Henna Dye Hair Colors: the shade chart — what every henna, indigo and cassia blend gives on light, medium, dark and gray hair

Henna dye hair colors come from three plants and one rule. The plants: henna (Lawsonia inermis, orange-red), indigo (Indigofera tinctoria, blue), and cassia (Cassia obovata, near-colorless gold). The rule: every result is translucent, layered on whatever your hair already is, and can never be lighter than that base. Once those two facts are clear, the shade names on the packets — natural red, deep red, burgundy, mahogany, light brown, medium brown, dark brown, jet black — stop being marketing and start being ratios. This page is the chart: what each shade is made of, what it looks like on light, medium, dark and gray hair, how long each takes, and one product per shade family so you can buy without guessing. The mixing and timing basics are on the henna hair dye hub; gray-specific coverage is on henna for gray hair; the plant chemistry on the henna guide.

The chart

Two things the chart can't show. First, every result darkens for 48–72 hours after rinsing; day-one color is misleading. Second, results on gray follow the gray column after the second application; the first coat of anything red on gray is copper.

Reds: what pure henna gives

Pure henna is the whole red family. The differences between "natural red", "deep red" and "copper" packets are sift, freshness and instructions, not ingredients. Finer, fresher powder left on longer stains deeper; a second coat a few days later deepens further. On blonde and gray hair the range runs from bright copper (one coat, two hours) to a rich auburn (two coats, four hours each). On medium brown it settles at auburn; on dark hair it is a sheen you see in sunlight and photos. If you want red but less orange, a spoon of amla powder in the mix cools it toward burgundy, and adding a small proportion of indigo does the same more strongly.

Burgundy, mahogany and chestnut: the small-indigo blends

Add indigo to henna in small proportions and the orange is pulled toward wine and brown. About one part indigo to three parts henna gives burgundy; one to two gives mahogany or chestnut. These are one-step blends — mixed together and applied once — and they are the shades where a single application on pigmented hair looks right immediately. On gray hair they read redder than the name until the second round. Amla is common in burgundy packets to cool the tone further; beet or hibiscus sometimes appear for extra wine color and are harmless.

Browns: equal parts and beyond

Medium brown is roughly equal henna and indigo; dark brown tips toward indigo. As one-step blends they work well on hair that already has pigment. On high-gray hair, the honest advice is that browns are a two-step job: henna first, then indigo for 45–60 minutes. Light brown packets add cassia to dilute the color and are the least predictable of the family on gray — expect to repeat. Whatever the packet says, browns cannot be applied to lighten a darker base; a "light brown" blend on dark hair does almost nothing visible.

Black: always two steps

Jet black is henna followed by a full two-hour indigo coat, on the same day or the next. One-step "black" blends exist and produce a very dark brown on pigmented hair, but on gray they leave reddish strands until repeated, and they never reach the blue-black depth of a proper two-step. Indigo fades faster than henna, so black drifts toward brown over one to two months and is refreshed with an indigo-only hour. The full routine, including what to do about the green tinge on day one, is on black henna hair dye and indigo hair dye.

Cassia and "neutral henna"

Cassia is sold as neutral, colorless or blonde henna. It is a different plant, contains a weak golden dye, and on blonde or gray hair adds a warm gloss with a faint gold tone over several uses. On anything darker it is a conditioner, nothing more. It's useful mixed into henna or indigo blends to soften the result and the texture, and it's what to reach for when someone with light hair wants henna's conditioning without the color.

How the shade changes over time

Henna and indigo age differently on the strand, and that shapes the shade you live with rather than the one you rinsed out. Henna oxidizes darker for three days, then holds; over months it softens slightly and grows out at the root. Indigo reaches full depth in two to three days, then fades steadily — sun, frequent washing and chlorine speed it — so a two-step black is at its blackest in week one and drifts toward brown by week six or eight. That is why black heads are refreshed with an indigo-only hour every month or two, while reds are simply repeated at the roots. Burgundies and mahoganies, with their small indigo share, drift toward red as the indigo goes. If you want a shade to stay stable, choose one closer to pure henna; if you like a shade that evolves, the blends do it for you.

Three mistakes that put people in the wrong row

1. Judging the base wrong. "Dark blonde" is usually light brown; "black" is usually very dark brown. Look at a strand in sunlight against white paper before choosing a column.
2. Buying the target shade instead of the ratio. A "dark brown" packet on gray hair is not a dark brown result on the first round. Buy the two-step powders if more than a third is gray.
3. Expecting the packet photo. Every packet is photographed on the base that flatters it. Your result is your base plus the stain — the chart, not the photo.

Strand-testing a shade before you commit

Every row of the chart is a range, not a promise, and the only way to see your exact result is a strand test: a snippet from the nape, or a small section behind the ear, treated exactly as you'd treat the whole head — same mix, same time, same rinse — and judged three days later in daylight. It costs a teaspoon of powder and an evening. For a two-step, test both steps on the snippet. For anyone with previously dyed or bleached hair, the strand test is not optional: it shows whether the old dye contained metallic salts (the strand will feel hot, smell strange or turn an odd green) before that happens on your head. Keep the tested snippet taped into a notebook with the ratio written beside it; after two or three tests you'll have your own personal chart, which beats any packet.

Reading a packet before you buy

A plant-only henna hair color lists plants: Lawsonia inermis, Indigofera tinctoria, Cassia obovata, sometimes Emblica officinalis (amla) or hibiscus. That's it. Products that list "sodium picramate", "p-phenylenediamine" or metallic salts alongside "henna" are conventional dyes with henna extract — fast and predictable, but not what this chart describes, and the metallic-salt versions react badly with any future chemical service. The FDA lists henna as approved for hair; what's added to it in a "henna" product is on you to check. Prices in the product blocks above are refreshed daily from Amazon.

Choosing your shade in three questions

What is your base now? Find your column in the chart. How much gray? Under a third: one-step blends work; over a third: two-step for browns and black. What do you want in six months? Reds and burgundies can drift darker later by adding indigo; blacks can only drift lighter as indigo fades. Start lighter than your target — henna builds, and the second coat is always available. For the products behind each row, the henna hair dye hub groups them by shade family, and henna powder covers what "BAQ" and "triple-sifted" mean on the pure powders.