Hair dye

[lidapida]

I'm having a huge debate going on in my head. Dye hair or no dye?
I've had this particular dilemma for years now because to be frank I have a lovely, natural blonde hair color that people constantly remind me that I should be thankful for. But for years I have also envied every ginger I've ever met and dreamt of dying my own blonde locks red. The usual reply I get when I ask others what they think of my idea is that they believe red hair wouldn't look bad on me (I have dark complexions despite my blonde hair) but it would be such a shame to destroy the natural blonde I already have.
Naturally, I would have just gone for it and shrugged and if I didn't like it I would bleach it back, but with the blonde curls come extremely frail hair that I have to treat with extreme care for it not to split and break and die. Bleach would kill it and all the work I've put into healthy, long-ish (it's still not the length I want it to be) hair would be for nothing. I've also concluded that Henna is the only way to go as I don't want to start putting chemicals in it, therefore I 1. don't know what color it'll eventually be, and 2. definitely can't bleach afterwards, 3. risk the curls (I think). I've never been able to make the jump after the last attempt I made to dye it brown. The color was awful so my hair had to be bleached afterwards. Traumatic to say the least ( haha)

Do any of you have any experience with these kinds of things? Permanent changes to your hair, did you regret it afterwards? Is natural ALWAYS best? Should you stick to what you have just because it's beautiful or should you follow these urges when they're as persistent as this particular one?

I'm unsure if this is not the appropriate forum for this particular dilemma I'm having as I'm still relatively unfamiliar with LHC. Hope you're able to help me out here anyway though!! :-)

Elida

[akilina]

If henna is the only way to go for you and you fear you wont like it...Do not do it.
Your first application would probably be very coppery/light orange.
You also, don't date henna. You marry it. :/
Some have very successfully removed henna with color oops, but still that is not the point. They spent hours upon hours with color oops on their head, several times. Even if you bleach henna it still will pull very brassy.
Henna can usually be considered very very permanent.
OOOh and if you want to learn more about henna and herbal hair care...there is a sub forum for that It is very helpful.

[lidapida]

If henna is the only way to go for you and you fear you wont like it...Do not do it.
Your first application would probably be very coppery/light orange.
You also, don't date henna. You marry it. :/
Some have very successfully removed henna with color oops, but still that is not the point. They spent hours upon hours with color oops on their head, several times. Even if you bleach henna it still will pull very brassy.
Henna can usually be considered very very permanent.
OOOh and if you want to learn more about henna and herbal hair care...there is a sub forum for that It is very helpful.

Thank you for your reply!
I'm aware of the problems and benefits of Henna and that's why I'm having trouble making this decision because I know it'll be permanent. I'm basically deciding whether I'm going to be a blonde or a redhead the next few years of my life (at least! and that scares me ) so I don't have delusional beliefs of Henna fading away with time. I probably won't go natural again before I decide to cut my hair short and grow out the roots (not looking forward to that day )

If I am to do this I will definitely not do one application and leave it at that because as far as I know the first application probably won't have a very pretty result considering my light blonde base. But I also know that my hair will get a deeper red for each application and I would continue this until I'm satisfied with the result. And if I decide to do this I won't actually go through with it until I've tested it on strands beforehand. It's just I won't do that before I know I wish to permanently go red.

In other words, the issue is more about the change than the means of change :-)

[xnibn]

check out this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3yAseNWz_0

go to 1:30 to see how a shampoo turns blond hair ginger , without the damage of hair dyes or the commitment of henna

[akilina]

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...ead.php?t=2963


Theres a link to a henna thread where many have posted pictures of their henna. Maybe that will inspire you in some way

[lapushka]

If you're a very light blonde, consider *having* to do henna every 3 to 4 weeks (yay, mudbath) to cover up those light roots... for a very long time.

[kaydana]

Since you're not sure about making this change, henna is definitely NOT the way to go. You have to be absolutely sure that henna is what you want in the long term before you do it, and if you're having to ask what you should do, then you're not sure enough.

Your natural colour will also be far easier to maintain than henna (no effort vs lots of effort) so if you like your natural colour, keep it.

[lidapida]

Thanks for the replies! It's been very helpful and I'll probably stick to my blonde blonde hair for a bit longer. I do like them after all. It's just so... blonde (if you know what I mean? )
But oh how I wish I had a darker hair-color! Henna wouldn't be such a huge step then. I just love the tint it gives brunette hair. Oh well, maybe it'll still darken someday :-)

[elea]

there are some colored sprays that only last the evening, wash out very easily and don't dammage the hair (i have been using them for years on various colors, textures and condition hair for performers) if you fancy a wild try sometimes.

[Shiranshoku]

You could maybe use Manic Panic? It's semi-permanent, and shouldn't damage the hair. I'm sure that if your hair is already rather light that eg the vampire red shade would be stunning!