Friday, September 3, 2010

Godrej Nupur 100% Natural Mehendi Henna – Product Review

Many of us ladies on our healthy hair care journeys have tried an array of products to get the results we desire – healthy, strong, and manageable hair.  If you are anything like me you have tried mainstream cosmetic products, natural hair care products, medicated treatments, and so on. One product that many of us have tried is henna. I for one can testify to the highly enriching qualities of henna for the hair, from hair coloring and dying, to strengthening and thickening the hair, leaving you with a voluminous coif worthy of any hair commercial. I have tried several brands of henna and have long raved about the wonders it has done for my hair. I didn’t think henna could get any better: I was wrong.

Our Introduction:

I recently had the pleasure of trying a product called Godrej Nupur Mehendi. Mehendi is the term typically used in regions such as Pakistan for Henna. When browsing cyberspace for new and interesting hair products, I came across this brand of henna. It especially caught my interest because it promoted itself as having the ability to produce shiny and silky hair through an exciting blend of 9 different herbs. Now, while I love henna, every henna experience that I have ever had did leave my hair fairly dry and it was always necessary that I followed up the henna treatment with a moisturizing deep conditioner. So I was skeptical that this henna would do something different than the rest. I figured it was just some kind of marketing ploy and that it would leave my hair like most other henna treatments had, strong, thick, but a little dry.  I could live with that, I was happy with what henna had done for my hair.
 
Now the instructions on the packet state that you should soak this henna in water for 2-3 hours, and if you desire, you can mix the powder with oils or curds. The manufacturer claims that this can help add extra softness. I personally do not mix my henna powder treatments with anything but water. For my hair, I feel that it penetrates my hair shafts more effectively if I use water alone. So, true to form, I mixed my Nupur henna with only water and, like a good consumer, l let the henna sit for 2-3 hours before I began my application process.
 
Application:
 
I tend to make my henna mixtures quite thick (not watery), as I like the henna to sit on my hair like a very thick mud pack/clay mix. I find that this allows for easier application and it is not as messy since the henna won’t run down my neck unsuspectingly! So I did the same thing this time. Once I applied the first glob of henna paste to my hair I instantly noticed that this henna glided very smoothly onto my hair and the paste itself had a slight sheen to it as I applied it to my strands. It felt silky going into the hair. I was already impressed. I thought to myself, 'maybe this is what they meant by the shiny and silky promo on the packet'. I was still certain that it couldn’t mean that my hair would be shiny and silky after washing out the henna. So, I continued my application process until each and every strand of hair was nicely coated, and I was glad to see that I also had a full half packet left which meant I could get another application out of this if I was happy with the results.
 
Results:
 
I had let the henna sit in my hair for approximately 4-5 hours. It had been neatly hidden away under a show cap and warm towel so the heat would add some extra conditioning to the henna process. I stepped into the shower and began to rinse out the paste from my hair. Absolutely amazing.  The henna rinsed out very easily and there were next to no tangles in my hair. It was very soft! Now this is something of a wonder for a below mid-back length 4a natural head of afro-textured hair.  I continued until the entire product was thoroughly rinsed out.  After rinsing I examined my hair strands, and I really couldn’t believe it. As the water dried out of my hair, my hair remained shiny, silky, and soft, just as the manufacturers had promised. I had not moisturized or followed up with a moisturizing conditioner, as I would typically do after the henna treatment. I was astounded and ecstatic all at the same time! I had found the henna of all hennas.

I immediately reexamined the packet to look at the ingredients in more detail. The 9 herbs listed were: Brahmi, Shikakai, Aloe Vera, Methi, Bhringraj, Amla, Neem, Hibiscus, and Jatamansi. Now I had tried several of these herbs on their own before, but I had never gotten these kinds of results. This formulation by Godrej Nupur is remarkable and worth trying out.
 
Coloring:
 
Now, I do not personally use henna for its ability to color the hair, but this has been a nice perk of the treatments that I have done in the past.  This henna did leave a very nice auburn tint to my very dark brown/black hair. The tint was very slight on my hair in artificial lighting and much more noticeable in the natural sunlight. So for those of you looking for natural hair coloring options, Nupur henna might be something you should give a test run.
 
Con:
 
The only con that I would give this product is that I wish it came in a bigger packet. The henna that I had purchased prior came in fairly large packets where I could get at least 4 applications. This packet will give me approximately 2 applications, which is not bad in light of the results. All in all, this is a definite 2 thumbs up from Globally Natural.

If you are interested in purchasing this product, click here.