Lush Oxford Street: Caca Rouge!

Apologies for the big gap between this and my last post, I've been feeling really unwell lately and just staying awake is a struggle most days! The whole house has had norovirus one after the other, unpleasant to say the least! 

On a slightly happier note, I visited the Oxford Street Lush store again the other weekend and ended up in there for over two hours. How did I manage that? I decided, completely on impulse, to have my hair dyed with their all natural Caca Rouge Henna. Somewhat risky perhaps, considering I was chief bridesmaid at my sister's wedding two weeks later and henna is notoriously difficult to get rid of, thankfully, it turned out wonderfully! 

My Hair Before!

I've been curious about using henna as a hair dye for at least a few months as the chemical fumes from box dyes leave me feeling nauseous, however, I was always a little too nervous about being able to apply it correctly. Luckily for me, their huge Oxford St store has a tiny salon area for them to demo their products including henna, liquid and solid shampoos and conditioners. I had to wait a little while for them to fit me in and the lovely Mel who took over my treatment explained that she'd happily put it on for me but the store would be closed before it needed washing off. Slightly daunted by the prospect of travelling home with a head full of henna, I decided to plough on. 

Mmmm, sludgey!

To prepare the henna it required  chopping the block into small pieces, placing into a heat resistant container and mixing them in boiling water until it resembled smooth, melted chocolate. Despite being a red henna, it had a very green tinge. I was somewhat nervous. Mel and her colleague then applied the henna liquid all over my hair, a small section at a time until my entire head was well covered. I was then wrapped in copious amounts of clingfilm and chose to purchase one of their vintage look scarves to tie around for my upcoming 40 minute stint on the tube. I was warned that as things got hot up in there there could be a bit of escapee liquid. I still wasn't prepared for quite how messy the homeward journey would be though. RIP to my scarf. 

Lush's hair demo area

Washing the henna out is a fairly involved process, as your hair absorbs the liquid from the mixture, leaving you covered in swamp coloured, powdery sludge. After my fourth shampoo and rinse I felt I'd finally succeeded in getting rid of it and then slathered myself generously in conditioner. Keen to see the result I hopped out of the bath and rushed to get it dry. The first word out of my mouth upon looking in the mirror was "wow"! It had made such a drastic colour changed and seemed to have managed to lighten my hair, something I didn't know it could do. I have to admit though I was a little disappointed. I felt like it was too pale for my ghostly face and didn't particularly suit me. 

The lovely Mel had informed me that henna takes 48 hours to show it's true colour though, due to the oxidisation process that happens following the treatment and that the result would continue to develop. 

It's now two weeks since I had it done and I absolutely LOVE the colour. My hair smells incredible (still) from the henna treatment. The colour is so natural looking against my pale skin despite being a vibrant auburn. I'll most definitely be continuing to use henna hair dyes in future, I'll just ensure I allocate the entire day to do so and rope in a friend or two to help! 

Katy x