Permanent hair dye or henna/indigo ?

**Rapunzel_to_be** · September 25th, 2016, 05:16 AM

Hey guys

I've noticed a few white baby hairs on my head, they are not really noticeable yet, but I'm thinking of what to do with them in the near future ..
I'm a natural loving girl, and try not to use so many chemicals in my hair ( could probably use less than I do now). I've never used permanent color, except for highlighting my hair once ( horrible mistake, never again).

Now Im wondering if I should opt for permanent dye or henna/indigo... which one gives the best results ?
And are permanent dyes really that damaging, if you would lets say color your hair the same color it is naturally ( mine is dark brown) ?
My mom has been using permanent dyes since her 20's, regularly, and she is now 58 years old, and her hair is in great condition, shiny and good texture as well.

I tried to google henna/indigo, but Im still not so sure about what I think of it, I love that its all natural, but how is the result, does it cover well? I thought I could ask you lovely people if you have any experiences with it and if you could please share ?

**PixieP** · September 25th, 2016, 05:41 AM

Henna and indigo is permanent. You'd never be able to do anything else over it; indigo is blue/violet in colour naturally, and putting any type of bleach or chemical hairdye over it can cause it to go green. So if you hendigo, you're stuck with that forever, unless you grow it all out.

Chemical dye can be damaging, but it all depends. There are brands that are less damaging than others. The thing is that most permanent chemical colours do contain things that lighten the hair, to give hair the correct colour.

Have you considered a semi-permanent dye like Adore? It is vegetable-based and contain no ingredients that harm the hair. It's like Manic panic or similar, the dyes that give really wild colorful hair, but Adore is in much more natural tones. I'd suggest you try that first, to see if that can cover your grays. It's also far cheaper than chemical hair dye.

**Rapunzel_to_be** · September 25th, 2016, 05:53 AM

Originally Posted by PixieP

Henna and indigo is permanent. You'd never be able to do anything else over it; indigo is blue/violet in colour naturally, and putting any type of bleach or chemical hairdye over it can cause it to go green. So if you hendigo, you're stuck with that forever, unless you grow it all out.

Chemical dye can be damaging, but it all depends. There are brands that are less damaging than others. The thing is that most permanent chemical colours do contain things that lighten the hair, to give hair the correct colour.

Have you considered a semi-permanent dye like Adore? It is vegetable-based and contain no ingredients that harm the hair. It's like Manic panic or similar, the dyes that give really wild colorful hair, but Adore is in much more natural tones. I'd suggest you try that first, to see if that can cover your grays. It's also far cheaper than chemical hair dye.

Thank you for the information!!

I have never heard of the vegetable-based dyes! Sounds very interesting, I will definitely look into that, and maybe try that first as you said!

I know henna and indigo are permanent, I've hennaed my hair several times before, last time was a year ago I think, so I guess I still have henna in my hair now

But would vegetable-based dye stick to my previously hennaed hair ?

And would you happen to know if henna+indigo will cover the grays well?

**PixieP** · September 25th, 2016, 06:20 AM

I think it would cover grays, I know henna alone is supposed to be able to cover them, but as far as I know I don't have any grays yet (my roots are such a lith greyish blonde I wouldn't be able to distinguish gray hairs unless it grows out longer) so I can't say anything 100% there. But I'm 99% sure.

Adore should stick to henna'd hair no problem, I haven't heard anything different here, and I've been discussing with others the possibility of trying Adore myself, and I have years of henna and no-one has said that wouldn't work :P

**Obsidian** · September 25th, 2016, 06:21 AM

I henna my hair and it covers the grey fine but they are a brighter shade of orange. Recently tried to add indigo on my roots where my box black dye has grown out and it didn't take well at all, it will need more layers to get to the black I want. I can see that being a real pain on roots.

What is your hair color? If you aren't going to black, henndigo should give you decent grey coverage. You might need to play with the mixture to get the proper brown shade though. You would want to strand test before applying to all your hair.

Yes, veggie dyes will stick to hennaed hair.

**ephemeri** · September 25th, 2016, 06:34 AM

I know that there are people who say they don't get much or any damage from box dye so I will only speak for myself here: I personally used permanent box dye to cover grays for around 20 years (whoa, just did that math for the first time, whoa) and switched to henna for my root touch-ups a year ago. The bottom 8-12 inches or so of my hair where the box dye still is (under a couple layers of henna) is definitely a different texture from the rest of my head. It's highly porous, doesn't have as nice a sheen, and generally feels and looks more rough.

There is likely some mechanical damage in there too, but I attribute the difference mainly to permanent box dye.

**Obsidian** · September 25th, 2016, 06:57 AM

I have to agree. A couple months ago I decided to use black box dye on the underside of my hair. There is a difference between it and my just henna hair. The dyed bit looks good, its shiny and not frizzy but it feels different. A bit rougher, a bit more tangle prone.
If I would have used the black all over, I wouldn't have noticed the difference and would have though I had no damage. I still want the underside black but will have to look into alternatives to box dye.

**turtlelover** · September 25th, 2016, 08:22 AM

Permanent dye does a lot more damage than demi dye. There is no reason to choice permanent over demi dye if you are going darker. Henna is best and good for your hair, but you need to like warm shades to pull it off.

**Rapunzel_to_be** · September 25th, 2016, 09:00 AM

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Default Re: Permanent hair dye or henna/indigo ?
I think it would cover grays, I know henna alone is supposed to be able to cover them, but as far as I know I don't have any grays yet (my roots are such a lith greyish blonde I wouldn't be able to distinguish gray hairs unless it grows out longer) so I can't say anything 100% there. But I'm 99% sure.

Adore should stick to henna'd hair no problem, I haven't heard anything different here, and I've been discussing with others the possibility of trying Adore myself, and I have years of henna and no-one has said that wouldn't work :P

Ok, perfect I will try the Adore one when it starts to show more

( Btw just noticed that you are from Norway, det er jeg og

)

Default Re: Permanent hair dye or henna/indigo ?
I henna my hair and it covers the grey fine but they are a brighter shade of orange. Recently tried to add indigo on my roots where my box black dye has grown out and it didn't take well at all, it will need more layers to get to the black I want. I can see that being a real pain on roots.

What is your hair color? If you aren't going to black, henndigo should give you decent grey coverage. You might need to play with the mixture to get the proper brown shade though. You would want to strand test before applying to all your hair.

Yes, veggie dyes will stick to hennaed hair.

My hair color is dark brown, and I would like to keep it as close to my natural color, so I do not want it to be black, so I guess it would be ok with the hendigo for my hair then

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Default Re: Permanent hair dye or henna/indigo ?
I know that there are people who say they don't get much or any damage from box dye so I will only speak for myself here: I personally used permanent box dye to cover grays for around 20 years (whoa, just did that math for the first time, whoa) and switched to henna for my root touch-ups a year ago. The bottom 8-12 inches or so of my hair where the box dye still is (under a couple layers of henna) is definitely a different texture from the rest of my head. It's highly porous, doesn't have as nice a sheen, and generally feels and looks more rough.

There is likely some mechanical damage in there too, but I attribute the difference mainly to permanent box dye.

Ok, I think from everything you guys are telling me that I would rather stick with the vegetable-based dye or/and the hendigo! Even if my mom's hair looks great, im sure her hair probably has a lot of damage that I cant see ..

Originally Posted by turtlelover

Permanent dye does a lot more damage than demi dye. There is no reason to choice permanent over demi dye if you are going darker. Henna is best and good for your hair, but you need to like warm shades to pull it off.

Yes you're right