Buxus dioica AKA katam

[mellie]

Yes, it probably was the indigo. It gives me a headache too.

Yes, katam can replace indigo. It won't be quite as dark, though, and the color will fade a lot faster than indigo.

[serabelle]

Yes, it probably was the indigo. It gives me a headache too.

Yes, katam can replace indigo. It won't be quite as dark, though, and the color will fade a lot faster than indigo.

Thanks mellie - so I guess lightening with honey might be a good idea before I try this process? I've been meaning to lighten a bit anyways, so this just gives me a good excuse. Hehe..

I have noticed a tad fading with the indigo, toward the end of my 2 months of not-coloring, I notice that I'm much more red. I think I'll gather some hair from my brushes over the next month and do a test patch...

[mellie]

You might not need to lighten, as your indigo has faded out now.

However, if you've been wanting to honey lighten, go for it! I love how shiny it made my hair! :-)

[serabelle]

I just hendigo'd yesterday, so the indigo definitely hasn't faded yet

I may start honey lightening a few weeks prior to my next coloring in order to match.. but I guess we'll see how much my hair fades between now and then.

My hair looooooves honey, but I've never actually let the honey sit out like you're supposed to for the lightening process. I just add a little bit of honey to my conditioner and leave it on for ten minutes or so.

[mellie]

Oh I see - haha, yes, you might want to lighten once then! :-)

[Jeni]

Ok I asked this in another thread but figured I'd also ask it here.

I just did a cassia/PP henna mix with only like 2 tbl of katam ( didnt want to go too dark). The color I got on the 4" of virgin roots is nice, turned it more orangy red and less dull brown/orange I had from the last 4 or 5 cassia/henna mixes I have done. The problem is my length, it didnt seem to do much to it, its maybe slightly darker but not much.

I am thinking of doing a gloss, maybe 1c conditioner, 1t of henna and 2 t of katam. I'm hoping to darken the length a little. I don't want to go too dark or too brown (not chocolate). How strong is katam? Is it like henna where even alittle will cause an effect? So what do y'all think, would this work? Should I add the katam to the henna before of after I set it out for dye release?

Any advice/tips appreciated.

[Anje]

Just popping in -- I haven't read the whole thread, but I've got a few questions...

My DH is talking about dyeing the gray spots out of his goatee. (A little vain, but the gray does age him a bit.) His beard is a combination of red and brown, and he's got dark brown hair-colored hair, which is a bit ashy most of the time. After reading the "it burns!" reviews of Just For Men, he's interested in hennaing it, but doesn't want fluorescent orange patches, which he's likely to get with straight henna.

So what I want to know is whether we can dye-release a henna-katam blend, then freeze it? (Probably in an ice cube tray, so he has little single servings of the stuff.) This works wonderfully for henna, but I don't know if the dye in katam can survive the freezing process, since indigo can't freeze.

Can you freeze katam?

[mellie]

I would say probably not, since it seems very similar to indigo.

However, you don't have to dye release. You could just mix up little amounts as needed each time, and apply right away. I don't wait for dye release myself, and I use henna and indigo to cover my grays.

[iris]

Or you could freeze some dye-released henna, and add indigo/katam right before application.

I saw some Afghan men on the news a few weeks ago who obviously used only henna on their beards, and it did look a little odd to me - dark beards with fluorescent orange bits, and stark white roots, too . So the fluorescent orange with henna-only is a valid concern.

[ljkforu]

Ok I asked this in another thread but figured I'd also ask it here.

I just did a cassia/PP henna mix with only like 2 tbl of katam ( didnt want to go too dark). The color I got on the 4" of virgin roots is nice, turned it more orangy red and less dull brown/orange I had from the last 4 or 5 cassia/henna mixes I have done. The problem is my length, it didnt seem to do much to it, its maybe slightly darker but not much.

I am thinking of doing a gloss, maybe 1c conditioner, 1t of henna and 2 t of katam. I'm hoping to darken the length a little. I don't want to go too dark or too brown (not chocolate). How strong is katam? Is it like henna where even alittle will cause an effect? So what do y'all think, would this work? Should I add the katam to the henna before of after I set it out for dye release?

Any advice/tips appreciated.

Kind of think of it this way: Henna is various shades or red orange, Katam is green, so green+red equals brown with a green (ash tint) red+green (% wise) = Reddish brown, if you through in the indigo like many of us do you are getting a brown that is cooled down with blue or black depending on what you do.