Igor's "barely there" two-step henna/indigo method

The focus is more on adding strength to the hair than to add colour.
This method uses a very light henna gloss that barely pushes the hairs colour more towards red.
It's followed by a light indigo gloss that helps correct the natural fade from sunlight and wear on the ends.
Be sure to adjust amounts of henna and indigo (And ingredients in general) to your own individual purpose.

Clear your whole day for day 1.

It is strongly suggested to use a bathtub as part of this.

Hair supplies

• Cassia
• Conditioner(s)
• Henna
• Indigo

Other supplies

• A pinch of sea salt
• Bandages, several
• Cling wrap
• Heating pads
• Metal foil
• Plastic bag
• Some old clothes
• Warm hats

Suggested for entertainment: A laptop with a series ready to go. You can easier move the laptop for comfort instead of having to adjust how you sit/lie with your head when the mud and warm hats are packed on.

Day 0: Preparations
Clean your hair of product and go to bed with "naked", product-free hair.
Make sure you have no appointments for the next day.
Get some snacks and entertainment ready.

Pick a series to watch. Maybe something you have wanted to start on for a while?
Get one that has finished airing already and fits your desired time-frame.
I strongly suggest something with subtitles as the cling wrap and warm hats seriously messes with your hearing!
My personal preference is something animated that has finished running already, so you can finish the entire story.

So my suggestion is a funny anime
Charlotte
Super-powered drama with some comedy in it.
13 episodes, 24 minutes. Total runtime a bit more than 5 hours if you skip the intro and outtro.

Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! (Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions!)
Comedy and awkward teen years
12 episodes, 24 minutes. Total runtime a bit more than 4 hours if you skip the intro and outtro.

Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou (Daily Lives of High School Boys)
Slice of life-comedy.
12 episodes, 24 minutes. Total runtime a bit more than 4 hours if you skip the intro and outtro.

Hataraku Maou-sama! (The devil is a part-timer)
Romantic comedy.
13 episodes, 24 minutes. Total runtime a bit more than 5 hours if you skip the intro and outtro.

One punch man
Super-powered comedy. Perhaps the most hyped anime of 2015 and with good reason!
12 episodes, 24 minutes. Total runtime a bit more than 4 hours if you skip the intro and outtro.

Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaete mo Omaera ga Warui! (It's Not My Fault That I'm Not Popular!)
A cringe-inducing comedy, that is also very sad. (I relate to this one on an almost physical level. Sigh) If you were awkward when you were younger and hated school, this one is for you!
12 episodes, 24 minutes. Total runtime a bit more than 4 hours if you skip the intro and outtro.

Day 1: Henna and overnight indigo
Mix your henna and indigo muds separately.

Igors recipes for calf length, iii hair:
Henna mud

• 100 g cassia
• 5 g henna
• 700 ml cone-free conditioner (A full Tresseme bottle minus 50 ml for the indigo mud)
• 1 ampoule Lador perfect hair filler

Prepare a "nest" in your couch or bed: Pillows, towels, entertainment and snacks within reach.
Prop pillows up so you are comfrotable half-sitting up. Have pillows under your knees.

Bring cling wrap, bandages and warm hats into the bathroom.

I suggest bringing your laptop into the bathroom for entertainment here. Have a series queued up so you have something to kill the time with in the bathtub.
Take your henna-mix and apply it to your hair. Section off hair so you can get all the way to the roots.
The mud is rather thick and can be difficult to distribute, so patch it on in sections.
You want to avoid too much messing around with it, since it is so grainy.
Because the henna-mix is so light, you don't have to worry about stains everywhere.

Once you have your hair covered in the henna-mud, wrap cling wrap around it.
Use the ends of the cling wrap to cover the hairs at your neck.
Cover everything with warm hats.

Don't wrap the around bandages when you get in the tub.
Just wrap the cling wrap and put warm hats over.
You want the worst of the dripping to be over with before you get out of the tub.
You only get that by actually allowing it to drip out.
Draw yourself a nice bath and angle the laptop so you can see it from the tub.

Henna and cassia are actually very good for your skin, so see this as a treat for your skin as well as hair.
I like to simply make a big pot of green tea and add it to your bathwater.

The bath is the only way I have found the dripping to be tolerable: No matter what I do, it will drip.
But allowing it to drip down while I'm warm and wet in the bath anyways, severely limits how freakishly annoying it is.
Dripping henna mud while you're out of the bath is seriously like a kind of Chinese water torture.

I like to stay in the bathtub for about an hour. It cuts about 80% of the dripping and makes the whole process a lot more tolerable.

Wrap the bandages around your hair to keep the rest of the dripping down. Don't wrap too tightly as it will cause headaches and discomfort.
Rinse yourself off, dry yourself off and get in some old clothes.
Then get in your prepared "nest".

Apply your heating pads to keep your hair and mud nice and warm.

Even if you have a desired time-frame to keep your treatment on, it will never harm your hair to keep the mud on for as long as you can stand it!
The key is to limit irritations like dripping, keep yourself comfortable with a nice "nest" and have some entertainment ready.

You will want to limit fluids as going to the bathroom with henna mud on your head is mildly irritating.

Once you are done with your henna-treatment, wash it out gently by soaking your hair in the tub and slathering conditioner on.
Using conditioner will also help you get the last leftovers of mud out.
Even after rinsing with water alone looks clear, your conditioner may turn green when you apply it!

Your hair might feel cranky and dry as you rinse it clean. That is normal.
It will feel awesome and strong once you add some regular conditioner or leave in-conditioner.

But there is one more step to go: The indigo to correct the natural fade in your ends.

Indigo mud

• A pinch of sea salt (Like, two shakes of the saltshaker)
• 2 g indigo
• 50 ml cone-free conditioner

Comb and braid your hair to around BSL/mid back length, or however long your hair is before you want to adjust the fade.
Apply the indigo mud to the rest of the length and braid your hair with it in. Loop the braid up into itself if necessary.
Put a plastic bag over it and wrap a bandage tightly around the bag.
To secure the bag to your braid, pull an edge of the bag through the braid and then "lock" it by applying the bandage over.

Go to bed with your "mummy braid" and sleep on it.

Day 2: Rinse clean and ignore
The next day you can rinse the indigo out in the morning or leave it on a bit longer.
CO wash with your normal preferred conditioner after rinsing the indigo out, to make sure you get all the grainy mud out.

Do not wash your hair again for 48 hours after the treatment, to make sure you give the henna and indigo time to oxidise.