Was hesitant to try a prepared mixture as I've always mixed henna and indigo on my own. I use coffee to mix with a little apple cider vinegar and some peppermint oil and generally prep it and let it sit for a few hours. I put mine on before bed and sleep in it and rinse in the morning and have great results. If you've never applied henna, it sucks.. Phone a friend. It's gritty and sloppy and seems to go everywhere... All that being said, it's worth the effort. My scalp has pretty much healed from my past with convential dye and my hair feels great.

****PLEASE READ IF NEW TO HENNA**** This is a great dye, but permanent, bleaching henna will go orange, and bleaching the browns, deep reds and blacks will go splotchy green and orange. If you want to keep the shade of red you have ONLY do root touch ups, to do full head applications will darken it. Please go to [...] educate yourself on the dyes, it is an amazing resource on the plants and mixes. :) I love henna!

-BUT Women have had to go from shoulder length to a pixie to remove the jet black and go back to red...... as in it has to be CUT out. can be traumatic... Bleaching the red may NEVER go back to an ashly blonde and you hair will be like straw and you'll loose about 6-8 inches.... adn indigo can never be bleach out, it will turn a green color

PICS:
my hair with red henna
my hair with henna and then indigo henna over it (two step) to get ravens wing black - I LOVE it!

natural - ashy brown

I read a million reviews trying to decide which colour to choose, but i eventually went with the natural henna because I assumed that would be the least chemically altered. I am black and I have black-brown hair with yellowish gold highlights that is a few inches past my shoulder. One and a half packs were exactly enough for me. I used henna mainly for the treatment benefits and the colour to my highlights is a great plus! I mixed the juice of 1 lemon, some black tea, pure olive oil and a coconut and shea treatment oil with the henna powder. I let it sit for about 2 hours and tested the stain on my skin to see the intensity of the colour. I would suggest mixing it overnight if you want very bold rich colour. I left it in my hair for 4hrs covered with a plastic cap with a hole cut in the top, then washed out with water and shampooed 3 times.
I did notice that the colour has gotten a bit brighter since the first day I put it in. I absolutely love the colour and my hair feels smoother and fuller. I definitely intend to use this again. It was pretty straightforward and cleanup was a breeze. The smell was a bit strong while mixing but i didn't smell it at all when it was actually in my hair.

This was my first experience with henna. I was really pleased.
I thought my husband hated it, as it was a pretty shocking change.
So, I go to Lush at the mall and got a cacao red to brown it up at bit. The girls at Lush loved my color.
I came home and mixed up the henna. Well, what a mess!!!! It immediately turned to clumps of wet grass on my hair. (Then he tells me he liked it the way it was. Arrrg!)
It went everywhere! It also took the whole amout of product to cover my short hair. I'm sitting for three hours with it on right now.
The Henna product from this Amazon site was easy to apply and clean up. The mall henna was all over my bathroom. Yuck!
So, if you're looking for bright shiny red hair, this is a great product.

Short version: I love love love this product. I found it easy to apply and the color turned out lovely (pretty much like the pictures). The smell wasn't that bad and it went away in less than a day. I also didn't experience any color run. I would highly recommend this product to anyone wanting to use a natural, non-toxic hair dye.

Longer version: I have naturally brown hair and the color turned out a deep burgundy. If you have blonde hair I would imagine the color would turn out a more vibrant red. I have fairly short hair and used about half of the henna (~50g). I mixed the henna with a spice tea water and fresh lemon juice. Before applying the henna I rinsed my hair with an apple cider vinegar and water mixture to naturally strip it of oils. Don't think this is necessary but I read somewhere it helps the color adhere to your hair. I found the mixture really easy to apply. I recommend gloves. I used a shower cap with a hole cut in the top (exactly the directions state) to cover my head and left it for 6 hours. I rinsed with warm water and then cold to help set the color. Didn't even need conditioner as my hair felt so healthy already. Went to bed with my hair wet and not even one mark on my pillowcase :). I'm assuming the people complaining of color running didn't rinse the henna out completely. As for the smell, I didn't find it so bad. A mix between green tea and hay. Beats the strong ammonia and chemical smell from conventional hair dye.

If you're thinking about buying this product, do it!