i will have to touch up my roots tomorrow evening and was looking for a way to use less herbs and yet get more volume and a different texture that doesn't coagulate the hair such annoyingly. the problem with herbal henna is that it is not at all as "slimy" as a good quality henna. it's rather sandy and tends to spread very unevenly, even when you use a ton, it seems never to get everywhere. conditioner is supposed to get very runny, which is too annoying (ended up with a blue back alsready last time). so i found this recepy to add pectin to henna (figure it works even better with herbal henna since you have to prepare it anyway with nearly boiling hot water). problem, i can't find pure pectin, just this thingy that contains mainly dextrose (sugar) and just 18% pectin, to prepare jam. so, keep your fingures crossed for me that it will actually do some gelling ahum  8)

Keep us posted on how things go..... you certainly have taken this to the experimental stages of science.

Styg, if you make this thing work I am willing to buy your professional services  :o :D
Think about it, it may turn out lucrative  ;D
I want to do henna too but I soooo abhor the mess!!
Good luck

it's really not that messy to be honest if you follow some tricks, i just find the texture of the HERBAL henna annoying (pure henna on the contrary is nice and smooth and you can massage it easily into the hair). i found that people added mono- or dissacharides with succes (so a mix of pectin and dextrose should be ok). i don't really want to overdilute it either but it just don't like the sand texture it has. honey could work too apparently. and a better alternative to pectin is tapioca starch which contains tons of amylopectin.

mkay ... that was a VERY bad idea, the herbal henna is really too grainy so the pectin absorbs all the water and the thing became extremely unsticky. so finally i went into the badtub and applied it with head upside down, scraping back up what fell off ... ok, this was hopefully the most dreadful henna experience. now i just hope the acid in the gelling agent won't turn the color to something reddish uhu  :-X

That sucks that it didn't work out.   :(  Let us know how the color turns out.  I have no doubts that you will find the perfect application though.  If I'm ever brave enough to jump into the world of henna, you'll be the first person I ask for advice.  

thanks valerie!! but i am not that disappointed yet! of course since the thing didn't stick all that much to te hair and scalp, it also rinsed out very easily, didn't stain the bad tub at all, and despite the small quantity i can tell even in the wet state it's darker and not reddish ;D

How did it turn out styg? Must be dry by now
I don't understand the difference of "pure henna" and "herbal" henna that you mention. I thought all henna is a herbal natural substance.
I have bought the Hennaplus package (doyou know that brand?) that says 100% henna with vitamins.
Dark brown.
What do you think?

it turned out very even and dark on the length although i didn't put all that much of herb henna on there, but added some conditioner after application and massaged it a bit around. my roots are still visible as expected (one application could never turn it as dark as the rest, hence frequent applications), but i think it does look more reddish due to the acid in the gelling agent. i was amazed though how easily it rinsed out, maybe i will add a tiny bit of it next time and add conditioner to the roots too to get it everywhere.

herbal henna is henna + herbs to shift the color. i use "lustrous henna" from Everyday Mehndi, i never used any other and i am pretty sure the color you'll obtain depends on the brand so always do a strand test.