Hi! 1 - The first color before you add more layers is blue gray, and with more layers it looks more dark teal. 2 - The indigo brand is Kirpal, but it's a company in India that you have to e-mail to place an order. They're an exporter and aren't really a direct to customer business. I've only tried their indigo on my hair. 3 - It did effect my hair texture, my hair was still soft, but it was less slippery. I don't think it made it straighter, but my hair is straight anyway. It added a little volume but also weighted it down a little.

@@chromaticnature Awesome! :) thanks for sharing. do you have any idea why I would get purple when I try indigo on white hair as a first color? Since you got blue gray, I can only guess that each brand of indigo may produce a different first color? Let me know whatever your thoughts are as I value your opinion.

@ oh interesting that you got a purple color. It could be the brand of indigo. Different indigo plants contain different concentrations of the indican compound. Was the powder that you used on your hair green or blue?

@@chromaticnature Thanks for your helpful reply as usual! God Bless you. The powders were all green. But they all, without fail produced purple. Here are the brands: Renaissance henna, Henna Sooq both their regular and organic version, Just Javic, and light mountain. Shocking! I know. :S

@ I think the difference between what I used and these other ones is the concentration of indican because different farms' plants are different in concentration. I think the color is more purple with higher concentration. Also, my hair was bleached but might still have been a bit yellow, so that could have made the color look more blue gray on it than on yours. Thank you for sharing all this info about your experience! I like finding out what results other people have gotten!

not my hair, no

The only thing I mixed the indigo with is water, there were no other ingredients. I didn't experience any allergies or rashes. I actually have very sensitive skin, but it wasn't irritated by this process at all.

@@chromaticnature That is awesome! thanks for sharing. Do you still dye it with indigo? and what kind of shampoo do you use? As I am struggling to find a shampoo at the moment that will help reduce the degradation/fading of indigo color on my hair

@@thewhitewitch895 I have not dyed it with indigo again after this. I don't think I was using any special shampoo, I tend to buy herbal essence rose scented, but it's not better or worse than other shampoos I've used really. With indigo I've found that it did fade from washing but only a little, and then it stayed the same for a while, even when I tried to strip it from my hair, it didn't come off. I think the initial richness and darkness of the indigo is hard to hold on to, some will come off basically no matter what. Kind of like when you wash your new dark denim for the first time, the color always bleeds. I think the only thing you can do is periodically reapply the indigo and with many applications it will stay darker longer... is what I'm thinking.

@@chromaticnature Thank you SO much for your awesome advice. Loved the last bit of doing indigo more than once to hang on to the color. Thank you. you have no idea how helpful your advice is :) God bless you!

The green indigo powder you ordered is unfermented ground indigo leaf, the blue powder that I use is the pigment extract from fermented indigo leaf. You can use the green powder to dye fabric, but the method for using it is totally different. You don't need to make a indigo vat like I did in this video. You just mix the green powder with warm water and soak the fabric in it, leave the fabric soaking for a while, but stir it around often if you want the color to be even. The color you will get with the green powder will be different, it will be more teal and lighter, and you will need to use much more powder than I did. Try using a small amount of the powder on a little piece of fabric first to test it. Beware this powder will stain your hands if you don't wear gloves, and while it comes off of skin pretty quickly, it stains your fingernails permanently.

@@chromaticnature thank you soo much🩷 do i need to add some chemicals like you did ?

@@purvaharlalka2529 nope. just make sure your fabric is clean before dyeing it.

@@chromaticnature thank you 🩷

There's no right or wrong here really. When I researched best mordanting techniques, it seemed like a lot of dyers recommended doing a tannin bath before alum mordanting, but most natural dyes also contain tannins, and they are the dyeing agents in some plants, like in tea. Tannin dyes can also be used without mordanting fairly successfully.

I'm actually no longer operating the website, it's gone. Sorry about that. If you are looking to buy these types of ingredients I recommend botanicalcolors.com and dharmatrading.com

Thank you! I actually don't sell products anymore. But there are lots of other sellers to get these ingredients from, so I hope you still find them.

Sorry, unfortunately, my website is no more. I recommend botanicalcolors.com and dharmatrading.com

In my experience, the fabric can be wet and go straight from mordanting into the dye vat. No need to dry it in between.

very interesting!

What does that do?

it would be very interesting to see the difference between the colors you get with the two different types of water!

It is fine to use these mordants in the kitchen. However, it is better to use bowls/pans that you do not use for food. It's better to have separate containers and tools for dyeing projects. Also, keep in mind that all fine powders (natural or not) are bad to inhale, so either work in a well ventilated area, put on a mask, or do both.

a salad spinner would be good to have for this!