From Red to Brown: How to Mix Your Dream Color with Henna, Katam, and Indigo

Plant-based hair dye has a catch: There is no pot of “brown” that you can simply mix. The color is created when you mix plant powders together. That sounds complicated, but it is a building block system with only four components. Once you know them, you can create almost any shade yourself, from copper red to dark brown.

The four components

• Henna is the only component that actually dyes hair, and always red. Depending on the starting color, this ranges from bright copper to dark mahogany.
• Katam darkens the hair towards brown. It looks softer and slightly browner than indigo.
• Indigo also darkens the hair, but looks cooler and can go up to blue-black.
• Cassia barely dyes the hair, but instead tones down the mixture. With cassia, shades become lighter, more natural, and less red.
  
  IMPORTANT: You need Katam OR Indigo. They are used equivalently. You have to try out individually which of the two suits you better. It depends on the hair structure and individual preference, which one pigments better and which nuance suits your shade better. 

The most important rule: Never use Katam and Indigo alone

Katam and Indigo do not pigment properly on their own; on light or gray hair, a green or blue tint can even occur. Therefore, always mix in at least around 10% henna. The red of henna balances it out and ensures that the color sets evenly on the hair.

Examples of mixtures

These are guidelines; the result always depends on your starting color:

• Warm brown: 50% henna, 50% katam
• Light brown: 50% cassia, 30% katam, 20% henna
• Medium to dark brown: 50% henna, 50% indigo

More katam or indigo makes the shade darker and cooler, more henna warmer and redder. If you want to tone down a red tint, indigo, katam, or amla can help in the mixture.

Katam or Indigo?

Both can be used equivalently. Some hair takes one better than the other, and indigo is poorly tolerated by some scalps. It is best to try both on a strand and decide based on the result.

Your starting color also plays a role

The same mixture looks different on blonde, light brown, and dark hair. On light hair, the shades become brighter; on dark hair, they create more highlights. Plant dyes do not lighten; they lay over what is already there as a color.

That is exactly why we built the Botanical Color Lab: You choose your starting color and hair length, adjust the sliders, and see in advance which direction your shade will go. In the end, you get a recipe with all the quantities.

How much powder do you need?

For roots, you can expect around 80 g, for short to shoulder-length hair around 100 g, and for long hair around 150 g. For very thick hair, it may be a little more.

Mixing and letting it work

Mix the mixture with warm water (around 50 to 60 °C) into a creamy paste, roughly like yogurt. It does not need to rest; you can apply it directly. Let it work for at least 60 minutes. The longer, the darker and stronger the result, up to about 4 hours.

Want it easier?

Then take one of our ready-made mixtures. Light Brown, Mocha Brown, and Cocoa Brown are three shades of brown from light to dark, Black is our deep black. The mixture is already balanced; you just have to mix it.

Do a strand test beforehand

Whether self-mixed or ready-made: dye a strand beforehand. This way you can see your shade in real life before dyeing your whole head. The color also darkens further in the first 24 to 48 hours, so judge the result only after one or two days.