True Red Hair with Henna, Beetroot, Red Clay and Amla

Pure henna gives a beautiful natural red, but on light hair it can lean towards bright orange. Our new Henna Boy True Red Henna Hair Dye is a ready-blended powder that pulls the colour away from orange towards a saturated true red to auburn, using only plants and clay.

What is in True Red

Like all our hair dyes it contains no PPD, ammonia or peroxide. The powders come ready mixed, so there is nothing to weigh.

What colour will I get?

Henna adds colour to your own shade, so the result depends on where you start:

• Very light blonde, white or grey: warm copper-red to true red with a wine or berry cast. The brightest result.
• Dark or honey blonde: rich copper-red to auburn with wine depth in sunlight. This is the sweet spot: saturated without neon orange.
• Light brown: deep auburn-red, warm burgundy in the sun and more muted indoors.
• Mid-brown: rich reddish-brown to deep auburn, with the red visible indoors. Think chestnut with red highlights.
• Dark brown: deep reddish-brown with a red to mahogany glow in the sun. Indoors it looks slightly warmer than before.

What you need

• 100g of True Red powder (more for longer hair)
• 150 to 200ml of hot hibiscus tea or water, and 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
• Gloves, a non-metallic bowl, cling film and a shower cap
• Oil or balm for your hairline and ears
• A friend to help, for the best coverage

Step 1: Mix the paste

Mix the powder with the hot (not boiling) hibiscus tea or water and the apple cider vinegar until it is like thick yoghurt. The clay makes the paste stiffer than plain henna, so add a little more liquid if needed.

Step 2: Let it rest

Cover with cling film and leave for 8 to 12 hours at about 20°C, or 12 to 24 hours in the fridge (48 hours at most). This rest releases lawsone, the dye in henna. Too short a rest gives weak, patchy colour; beyond about 24 hours at room temperature the dye starts to break down.

Step 3: Apply

Start with clean hair, dry or about 80% dry. Put oil or balm along your hairline and on your ears, then work in sections from roots to ends until every strand is thickly coated.

Step 4: Cover, keep warm and wait 3 to 4 hours

Put on a shower cap and keep your head warm. Leave the paste on for 3 to 4 hours. Under 2 hours gives weak, uneven colour; over 5 hours dries the hair out and makes the paste hard to rinse.

Step 5: Rinse with cool water

Rinse with cool water only and do not shampoo for 48 hours.

Good to know

• The colour looks brighter and more orange at first and deepens over 2 to 3 days, so judge it on day 2 or 3, on dry hair.
• The beetroot tint fades after 4 to 6 washes.
• A second coat 7 to 10 days later deepens the colour towards burgundy.
• Freeze any leftover paste straight away and thaw it later to touch up your roots.

The bottom line: on light hair, True Red gives a natural-redhead true red to auburn, with a wine undertone for the first few weeks.

Prefer a brighter, warmer copper? See our guide to copper red and strawberry blond with henna and cassia, or browse all our red henna hair dyes. Download the True Red instructions (PDF).