Henna+heat =brown hair???

**amberlbrown** · February 4th, 2011, 09:05 PM

So, I'm planning on hennaing my hair pretty soon, but I just read something that worried me about hennaing. I read that sometimes adding heat to henna-ed hair can cause the hair to turn more brown. Right now, I use a blow dryer and flat iron on my hair pretty regularly. I'm going to try to get away from that, but I'm wondering if I will be able to use my flat iron without compromising the color of my henna-ed hair? I know many of you don't use heat tools, but surely one of you does that could tell me if this, in fact, the case? TIA

Amber

**Saila_** · February 4th, 2011, 09:28 PM

From what I know, using heat during the oxidation period (the 3 days after henna application) speeds up the oxidation. I am not sure if it would still matter after those three days.

hennaforhair.com is the best henna resource. You should check it out if you haven't already!

Hope that helps.

**akuamoonmaui** · February 4th, 2011, 09:31 PM

I haven't heard heat turns hair brown, but I understand it darkens it. I've done a couple henna glosses and flat iron my bangs - I haven't noticed any color change.

**Mesmerise** · February 4th, 2011, 11:23 PM

It's my understanding that if you overly heat the henna before applying it to your hair, the result will be more brown than red - but as far as I'm aware, this doesn't happen to hair that's already hennaed.

Otherwise, you'd get people who wanted to fade their henna straight ironing their hair instead of trying to bleach it out

**CrisDee** · February 5th, 2011, 05:44 AM

Here's my standard advice for anyone contemplating using henna - all stuff I found out the hard way.

As I mentioned in that post, I completely ruined my hair by using a hot blow dryer and iron on henna'd hair. The discoloration wasn't uniform, it was much darker on the ends, and splotchy on the length - so my only choice was to cut it all off and start over. I kept it short for 6 months, then got tired of the upkeep of super short hair, so in September '09 I began the agonizing process of growing it out. It's still driving me nuts, long enough to get in my face, but way too short to do anything with. So any time anybody talks about using heat on henna'd hair, I always pipe up. I understand that some people don't have a problem if they do not put any heat at ALL on their hair for the first week after henna - but I henna every 3 weeks (can't STAND roots!!), so for me, 1/3 of the time I wouldn't be able to use it. So now I don't use the iron at all, and only use the blow dryer on the cool setting.

**amberlbrown** · February 5th, 2011, 08:10 AM

@CrisDee, so do think as long as I didn't use heat during the first week my hair would be okay? I use a flat iron almost every day right now, but I have curlformers I could use the first several days after hennaing my hair if I needed to. I do want to get away from using the flat iron so much anyway, as I'm trying to grow out my hair, and I know I need to change alot about my hair care routine to do that. I'd like the flat iron to still be an option after that, but I could use it on a lower heat setting, my kinda wavy fine hair doesn't take alot to flat iron.

**Saila_** · February 5th, 2011, 03:46 PM

Originally Posted by CrisDee

Here's my standard advice for anyone contemplating using henna - all stuff I found out the hard way.

As I mentioned in that post, I completely ruined my hair by using a hot blow dryer and iron on henna'd hair. The discoloration wasn't uniform, it was much darker on the ends, and splotchy on the length - so my only choice was to cut it all off and start over. I kept it short for 6 months, then got tired of the upkeep of super short hair, so in September '09 I began the agonizing process of growing it out. It's still driving me nuts, long enough to get in my face, but way too short to do anything with. So any time anybody talks about using heat on henna'd hair, I always pipe up. I understand that some people don't have a problem if they do not put any heat at ALL on their hair for the first week after henna - but I henna every 3 weeks (can't STAND roots!!), so for me, 1/3 of the time I wouldn't be able to use it. So now I don't use the iron at all, and only use the blow dryer on the cool setting.

Thank you for sharing that link! I never use heat styling, but it's good to know anyway.

**RocketDog** · February 5th, 2011, 04:53 PM

I have photos somewhere of a flatiron test I did with freshly applied henna - the bright orange 'new' henna turned to a dull, flat brown when I clamped it with my flatiron for a few seconds. However, I have flatironed my many-times-henna'd hair with NO color change AFTER it finished oxidizing, usually a week or so after application just to make sure it's really settled. The only time I really get my hair 'done' is when I get a professional haircut, so I just make sure to plan my henna for a week or so before the appointment so I can get my hair all styled without fear of messing with my color.

Keep in mind, though, that I have pretty light virgin hair and my results may not apply to those with darker starting color

**Mesmerise** · February 5th, 2011, 07:08 PM

Originally Posted by CrisDee

Here's my standard advice for anyone contemplating using henna - all stuff I found out the hard way.

Wow thanks for posting that! I have definitely flat ironed hennaed hair before BUT I don't iron often so it most likely wasn't within the first few days. This is really helpful so I know in future to wait AT LEAST a week, and therefore henna at least a week before I go somewhere where I'll flat iron my hair first.

I wish I didn't need to flat iron at all, but in the condition my hair's in, I can't wear it out at all without straightening it

It just looks so moth eaten and horrible!