Peroxide and henna

[longhairdreams]

I was just curious if anyone out there pre-lightens there hair with dye,bleach, or peroxide before using henna.I love the medium henna red.But my hair is so dark is comes out mahogany which doesnt suit me at all.It wouldnt take much lightening to get to a level suitable to put the henna over.But I havent seen anything about this being done.Usually people start off with light hair to begin with.Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Nightshade]

I know a few of our members actually do this, and so to several people over at Henna for Hair Hopefully you'll have more advice soon, but in the meantime you could check out the threads on H4H.

[basak]

I did this using %3 hydrogen peroxide. It hardly lightened my hair and started feeling brittle, so I stopped when I achieved a slightly lighter brown. I only did my ends.
Don't know if this is really helpful, but here is a picture:

[longhairdreams]

Thanks for your responses.I would have answered back sooner but was having trouble logging in.

I will have to check out the HFH forum.

Its hard to see in the pic.But I jsut had to say your hair is perfection Basak.

[stepha]

I do this. In the past I have put HyPer 3% on my new growth to lighten the dark brown. This helped me get the fire red I was after when I henna'd. I did do the length long ago when I first started henna -ing but only once and then conditioned the life back into it before, during and after henna!! After that I just did the new growth. Now that the new growth is mostly snow-white I've stopped henna -ing and just "tone down" the new growth with peroxide. Just enough to make it look more like a red-head going white than a red-head going brown going white. The massive attack conditioning still applies. I don't find any damage, but then I may have paid some "Spectrum Organic" worker's salary last year.

[Loviatar]

I had mine bleached professionally in a salon (my medium brown roots went white blonde, and my chemically dyed black length went pale orange). I then hennaed at home the next day. Once uploading pics is working, I will upload one and show you, but it went Hayley-from-Paramore orange. It was fab and very bright, but a bit full-on!

I also had to oil my scalp for a couple of days as it felt very tight, and I didnt bother using the lemon juice in the henna, as I thought it would be too acidic.

HTH, Lovi

[Lexie]

I used peroxide just before my last henna, but I think I may have to try a Malibu Wellness product to deactivate the peroxide once I get it out of my hair because the henna barely stained it. That being said, I used 30V (9&#37 peroxide for about 8 hours and my hair did become a bit tangled from it, but it was otherwise fine. I don't plan to use it on my length again, but I am planning to do my roots tonight.

[Celebrian]

I had mine bleached professionally in a salon (my medium brown roots went white blonde, and my chemically dyed black length went pale orange). I then hennaed at home the next day. Once uploading pics is working, I will upload one and show you, but it went Hayley-from-Paramore orange. It was fab and very bright, but a bit full-on!

I also had to oil my scalp for a couple of days as it felt very tight, and I didnt bother using the lemon juice in the henna, as I thought it would be too acidic.

HTH, Lovi

Your medium brown roots went white? What the heck did she use on you? Good thing you're doing the henna again - that stuff is a little wonder with bleached hair (I speak from personal experience here!).

[Loviatar]

Celebrian, she just used bleach, I guess. She did put a weaker % on my roots than on my ends, as they were black.

I am doing the henna again, yeah, but I still want a brighter red - and if I cant find a way to get one with henna, I am going to go back to the nasties. I'll just have to look after my hair better.

I hope to get a few pics soon in the sun, as I currently have about 4-5 inches (from the roots) of plain henna on natural hair. It looks hugely bright under the bathroom light, but brownish-coppery indoors, which isnt enough red for me.
The rest of my length is henna, henndigo, henna over black dye, and all that jazz.

[longhairdreams]

Sorry it took so long to respond.My internet has been down.

I'm probably not going to do this afterall.But I appreciate everyone's help.My hair is fragile naturally and this would just be a bad idea since I still have some old henna on my length.