Review of Light Mountain Natural Color The Gray! Hair Color & Conditioner, Dark Brown, 7 oz (197 g) (Pack of 2)

Because of allergy to many perfumes and common cosmetic ingredients, I tried Light Mountain Color the Gray. The usual temporary hair colors, including the nice Logona natural line, which has perfume, gave me itchy red eyes, itchy skin and caused sneezing. With LM CTG, that doesn't happen. The only ingredients are powdered dried leaves of henna and indigo.

I like the natural-looking dark brown achieved with this product. I've received more compliments on my hair and appearance since switching to it, and my hair is in great condition. Another plus is as the color fades, silver hair becomes fine lightly-colored highlights, and there's no hard line when it grows out like with stronger dyes.

Light Mountain Color the Gray works well for me. If you're tempted to try it, be forewarned, though: It's at minimum a 2-plus hour, somewhat messy process. I've outlined the steps below.

Equipment:
Plastic gloves and bag to cover the henna pack are included in the package
Two nonmetal bowls
Plastic or wood spoon or fork for mixing
Distilled water (I've used filtered water without problem)
Face cream or olive or other oil, petroleum or unpetroleum jelly to apply to skin around hairline and prevent staining from drips
Old towel around neck for drips
Old damp cloth for drips

Steps:
1. Doing the strand test will give you an idea of timing and color intensity. It's also important if you've colored your hair before, in which case the package insert advises waiting at least a month. Do the patch test to determine if you're allergic. Natural doesn't mean nonallergenic.
2. There are 2 packets of color, a red base and the dark top color. I deviate from the instructions and mix both packets at the outset in separate glass bowls. With a non-metal utensil stir in enough very hot or boiling distilled water to make a creamy consistency. Let cure one hour or longer.
3. For gray hair, you must apply the red base first to clean damp hair. Cover with plastic bag, apply heat. My hair is fine and straight, naturally dark brown and about 60% gray.The base red henna takes 15-20 minutes. Rinse hair well, towel dry.
4.Next apply dark color, cover with bag, apply heat. I leave this on 1-2 hours. Your hair may need more or less time. I wear an old wool cap over the bag instead of using a hair dryer. A hood-type dryer would be great and in warm weather being out in the sun will do.
5. Finally, rinse thoroughly. If you can wait a couple days after coloring to wash your hair, the color will take better.

I've learned some things with experience, but this review is long enough, and there's lots on the web about using henna. Most important is protect your counter and floor, wear old clothes (or none ;-), wipe up trickles or globs immediately, never use metal with henna, and finally, enjoy your henna time--pamper yourself, call friends, garden, paint, or shop on Amazon!

Product Description
No chemicals; Cruelty free; Safe, natural hair color; Effective & Economical. 100% pure botanical hair color. No animal testing, no animal ingredients, Complete application kit. 100% natural. No harsh peroxide or ammonia. Fully illustrated instructions. Includes cap & gloves. If your hair is very porous, dry, damaged or overly permed, the only recommended shade for you to use is Neutral from our original Light Mountain Natural Haircolor & Conditioner Line.

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