Thinking about growing out henna

[Obsidian]

I don't expect to get rid of the henna and I'm not planning on trying. I just want to tone it down a little, it's gotten quite dark recently.
I'm not planning on growing super long either, I think bsl will be plenty for me.

[lapushka]

I don't expect to get rid of the henna and I'm not planning on trying. I just want to tone it down a little, it's gotten quite dark recently.
I'm not planning on growing super long either, I think bsl will be plenty for me.

The sun-in should be fine then. I remember using it as a teen... a lot. I had misunderstood, then. I thought you wanted to grow your blonde hair out, possibly remove the henna.

[samanthaa]

Sun-In didn't work for me

This was literally my post back in February! Might be worth a read.

I did decide to grow mine out into an ombre by diluting with cassia. I'm two months henna free now. My dilutions and schedule looked like this:

last 100% henna application: Feb 10, 2016
80% henna: Apr 4, 2016
50% henna: May 23, 2016
20% henna: July 5, 2016 - last application ever

My original plan was to do one more 20% henna application (so essentially the overlap would play out this way: After the 50/50 application, the next 20% application would overlap to make *some* of it 70%, and then the final 20% application would overlap with the previous 20% to make *some* of it 40%, while the last of the roots was 20%), but I ended up skipping the second 20% henna application. I got to the point where I really hated henna applications and didn't want to sit through one last one.

This was a really good idea for me. My henna got pretty dark over two years of multiple full-head applications and my roots, by contrast, are a light brown. I have about 1" of virgin roots and they honestly don't look bad at all because of the ombre effect. We'll see how I feel about them at 3" and 4" inches, though.

[Obsidian]

Thank you samanthaa, you growth looks great, very nice blending. I normally do roots every two weeks but I'm trying to stretch it this time but I'm not sure how long I'll last. My light part is starting to make me look bald and my white streaks are very noticeable right now. My hair is starting it weird winter faster growth phase so maybe it won't be so bad.
I did two sun in treatments yesterday, followed by a oiling and then a deep conditioning. Hair feels great but I'm not sure it lightened it at all. I'm planning on using the bottle up over the next couple days.
I am thinking about keep using henna on the underside, where I currently have it black. That way I can have my orange and blond(and black).

[rubix]

I was going to suggest what Nightshade wrote-- glosses! That way the difference between the henna'd hair and your natural colour won't be as drastic.

I have actually been growing out my hair for the last two years after dyeing it black with conventional dyes for years and then using henna and indigo a few times (I started having reactions to everything!). My natural colour is a light brown, so it has definitely been awkward and it looked bad for a while! But if you want your natural colour back, growing it out will be totally worth it. And at least being able to colour the roots a bit will make it easier. Once it grows out several inches, you can try some of the methods to fade your henna and it'll start to look sort of ombre instead of awkward. You can do it!

[maborosi]

I didn't like how red my hair was getting with henna (lol I know.) So I've transitioned to super coppery orange to a very mellowed-out reddish brown (?) color, and I love it. I gradually decreased the ratio of henna until it's barely staining it slightly reddish these days.

[spidermom]

"weird winter faster growth" in August?

[Anje]

I switched from 100% henna to 1:2 henna:senna, and I'm very happy with that right now. It's a brighter color and a bit subtler, and I've gone from having a mild line of demarcation to it not being observable except on the scattered grays, which are sort of golden now. That makes me happy, because the result is still a bit of a brighter red than my browned-out auburn, but if I decide I want to quit entirely, it's going to be extremely subtle.

And I can still occasionally grab a bottle of something bright and temporary, and dye it all crimson when I feel the urge.

[Obsidian]

"weird winter faster growth" in August?

Yeah, it starts growing faster around this time of year and continues until spring, once the weather starts to warm back up I go into a stall for awhile then its slow growth for most of the summer. Guess it's not technically winter yet but we have been getting frost at night already and I've had to turn on the heat a couple times.

So far I'm really unhappy with the 50/50 mix, its just too yellow and its not staining well, even if left on for 3 hours. I did a whole head application a few days ago and I still look like a orange highlighter with certain grey spots still being grey. I have some henna mixed up waiting for dye release to use on the stubborn grey bits, the rest will get a bit of cassia (25%) mixed in, hopefully that will stain better.

I have realized though, I'm not ready to give up the red. If I can find a lighter mix that I'm happy with, I will do that but if not, I'm going back to straight henna. I do miss blond hair but if I'm totally honest, I'm not exactly blond anymore. At least not the pretty blond from my younger years and if I did go back to my natural color, I would probably just end up using a blond box dye to get a brighter shade.

Sometimes I think it would be easier to shave it all off and buy wigs