How to Get Burnished Bronze Hair with Henna

How to Get Burnished Bronze Hair with Henna

Throughout history, burnished bronze hair has been considered incredibly desirable.  Flattering for almost all skin tones, light-reflective for maximum shine and multi-tonal. It just works.

Mila Kunis, Emma Stone and Miranda Kerr all rock this look, which is more of a transparent gloss on brunette and golden tones, then a rich dye job. 

The key to bronze hair with henna is in the blend and understanding the application techniques. 

Keeping your application time shorter, experimenting with strand tests to get the right shade and using cassia for the golden hit bronze needs is critical. 

PRO NOTE:  It’s not possible to lighten hair with Henna – if your hair is very dark, you may need a pre-lightener and you shouldn’t use Henna after bleaching, so speak to your hairdresser first.

If you don’t want to spend time mixing your own blend, try our pre-mixed natural hair dyes, in golden blonde.  

Pre-prepping:

You don’t need to pre-prep for this colour; the effect is meant to be a transparent wash that catches the sunlight and looks natural .

The Burnished Bronze Henna Hair Recipe:

The mix for burnished bronze requires a magic ingredient alongside your henna: cassia.  As with our rose gold blend, it’s that (also called colorless or clear henna) that adds the shimmering gold highlights. Alongside it you need amla, for an ashier look. 

Mixing the powders with cooled (not hot) earl grey tea tones the red and enhances the bronze tones further.

Ingredients

• Wooden or Glass Mixing Bowl (never metal) and spoons
• Beeswax hair wrap
• 2 parts Cassia Powder
• 1 part organic Henna
• 2 parts Amla
• 3 tea cups of earl grey tea for depth and to slightly deaden the warmth of the henna (steep for at least an hour) and cooled

Instructions

1. Steep the tea, and leave for an hour – overnight for the best results

2. Put the powders into a mixing bowl and mix the brewed chamomile spoon by spoon until it reaches the consistency of yoghurt

3. The mixture should not drip from the spoon but look like a thick paste that can be easily spreadable

4. Cover with beeswax wrap, and let sit in the fridge overnight

5. Parting the hair into sections, brush, or comb henna into clean, dry hair.

6. Put a shower cap on and leave the henna mix on your hair for two hours.  Rinse well, then if more intensity is required, reapply after 72 hours (to allow the Henna to oxidise).

It’s vital to do a strand test to see how long your hair needs to go the colour you want and to get the blend right.  Our guide to ‘Things that can affect the result of your henna hair dye’ should help you.

If your hair is very dark, this guide will give you bronze gold highlights but it won’t change your hair colour.

Alternatively, you can try our pre-mixed natural hair dyes, in golden blonde.  It won’t lighten your hair, but on brunette tones will add a golden, burnished hit of colour. 

If you want a darker effect, try Chestnut and strand test for duration. 

For more advice on colouring your hair with organic henna, ask our hair colour experts now>