Henna turned black, AGAIN. Porosity to blame?

[colormeindie]

ok so a little history on my hair.
This time last year i bleached my hair white then dyed it pastel purple, which did quite a bit of damage but i still took care of it, so i didn't have a huge amount of breakage problems. A few months after that, i went blue. Then i bleached it again, and tried to do a henna gloss. When i put the henna on my hair i couldn't keep it on long because it wasn't turning my hair red: it was turning it a black-brown-green color.
Since then, i've been red using manic panic, and taking care of my hair as best i can. Compared to this time last year, my hair is in much better condition.

In march, i stripped my ends to create a really pretty Ombre effect with dark red at the roots to blonde at the ends. I wasn't really liking it too much, so i went back to plain red again. I have not been using heat, or any wierd products since then. Just coconut oil, manic panic dye, and coconut shampoo and conditioner that has no sulfates

I tried the Red Rajasthani once again (its the same i used the first time i tried to henna, but it turned that funky black color) and only the ends have turned black. Half way up the sample the hair is a nice coppery red, even over recent red dye.
My question goes to anyone who has either had this problem, or knows the potential outcomes of extremely porous ends and henna. Can this be undone? Or do i have to wait 6 months for new growth, so i can just cut off the damage? I'd like to start hennaing my hair again, simply because i liked how it helped my hair some 3 years ago. Any ideas? protein fillers perhaps? I just don't know :(

[Magalo]

Do you have pics?

[Firefox7275]

Might be wise to do strand tests from now on, not use your whole head as an laboratory. Certain ingredients in chemical dyes can react badly with compounds in henna, tho AFAIK it's usually the low quality or mixed stuff not the pure body art quality.

[colormeindie]

I didn't use my whole head. i used a few locks of hair. But i used good quality henna

[colormeindie]

I'll upload some in the morning. Its nighttime where i am :/

[lapushka]

Did you expect anything else? :) I'm just asking because you did do a *lot* of damage, and experimented with lots of colors on your hair. So it's about normal that only the new growth is taking the henna the right way. I think you really do have to wait for new growth. There is no way you can naturally achieve a normal red on those ends (unless you want to do further damage; if those colors can be bleached out).

[colormeindie]

http://24.media.tumblr.com/d39323cbc7146a586ba2170d5a9637af/tumblr_mnrpcwYfmj1qlh1alo1_500.jpg
i took this this morning.
Lapushka: Last august when i did a bleach bath to get rid of the blue, i also did a strand test. The ENTIRE strand was that black green icky color. Over the last 10 months or so, i've been gentle with my hair, and was apparently able to restore some of the hair i had, so that henna woulld take and actually turn red. My question was is there anything more that i can do? I read on another thread of people using protein fillers to get henna to come out more evenly.

[goldloli]

It's probably chemicals/pigments from before reacting with the henna, a main reason why hairdressers wont dye over henna treated hair. Imo it's happened twice now so it's not likely the old hair will ever be able to take to henna properly. also be aware that if you now dye over the henna, those results could also be unpredictable.

I have porous hair and henna has never gone black (though it has rinsed straight out) i don't see how porosity would change a pigments colour, there's something else to blame. For what its worth it looks kinda cool, maybe you could try colour removers, but again that might have a freaky reaction.

[colormeindie]

it does have an interesting effect. but i'll keep looking into it. thanks everyone for your input :]

[Kaelee]

Wow, I'll be watching this thread. I've NEVER heard of pure henna turning BLACK. I had thought that was impossible! I had known this could happen with compound hennas, or mixed dyes (like those "all natural" mixes that contain both henna and indigo, or black malva, or some other thing). All I can think is you have some really funky damage that's causing this.

Have you tried protein treatments to try to repair some of the bleach damage?

[colormeindie]

Its something i've done the last year to make my hair healthy again. But the ends are still experiencing it. So i bought a protein filler today at sallys to try out tomorrow

[Nightshade]

Pure henna shouldn't turn black like that. I do wonder if there's some remains of your blue dye that are blending with henna where the red is being canceled by the blue/green and you're getting black. That ALL of your hair isn't doing that makes me suspect that it's more what was done before to your hair than some strange additive in the henna.

[Bagginslover]

Do you know your growth rate? How much it grows per month? If you know that, you can work out just how old those ends are, and can then figure out what you did to your hair that long ago.

[Panth]

Do you know your growth rate? How much it grows per month? If you know that, you can work out just how old those ends are, and can then figure out what you did to your hair that long ago.

This.

Most people grow say ... 1/2 inch per month average? 1 inch per month moderately common. Much more than that is fairly rare.

When you tried to henna and your entire head started to go black. So, whatever causes the henna to go black was already on your hair then. Now, 10 months later, you have grown maybe 5-10 inches of hair. So, do you have somewhere between 5 and 10 inches of red hair followed by a few inches of black? If so, it's the same cause as before. Whatever it is has been left from your previous dying sprees and must be incredibly resistant to washing out as it has lasted 10 months. If this is the case, you'll just have to chop that section off before you can henna and get red.

Another alternative is that it's from the bleach. You said you bleached it white last year, dyed it pastel purple, dyed it blue, bleached it then attempted henna and got full-head black. Now, a few months ago, you've bleached the ends to get ombre and then tried henna and got black tips. So, it could be reacting somehow with the bleach. If you have much more than 10 inches of henna-red hair from roots down before you start to get black, then this might be the more likely cause.

I very much doubt is is simply a damage issue as I cannot see how that would change the colour of the henna. If the henna colour was washing out of your tips and staying on your roots then damage would be a prime culprit, but not here.

[colormeindie]

I have an odd growth rate. I could grow an inch a month, a quarter inch, none or a half inch. For the last 3 months i've been taking supplements which help. But i haven't chopped my hair off since then, because it keeps breaking off.
Panth, i agree. Thats something i've thought about, but i still have a few things to try.

[Redhead Rebel]

I think it must be from some leftover chemicals from the dyes you have used in the past. My hair has been bleached many times and the ends are very damaged and porous, but when I use Henna it still goes a normal copper colour, but doesn't hold as well so the ends are lighter than the rest of the length.

Do you use vinegar on your hair? I have also found that when I do vinegar rinses it turns white dots and other damage black.

[colormeindie]

i used apple cider vinegar once because so many people raged about how good it was. It made my hair fall out by the bucket full so i didn't touch the stuff again. That was about 2 years ago

[Panth]

I have an odd growth rate. I could grow an inch a month, a quarter inch, none or a half inch. For the last 3 months i've been taking supplements which help. But i haven't chopped my hair off since then, because it keeps breaking off.
Panth, i agree. Thats something i've thought about, but i still have a few things to try.

Yeah, but even with weird growth you could work it out as you dye so you might have some demarkation lines.

[colormeindie]

Ok so the protein filler definitely did not work.

[red-again]

I know you say you used red raj henna, was it from henna sooq/ mehandi etc or not?
The reason I ask is that black colour, o me looks like a bleach and sodium picramate reaction. If the henna isn't as good or as totally wholesome as you think, it may have metallic salts in in ( sodium picramate or ppd even) and that combined with the bleached lengths results in icky green black. Oh and another sign of that reaction is dry brittle ends.
It'd be worth knowing more about the henna you are using
Btw egg and coconut milk mixed is a great cheapy ( and chem free) protein treatment. But after protein you need moisture or you hair will be brittle! Coconut milk does that, it adds the moisture so it's a double whammy!

Good luck

[colormeindie]

The henna is from Henna Sooq.