Indigo


Native Americans used natural indigo traditionally as the blue dye, yet it has also been used medicinally by them for centuries. Today, the roots of the indigo plant are made into an extract and sold for a variety of health-promoting purposes.

The wild indigo extract has been used historically for the treatment of skin ulcers, gingivitis, fever and various kinds of infections. Wild indigo is also reported to have anti-inflammatory properties and conditions such as inflamed or enlarged lymph nodes may benefit from treatment with wild indigo. Also, indigo can be used as the mouthwash for oral health and ulcer treatment, and applied externally as an ointment to promote wound healing and treat skin infections.
Indigo makes gray hair blue. If mixed with henna, it can make your hair light brown, medium brown or dark brown. Darker shades of brown, mahogany and black cherry can be obtained. Adding henna to indigo warms the color to reddish rather than blueish undertones.  

As henna is a more permanent dye than indigo, hendigoed hair may lighten and appear redder after a few weeks. Some people like to reapply indigo more frequently than henna to prevent the red peeking through; other enjoy the variation in color.

Indigo is a much less stable dye than henna. Freezing the paste or powder causes it to lose its dyeing properties, whereas henna can freeze in both forms. Indigo also dye-releases much more quickly than henna, beginning to degrade after only twenty to twenty-five minutes. For this reason, the henna paste is mixed up hours before dying to let the dye release, and the indigo paste is mixed just before applying to the hair. More...


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