I ruined my hair lol

[clanless]

I colored my hair red, and then let my dark roots grow out, which I kept hennaing. After researching, I thought henna wouldn't impede the lightening so I stopped hennaing for a over a month. Today I lightened my hair hoping to redye it with henna and now, I have three colors. Brown un-hennaed roots, dark hennaed growth, and then the henna red. Now, after my lightened roots grow out, I am going to have a light ring on my dark growth.

After using my henna again, I will have dark roots, a ring of red hair, dark hair again, and then a longer length of red hair. Like stripes.
Should I cut it, or does it sound cool? Perhaps not even a big deal, is it?

I find it unprofessional but I really don't care whether I cut it or keep it.

[Nae]

Hmm, if you want it all the same color I would be tempted to throw a brown dye over the whole thing that matches your roots and keep hennaing. It might even things out enough so that if you continue to henna the demarcation lines won't show up. BUT I am not a dye expert by any means. That is just my instinct. I am sure some dye guru will pop in here in a minute.

If it doesn't bother you then I don't suppose it would hurt anything to keep it. I don't think it would be necessary to cut it until you try to even it out a bit. Good luck!

[Silken]

I have no advice, I just came out of a major color/bleaching cluster*****, myself, lol. My solution was to cut off half my hair. At least the color and silky softness are back, so I'm cool with it.

[Natalia]

I think its something you have to weight between how much it bothers you and how much it will show depending on how you wear my hair. Also have to figure in what lengths your willing to go to color correct. For me when i had to stop dying my hair due to allergies i was going from blacked brown to my natural medium honey blonde BIG differance. I ended up not cutting due to the fact i always have it up and bunned i might wear it down for a few hours 4 times a year. Im also wasnt around anyone who noticed very often. Once the grow out was about 3 inches long and you couldnt see it from the front it wasnt so much of a bother. It took a few months for the dye to fade noticably and now 4 years later its so faded its only a fraction darker than my natural hair. That may seem like a long time but think how long it wil ltake to grow back however much you cut off, i would be a few more years away from where i am now if i had cut it.

Just saying ti might be worth looking into color correction to give your next henna the base base to go over so as it fades it will fade more evenly. And like i said above if you have your hair up most of the time likely no one will notice but you.

[CurlyCap]

I find that most artificial colors fade with time if you just keep the hair healthy. I'd just leave it be for a while and see how it all looks a year from now. My guess is that the "rings" will be tamer and easier to blend if you decide that's what you want.

[xoxophelia]

I would try a semi permanent brown (remember to pick a color one shade lighter than what you want as they go on dark) and make sure you test it on your hair first. You can even try a reddish brown.

[kitekats]

I would leave it as it is, and later-after a month or so- do henna again, I'm sure that it will even out eventually, other ways you might mess it up more while trying to make it better:o. I had my hair in 3 different colors too(henna+my natural dishwasher blonde+black dye) and I left it alone and now it looks pretty good, if it bothers you too much, wear up dos every day until it looks good, it will feel better that way:)

[jacqueline101]

I agree leave it alone and let the color grow out. Wear it in a flattering up do and ignore it for a month or two. After the month or two I'd reevaluate your hair and go from there.

[clanless]

I hate my hair. Can't wait to grow my virgin hair 12 inches longer (about 3 years for me) so I can braid my bleached part and chop it and put it in a case.


Meanwhile I decided to sell my henna: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=109302&p=2350393

[Not Lynn Merely]

Would you please get a pic of your hair french-braided before you do anything more to it? I think multi-toned french braids are the prettiest thing. One of my friends dyed her light brown hair with purple and pink striping, and it looked amazing french braided up.

[Indigostreams]

Please show us a pic, it sounds very interesting! Also, that way we can have a clear visual to give our opinion on. :)

[Indigostreams]

I personally often love when people have a few different colors mixed into their hair. :o

[clanless]

I am surprised that my hair didn't break and disintegrate after all the abuse it went through. All the colors, in their own individual right, are pretty but together it definitely would make people wonder how I got the hair the way it is. My hair isn't long enough to french braid (had to look it up on google). My hair is only slightly under shoulder length at the moment. I don't even have any friends who can help me and I am not very gifted when it comes to hair.
I decided not to cut until my hair grows out! Better to have a bit damaged and wonky colored (albeit interesting) hair than have it totally cut off. I just hope the split ends (which started appearing a month ago) don't climb all the way up to my scalp. I trim.

Anyway, I definitely will continue lightening my hair. The dye I used turned my roots the true ash colored blond that I always wanted. d*nm! But then I hennaed it today with an already-opened henna so now it's orangy red.

For the photos, I am quite photo shy but since you all insist I will post in a very distance future.

[Lissandria]

I have stripy banded hair too. I have my natural light brown level 5/6 (4"), then a band of two step black henndigo (3-4"), then the rest is one-step henndigo so it is a level 5 brunette only a touch darker and richer than my natural colour.
The Stripes are from when I first started one step hennaing. One step brown henndigo really doesn't work for roots so two-step becomes the only thing that stops the weird orangey roots. With one step henndigo pretty soon your hair is looking black.

I then decided I wanted to grow out natural and I freaked because of my stripy hair. Once I had an inch or so of virgin roots I dyed them a "bridging colour" of a level 5 ash brown to help blend the black and my natural colour along the demarcation line. This helped me alot.

Six months on, the demarcation line has become way less obvious, my bangs are almost all virgin and because I wear my hair up most of the time it's not really visible. As time goes on and I do more heavy oilings/deep treatments on my ends/midlengths its going to fade and blend even more. I think you should try to wait it out or perhaps a red/brown semi to help blend it. If you like your length I would not do anything drastic (as tempting as it may be) as the first few months of multitoned hair are the definitely the hardest and the most obvious. Good luck :)

[clanless]

I can just keep it the way it is. I guess it's not that bad! Even though my hair is 'messed up', I am happy to know that I can go straight to blond with one hair dye and my hair in general still got lightened so the henna really shows through after I apply it. I am still very happy for all the 'mistakes' I went through, because now I know how to get what I want without making mistakes.
Here are important lessons I learned albeit the hard way:
1. always used coconut and argan oil before dyeing (they almost eliminate all damage)
2. Don't use bleach, it's not needed for a pretty color!
3. I look great in either red or brown or blond hair! Anything goes for me :)
4. The brand I use is very reliable!
5. Rosemary, camellia, and argan oil really helps with damaged hair
6. Leave ins and hair spritz are important!
7. Henna really IS permanent!

Now, I just wish I had virgin hair again so I can dye it completely blond lol! I think I look best blond. :)
I wish I had long, blond hair. Why am I not happy with my natural dark color? Silly me.

Also, is it possible for hair to completely change its chemistry?
When I first came to SoCal two years ago, my hair was thick and black. Perhaps it's the dry weather, change of diet, or malnutrition, but my hair strands have been brown and thinner, like white person hair (I am Asian) even though it still feels soft and healthier than my older thick hair. When I tried the first dye on my thicker hair, it turned reddish brown. This time, I tried the same brand and color but it turned my thin roots the perfect blonde. But, the one I just used was also the revamped version of the same brand and color.

So maybe it was easier to go blonde due to my thinner hair, or the revamped dye, or both. Anyone ever had their hair go completely different before?