Grr. I just washed out my second henna treatment. I missed a small patch of roots by my left temple. It's very noticeable to me, but I don't know if it is to others.

Also, I'm annoyed that my roots seem to be more noticeable after this second henna. A while back I had my medium brown hair dyed dark brown, and I'd say I have about 4-inch roots. Pre-henna, they blended pretty well. They blended even better after the first henna, but this second one seems to have made the roots much redder than the length. Hopefully this will not be as true once my length finishes drying, and once the henna calms down in the next few days. I used a lot of lemon, so it should darken, right? Please?

I'm peeved by this. I'll get pictures up as soon as my camera battery finishes charging. I don't want to cut a ton of length to get my hair to one color. If push came to shove, I would just leave it two-toned as I grow. At some point I may try a henna-indigo mix to even the color up. First I have to get ahold of some indigo, which is nontrivial for me since I have no way of ordering things from the 'net.

Oh piffle.

lemon actually seems to prevent dye update.. wish I had the link here to the tests that were done.. I normally just mix with water, or if its not doing dye release a SMALL amount of lemon juice... let it tone down and see what it looks like, then go from there.. I know sometimes dyed hair takes things differently than natural...

Urchin,
That happens to me a lot with a new henna application. My roots seem brighter, hence lighter, on the new growth.
In fact the new growth I have is the darkest because there is some left over coloring on the ends (:() which makes that part lighter. After a few days or so, it's all blended together well enough, and the root part actually appears darker a bit.
I use real lemon juice sometimes, sometimes not. I've not noticed a difference either way to be honest.
I just hennaed last evening and this time I only poured about a teaspoon in. I did the same with ACV. The base of what I mix it with is very strong chamomile tea made from bulk tea flowers.
I know henna is different with everyone's chemistry but after it oxidizes it may darken up for you.
Repeated hennas could take care of the spot you missed to blend it in as well. I'm sure it's much more noticeable to you than anyone else~

lemon actually seems to prevent dye update.. wish I had the link here to the tests that were done.. I normally just mix with water, or if its not doing dye release a SMALL amount of lemon juice... let it tone down and see what it looks like, then go from there.. I know sometimes dyed hair takes things differently than natural...

FIrst off I vote to give it a few days :) Second, remember, that henna will darken with each application, so if you keep doing full-head applications your ends will always be darker than the new growth.

Third, as khyricat said, lemon does inhibit henna dye release, so if in a few days you're not happy with how light it is, do a roots only application and mix the henna with water or chamomile tea :) I'm a big fan of the chamomile, personally.

Best of luck :flowers:

lemon actually seems to prevent dye update.. wish I had the link here to the tests that were done..
Here (http://archive.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=70625) it is. The thread starts with indigo - the henna is in post 7 (http://archive.longhaircommunity.com/showpost.php?p=1339322&postcount=7).

Iris

thanks nightshade and iris, yesterday I was still nonfunctional enough to not have the time to look it up... I know in my own tests using hibiscus tea reduced the dye uptake as well.. haven't tried pure chamomile after that experiment since the water works fine for me..

My hair is always two toned with henna, but I don't mind it too much. It does seem to blend in with the old chemical color without a harsh line of demarcation. I think we tend to see these things because we look at our hair more critically than others. My newly hennaed roots are always light at first, but darken up with each application. Within a few days, it darkens to more of a reddish color, so hang in there. It will get better. A good thing about henna is, you can mess around with different mixes and not ruin your hair in the process. :) You just have to be a little flexible with the results.