Light Mountain Natural Hair Color & Conditioner

8 Reviews

1. 

   puzzledCake6

   Reply

   I first began using Light Mountain Natural Red Henna twenty-mumble years ago when I was a teenager going through a hippie phase. Honestly, what attracted me to this brand in the first place was the art on the boxes– compared to all the other henna boxes at the natural foods co-op, Light Mountain looked the least outdated with delightful artwork of different animals for each shade. I grabbed the box with the fox on it (Red) and started a two-year journey of putting muddy goop on my head every couple of months. After a few years, I got lazy and stopped using henna, transitioning to another long stretch of years of traditional chemical dyes (both drug store and salon). Then I got a random whim the other day to make another go with the henna, but couldn’t find “my” brand at my local Whole Foods. Wary of trying an untested brand, I opted to order the Red (Fox) henna from Amazon, which thanks to the Prime account I always forget to cancel, it arrived on my doorstep in 24 hours.

   So, now that the preamble is out of the way, here’s the low down:

   My hair had been recently chemical dyed with a drug store dye (dark brown, Garnier Nutrisse), but I figured enough time had lapsed (about a month) that it wouldn’t be a problem. Some sources say not to henna over chemically dyed hair, others say go for it, so being an optimist, I went for it.

   The process of mixing and applying the henna sucked, which is why I took off one lippie, but that’s to be expected with this method. It is definitely more time intensive and messy than a drug store brand chemical dye. Mixing the powder with hot water requires you to stir it constantly for several minutes to get the consistency of pancake batter. I considered using the electric mixer, but decided against it because 1) it’s metal and 2) my fiancé would kill me. So I just stirred and stirred and stirred … and stirred until it smoothed out. Then I had to cover it and let it sit for an hour before I could apply the goop to my head.

   Application is messy. It’s basically mud. I do suggest using Vaseline around the hairline, because anywhere the mud gets will dye your skin orange. In my past experience, it fades pretty fast from the skin, so while I tried to be diligent about catching any spills, I accepted the fact that it wouldn’t be the end of the world if I missed a few splats.

   I used a hair dye applicator brush to apply the henna to my roots just like any other dye, and then worked my hair in sections. Scoop up some mud with the brush, slap it on the hair, work it down to the ends, repeat until hair is entirely coated. The thing with henna is that, unlike chemical dye, it doesn’t penetrate clumps of hair quite as easily, so you’ve got to be careful getting the hair coated evenly so you don’t wind up with stripes. Unless you’re going for that sort of look.

   It took about 30 minutes to get my hair entirely coated (I ended up using about 3/4 of the product on my shoulder length hair). I put on an old shower cap and set the timer for 1 hour (the instructions advise 1-4 hours for reds, depending on how vibrant and dark you want the color. Since I was working with dark brown hair and aiming for red highlights, I figured an hour would be enough). Every 10-15 minutes or so, I’d use a blow dryer over the shower cap to heat the henna (a step I don’t recall doing as a teenager, but maybe I missed it back then), which apparently helps keep the dye active.

   After my hour was up, I rinsed my head under the shower for-freaking-ever (about 10 minutes, give or take) until the mud was out. Still leaching dye, I worked some non-silicone conditioner through my hair and kept rinsing until the water ran pale orange and I figured I’d gotten the vast majority of the dye off my head.

   After letting my hair air dry while cleaning up the mess in my bathroom, it was ready for the big reveal. Yep, just about what I had expected: A dark brown with fiery red highlights (what I think of as a natural auburn with more punch). Pretty much exactly what I wanted!

   So, would I recommend this product? Absolutely. Great color results, consistent (if not messy) application, and if you’ve got a couple hours to kill playing with mud, then you’re not going to be disappointed.

2. 

   cynicalFalcon7

   Reply

   I’ve tried other henna brands and keep coming back to this one because, although it’s the cheapest, the dark brown gives the most accurate dark brown color, and because its coverage lasts the longest.

3. 

   fondEland9

   Reply

   Most recent edit 2017: after abusing the crap out of my hair I just used dark brown (the lion) to go back to Natural. I mixed with hot coffee applied immediately and let sit on head covered for an hour. Came out a wonderful deeeeeep brown but not black at all. Caffeine also stimulates growth! And I found the key to success with any indigo mix: xanthan gum powder. Mix a TEENY (1/2 tsp) in with the henna/indigo powder before adding the liquids. There will be. No. Clumps!!!!!!!

   I used this in black (the toucan). I did not follow the instructions listed as I know a fair bit about henna and indigo. I have been dyeing my previously bleached hair with BAQ henna from mehandi or henna sooq. If you are serious about henna/Indigo for hair I’d look there first. Anyway this product is just two things: indigo, henna. In that order. Indigo needs henna to bind to the hair. Hence the henna. Henna has only one shade: red-orange. Indigo’s natural stain is blue. They cancel each other out to make varying shades of brown, black, and darker reds. So my dark roots were coming in with a vengeance atop my henna colored hair and I’d been heavily researching a ‘hendigo’ (henna and indigo mixed together in one step; henna is mixed with whatever you put in your mix and left to dye release, and the indigo is mixed with water maybe some salt for staying power immediately before application then all mixed together in varying proportions depending on your color goal). Well these Light Mountain products are odd in that the powders are already mixed. What about dye release? If you let it dye release like a henna the indigo dye would’ve demised by then. So I mixed it in and slopped it on immediately. I used the mix provided, a tbs of salt, room temp tap water, and about a quarter cup amla powder for cooler tones. Wow… This stuff is MESSY!!! It was clumpy and gumpy and foul and you BEST put down like a ginormous tarp in your bathroom or you’ll be sorry!!! Now plus it drips. Fun. Since I was using this mainly for the darkening (indigo) effect, I left this in for 90 minutes which some believe is the time the indigo works for, after which there is a risk of the henna ‘taking over’ and reddening too much. Don’t know if this is true as this was my first indigo experiment but I checked my hair and it was DARK! Used no heat, just wrapped in saran wrap. The gloves and cap they give u are a joke. So I mermaid soaked in the tub to get the majority out (absolutely necessary for this product IMO), then CO washed the rest out. I don’t know if my application is off or it needs time to oxidize, but it’s mostly blackish with like some dark mahogany highlights which I wasn’t expecting and don’t love. I never would’ve used a premixed product like this but I have an event and was in a pinch and I couldn’t wait for henna sooq’s painfully slow shipping. I’m glad I did it. I love having closer toy natural shade with no root line. However, lets see how this oxidizes and if it fades as 1st or 2nd indigoes are wont to do. I will update in a couple of weeks. Would use again in a pinch but hopefully next time I can hendigo or even do a henna/indigo 2-step to yield really black results with BAQ henna and good quality indigo.

   ETA: this color has stuck same as first day of application through a few washes, despite the water being a little blue when I shampooed first time (5 days later). Too bad it such a b*tch to apply!!! Will use again if I can’t use my good stuff.

4. 

   gutturalJerky8

   Reply

   I really like this henna. I have medium ash brown hair, and this gives me a rich warm brown color. I use the medium brown in the antelope box. I mix it with hot water, vinegar, greek yogurt, and cinnamon. It doesn’t smell very good, but it’s not terrible, and it doesn’t burn my eyes like chemical hair dyes. It takes a long time, but it’s worth it.

5. 

   chicBittern8

   Reply

   I decided to try this as an all natural alternative to chemical hair color. I also wanted to grow my hair color out but after a few months my dark brown hair dye would oxidize and turn orange. I was left with 2-3 inch dark brown roots and 8 inched of brassiness. I looked into semi-permanent color but most are full of chemicals as well.
   I can this henna at my local health food store and Whole Foods. It is $6.99 (U.S.) at both. I have tried the medium brown and dark brown. The medium brown was too light for my dark brown hair and the black was just right. I found the whole process of application a learning process. I followed directions (no metal utensils and bowls) and after mixing, let it sit out at room temperature overnight. I use a few tablespoons lemon juice, water and either virgin coconut oil or hair conditioner (just a little, the coconut worked better but was hard to clean from my bath tub). I prefer to make it to a cake batter consistency and mix for 5 minutes. Too much liquid can make it runny and if you leave on for hours, that is hours of dripping.
   I have curly hair and this mixture is very chunky. I can also dry out a bit overnight so check the texture before you start. If it’s dry, just add a little water until mix it’s until it’s moist again.
   I start at my roots and then apply like traditional hair dye letting the chunks fall. This is (obviously) very messy and the first time I did it, had to clean my bathroom. Luckily, it didn’t stain anything. The second time, I applied in my backyard. I also have to “push” the mix in my hair as well, using big globs.
   I let this stay on for as long as my day allows, usually 2-6 hours. I read from others (henna user websites), do not shampoo for a few days. It much easier to get out of your hair using conditioner and water. It takes me about 15-20 minutes in the shower. With the black henna, it really took two days for it to look like a ash dark brown. At first it looked a pink pinkish/red in the sun. Two days later, it looked awesome.
   Henna conditions my hair and makes it shiny and more manageable. It also helps with defining my curls. Yes, it’s worth all the time and extra work. I now know my hair is much healthier and is not breaking anymore. It covers up the brassy hair and the results are the same as regular hair dye. I was using Color Silk in dark brown before this. I lok forward to having longer, healthier hair.

6. 

   wearyPup3

   Reply

   This review is for the Light Mountain Henna products. I purchased it in Chestnut and Neutral. I have only tried the Chestnut and I will say that I do like it. I bought it through Amazon for 3/$18 and change. You can buy it from other vendors for less. I have Black to Dark Brown hair, that’s wavy on the ends. This is a messy process so I recommend going to Henna for Hair’s website and reading up on it or going to Youtube to see how others do it. I prepared it the night before and applied it in the morning and left it on for 4 hours. I had wrapped my hair in saran wrap, shower cap and towel. When it started dripping down my neck (4 hrs), I decided to wash it out. There is some rough grit in there, and it took about 35 min to apply in the tub, 35 min to wash completely out in the tub. I used some dirt cheap conditioner to help get it out. It does leave your hair smelling like hay, so you may want to add a terp.oil in it to help cancel out the smell. I followed w/a deep conditioner and it covered my white hair sprouts and left the rest of my hair w/a cast of red. I liked it because i wasn’t going for a dramatic change. I wanted my hair to stop falling out, wanted shiny, healthy hair, concealed white hairs, and a warm tone to it. I am happy with the results. Like I said it is messy, so you can either recruit a friend to help w/the application, or you can see how others do it and learn by their mistakes and suggestions. I think I will do this again, because it is natural, w/o dangerous chemicals being added to my hair and probably better for my hair in the long run.

7. 

   pridefulSalt7

   Reply

   I love using this product, I’ve never had any negative effects from it (such as staining my pillow, etc.) and it turns my dirty blonde hair a beautiful, natural looking red. It does smell like hay though so make sure you use hot tea or add essential oils to offset the smell, but it only lasts a few days anyway. Also, I find that using vaseline around your hair line can coat the hairs there and hinder staining so last night I colored without it and scrubbed the skin around my hairline today with baking soda to remove the stains. Also, I tend to make it a more watery consistency than yogurt because I feel it spreads better to cover all my hairs. It’s really cheap too, I have thick slightly past my shoulders hair and can use one package two or three times. The best thing is that it isn’t damaging like most other dyes, it’s really the best way to go if you want any red in your hair ( I can’t comment on any other color). But I don’t know how it interacts with previously dyed hair, I had grown out virgin hair at the time, but have heard that you need to remove the henna from your hair (which sounds damaging) before you can re-dye with chemicals.

8. 

   somberCrane5

   Reply

   This is my first-ever review! I was impressed enough with this product to share my experience…

   I tried the “Auburn” Light Mountain, which is the same as my natural hair color, hoping it would enhance the color, condition my hair, and cover my white hairs enough so that they aren’t noticeable. It did EXACTLY that!

   After preparing the henna as per the package instructions, I applied it over the bathroom sink, wearing latex gloves. (First I smeared Aquaphor on any body parts that were likely to come in contact with the mixture.) Applying the henna mixture was a little hard (but I’ve never dyed my hair before, so I had NO experience), because once the thick goop got on it, it was next to impossible to separate my hair into sections like the instructions say… I ended up just sort of slathering a ton on, combing it through with a wide-toothed comb, and massaging it around to try to coat all my hair.

   When it seemed like I had enough on my head (which, as I have chin-length hair, was only about half the prepared mixture), I left the goop on for 20 minutes (covered by the plastic bag which is included in the package), applying heat with a hair dryer the whole time. It was a little messy, but MUCH less messy than I expected. I didn’t accidentally dye anything I didn’t want dyed, and cleanup was easy. When I was finished, I scooped out the leftover mixture with paper towels and threw it away in a plastic bag, rather than trying to wash it all down the drain. None of the bowls, utensils, or sinks/tubs I used were negatively effected.

   When I rinsed it out (also much easier than expected), my hair shade didn’t look dramatically different (which is good, because I love my natural hair color) but was subtly darker/redder and “richer” looking. My white hairs are tinted just enough so that there’s not enough contrast for them to show up. The texture is great, and it looks really healthy. The smell is also very mild (it kind of reminds me of the smell of TVP, textured vegetable protein…) and didn’t bother me at all. I’ll have to see how long the color lasts and how well it continues to cover my white hairs….

   [Edit: I’m taking away a lippie because the color faded really quickly! I LOVED the initial results, but in only a week they’d already begun to wear off. I am going to try leaving it on longer next time I use it and see if it makes a difference.]