I am a performer, I am 44 years old, and have salt and pepper hair. A few years back, I noticed that most hair dies, even though they state that they cover gray hair, would not cover gray hair completely.I started to do a lot of research on the health benefits of switching to Henna. Most, Henna products have salt in them, which, if you have processed your hair prior, can cause your hair to break off. The Henna guys does not have the salt in their henna! I have a very dear friend that turned me onto this particular company. They have a lot of integrity, and the colors are so beautiful.I had been bleaching my own hair and dying at different colors. Mainly Pravana, and also semi permanent vegan dyes. I am a Tour Guide in New Orleans, and it gets quite hot here and tend to sweat a lot during the summer time, especially. One day I noticed, as I took witch hazel and wipe my chest, the cotton pad was black. I started to do research on the effects of chemical dyes, and how it is absorbed into your body, what I found is there are some cancer causing affects. Your skin is one of the biggest organs, I wanted to improve my mental health as well, as I am perimenopausal and figure that the absorption of these chemicals is probably affecting things that I don’t realize.Henna dye, darkens overtime, so I was quite worried to commit to this. I have long straight hair that almost touches my lower back for the first application, I used hibiscus tea that I brewed, put the deep red powder in a glass bowl. You do not want to use any kind of metal bowl slowly mixed the hibiscus tea in and stirred the Henna, so that there were no clumps and a cookie dough kind of texture. I also used Bravani powder. Adding in a quarter of the packet, this is something that you can add to the Henna that helps with strengthening the hair, etc. You can go on the henna guys.com and see the options that they have. I also used a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, then I let the Henna sit for eight hours, and set an alarm on my phone. I used three packets which was way too much, but wanted to make sure I had enough.After eight hours I mixed it again. Then I took a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar and mixed it in, as the reviews stated it would help with gray coverage. I also made sure that I had a sulfate free shampoo and conditioner. I used a regular hair, dyeing, brush, gloves, and had a plastic cap nearby, the easiest way to do this with long hair, you section your hair off and four different sections and clipped the ones back that you were not using. You can use your hands, but I found it much easier to use a dye brush.I don’t know what people are so fussy about, I was reading reviews, and they said that it was super messy, however, I didn’t have any issues. Keep in mind I’ve been dying my hair for many many years. I did put a cape on over my clothes and made sure I wasn’t wearing anything that I would care about getting Henna on.If you get henna on your hands or body, it’s actually not as bad to get it off like people say. Use lemon juice and baking soda. Mix it into a paste and let it sit on your skin where you accidentally died, and after a couple minutes, just scrub it off with a washcloth, off and no problemDepending on the length of your hair, will determine how long you need to wait until you apply it. Once you apply the henna, you have to let it sit on your head for three hours and cover it. It is a clay, so your hair will feel heavy. Honestly, I just twisted my hair up into four buns and put a cap on basically just did some house work after three hours, I went into the shower to rinse it off. It is extremely important that when you rinse it off it is cold water. Also, it’s a good idea to rinse off the top of the cap before you pull it off. If you have long hair, you’re definitely one gonna wanna lean your head back and keep it back, the first time I did this I didn’t do this, and the water that dripped down my face had had a die coming down, so I did actually need to scrub my face after this happened. I would highly suggest a mirror on the side of your shower you can also start with warm water at first to acclimate your body, and then rinse it out if your hair. I would definitely suggest putting a leave in conditioner that is super hydrating that sulfate free, a.k.a. maybe a coconut or jojoba hair mask. Put it in your hair and leave it on as long as you can after the first application, then go in and rinse it off with cold water.A lot of people don’t realize that if you have been processing your hair for sometime, it takes your hair a while to adjust. Literally, the henna will coat your hair, follicle and help heal your hair, but it takes time. My hair felt dry and brittle the first time, the second time was better, and the third time, I finally feel like my hair has adjusted and it’s soft and silky.Honestly, after I first did my hair, it was very soft due to the oils I put in my hair. Just know if you do decide to take a warm shower, to actually seal the henna dye into your hair, you do need to use cold water the more you wash your hair with warm water, the quicker it will rinse out.The gray coverage is amazing and the health benefits are also equally as awesome. I should’ve been doing this years ago. There are many tutorials on YouTube specifically for this brand, the Henna guys. Are used a lot of those tutorials to approach this. Now, when I am outside and sweating, I know, at least if the henna goes into my skin, it will not cause my body harm. Also, the more I use this, the healthier and stronger my hair feels. to prevent darkening at my ends, I actually applied two times all over my hair, then the third time I only applied it to my roots, this way, I can keep the rest of my hair a little bit lighterThere are several lightning techniques. If you have been dying your hair with Henna for a very long time, you can find a lot of those resources on YouTube. This may sound like a very long process, but I’m telling you, it is well well worth it.Wanted to share my experience, hope this was helpful, honestly this color is so beautiful and I get so many compliments, I would suggest it to anyone!