Is Indigo ever really "semi-permanent?"

[Canarygirl]

Hi

I used Light Mountain henna that had a good amount of indigo in the mix. The box describes all the Light Mountain hennas as being semi permanent and coming out in 4-6 weeks. Do you think that's really possible? Right now the lower, undersides of my hair is quite a bit darker than the top, probably because that hair had been colored before with chemical colors and is more porous. I am trying to figure out if this hair will ever become lighter in time. (I'm a med brunette with copper tones but this underneath hair is so dark it's bordering on black)

[jivete]

Indigo falls right out of my hair. Henna, however, does not.

[twilight]

a friend of mine with light brown (and partially bleach-damaged) hair uses light mountain and it does fade pretty dramatically from her hair. not so much on mine, but i was also using other kinds of indigo and henna mixes as well.

[Canarygirl]

Cool. That gives me some hope. Plus I think I will try a couple of honey lightening treatments on my darker hair.

[Loviatar]

See, from me it's a big OH HELL NO. I have tried to bleach indigo out twice and my hair is still black. :( And of course henna does not lighten and it is very permanent.

[Isilme]

I have done some two step treatments to get a black strand. (I already have hennaed hair) and the indigo does NOT fade!

[Unofficial_Rose]

Indigo fades quite quickly for me, although it never entirely washes out. When I highlighted, I got green hair even though you couldn't see the indigo at all :rolleyes:

It did stay for longer than usual when I put 1 tbsp of indigo in with my cassia - lasted for a couple of months, but then I left it on for 2hrs!

[wintersun99]

It depends. If you've used boxed/mixed henna/indigo/etc. like from the store (i.e Lt. Mtn.) than the quality will be pretty poor and will probably eventually fade. If, however, you've used the indigo from H4H then it's quite doubtful.

[Celebrian]

Yep, the real indigo powder will not likely ever fade right out.

I speak as another one who knows this only too well... *sigh*

Saying that, these Lt.Mountain thingies and such are weaker - so you may be able to ease most (if not all) of it out.

Please DO NOT bleach it out as you will get green hair... *another sigh*

Try the honey. Also much strong and frequent shampooing (with plenty of conditioner afterwards). Things like Marilyn Hair Mask (Lush) lighten and soften the red of my henna, but also seem to soften my indigo buildup a bit. It contains chamomile, lemon, saffron etc.

[Canarygirl]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I'm glad that my first foray into hendigo was with a lower-die-quality brand, and that I didn't leave it on longer than 2 hours. I got quite the headache from it, so I don't plan to use indigo again.

[GlennaGirl]

For me, the indigo didn't stick the first or second time. The third time, it went BLACK, and STUCK until I had A) cut half of it out and B) honeyed the rest a minimum of, let me think, probably 25 times over the course of a year or thereabouts.

[HairColoredHair]

I used LM red and no, it doesn't wash out. :lol: