to me it was just sort of earthy (not lovely, but tolerable). 

My friend spread the goop thoroughly in my hair (if you do this PLEASE have a friend at hand. It felt like a warm sloppy head massage with chunks of henna falling out. Eventually as it started to dry the consistency turned into a more unified turd, which I piled on top of my head and covered in clingfilm (SO FUNNY).  

I completed the glory with a towel- not only does it keep the surroundings neater, the heat from it also intensifies the treatment.

We had a bit of a movie night while waiting: popcorn, frozen grapes (if you haven't tried them do so NOW. Delish), mozzarella pizza and a Fish Called Wanda. The movie was so funny I almost peed my pants! A great choice for a bit of a giggle with the girls- or boys! Then again the whole henna business in itself is a bit of a giggle too. I had a bit of a panic once the entire mucky thing on my head turned GREEN and it sort of looked like my hair was green too. I stuck it out, though and luckily it turned out nice (I would'v TOTALLY worked the green hair too, though ;)

After about four hours or so I went to the shower expecting the slodge to take ages to come out as people on the forums had suggested. It was actually pretty easy. Most of it rinsed out by itself (looked like really muddy water). The rest of the clumpy bits came out with a bit of conditioner. As I've already said, I love the colour so much. In addition to this my hair is super soft and silky- it really did wonders to my dry ends. The only con is that the funny smell won't come out.

Now I still have to wait a bit to see the final result (sometimes the colour develops up to two days after the treatment), but so far so good. It looks quite brown and natural, but quite obviously red once the light hits it.

Here's a bit of an after pic for you lot:

Not the most flattering picture of me out there, but bare with me it's a quarter to 1am and I'm exhausted. Happy, but exhausted. I think this does get the colour across rather well.

Thanks to whoever made it through this gargantuan post (perhaps I should become a novelist, I seem to have a knack for long writing) and good night!!!

xxx

(Ginger)Ninja

Toss the shopping list and improvise!

Ahhhh! I couldn't be more excited about my finds so I have to show them off here. Nothing that I really "need", but things I wanted oh-so-much! 

A nice group picture!

 

A beige and black sort of Zebra-striped beach towel from H&M (we got matching ones, cute huh?).

I've been checking these sunglasses out all summer and now I got them for a mere 2e! I can't wait to wear them.

This is not taken by me because my camera/skills suck. The point is that this is tea tree oil and I SWEAR by it to keep my skin clear and healthy. I'm all about natural solutions to problems so I find this a lot better than synthetic spot-treatment products. It's a natural antiseptic so it helps with all sorts of skin problems (like infections, bug bites etc) so I never go a day without it. Plus it smells great! :)

I left the best for last. This is a bar of henna- TO DYE MY HAIR RED! Yes, I'm finally doing it. The shade is "caca marron", so it's not going to be BAM! red, but more of a subtle maroon like I hoped (or that's what they promised me at LUSH). It takes quite a while to dye with henna, and since I haven't done it before it should be fairly interesting. The same friend (let us call her J to make life easier) is coming over tomorrow and I will hopefully remember to document the process  and tell you lot all about it.

I actually found the henna cake by accident while looking for a hair mask at LUSH. I was talking to the shop assistant and I mentioned that I wanted to get my hair into good condition before dying it red so I wouldn't have to cut it. She recommended henna to me since it apparently works as a hair mask while dying your hair (said she uses it in her shade so it doesn't dye just to get the moisturizing effect) . Needless to say I was sold. Luckily the cake (or slab) of henna cost 15 euros (I expected more for a natural product, the tend to be expensive here) and there's enough for two treatments. More about henna and the entire dying-shebang tomorrow. I can't wait!

I want to take this time to thank all of the lovely people who've been commenting and reading my blog. Though I do this for myself, it's always so nice to get good feedback. Also a big thanks to my followers!

All the best xxx