Mushroom Hair Colour with Henna

‘Mushroom’ hair colour is a huge colour trend for blondes and those with light ashy brown hair. 

Pinterest is awash with it, and it might be surprising given the assumption that Henna is always red-toned, but Henna is a great way to achieve the look without chemical dyes.

If you are darker haired and you want to go mushroom (which is a light, very cool, ashy brown shade), you’ll need bleach and sadly, Henna can’t lighten hair.  However, if you’re grey, blonde, or light brown already this can be a perfect shade for you.

Pre-prepping:

If you have a lot of red tones in your hair already, you may need to apply two coats of your henna mix to cool the brightness. - Be willing to devote a weekend’s worth of time to getting the colour right.

You can pre-pigment down to a cooler shade with the first go, simply (after strand testing) pre-stain your hair with a standard henna mix, soaked overnight in water and left on the scalp for up to three hours depending on how light your hair is.

Remember not to use stainless steel or metal with henna. Make sure to use glass, bamboo or wood supplies, so as not to corrupt the shade.

The Mushroom Hair Recipe:

The mix for cool toned, lighter brown involves using amla alongside your henna for an ash effect.

Using Henna with amla powder is a little different. To prepare the mix:

1. Mix 1-part amla powder to 3 parts henna powder, mix with warm water and stir until it forms a smooth, thick paste

2. Let it sit for 8 to 12 hours (we recommend overnight in the fridge)

3. Add 1 part indigo powder, with warm water to make a paste. (Do not use anything other than water when mixing with amla.)

4. Apply a natural barrier cream to the front of the scalp, ears and nape of neck, to protect from staining

5. APPLY IMMEDIATELY using a natural fibre brush, in sections.

For everyone:

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.

After you’ve left the colour on for your amount of time (usually up to six hours for deeper shades), leave your strand test for two days.  If it’s not quite opaque enough, reapply with a little more amla.

If your hair is very grey, it will look a little more golden than true ash, due to the high proportion of white.

Alternatively, you could try the It's Pure Natural Brown shade, which will offer a similiar result on dark blonde to light brown hair.

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