Henna fades VERY soon

[Fricely]

Hi everyone I've been usiong henna since January and I have a big problem: while everyone else has difficulties trying to make henna fade, I have the opposite problem! In 3 weeks, every henna I put on my head washes away. I know it's not oxidation, because the colour literally washes away:everytime I wash my hair, the water comes out orange, and as soon as my hair is dry, the color is noticeably less red than before. After a couple weeks, my hair is basically the same it was before I hennaed it. I have tried different henna powders (Jamila, Yemeni, Khadi), different mixes (lemon, water, chamomile tea), different dye release time, EVERYTHING.
I have no idea why this keeps happening, and it's very frustrating because my henna lasts even less than the chemical dyes I used before, and I hate the orange-y color that remains on my hair after the henna starts fading, so I have to henna once or twice a month, which is a waste of time and money.
I know it's not the shampoo, because it fades even if I use only water.
Can anybody help me?I really love henna, but this is really ruining it for me :(

[earthybee]

If you can give red raj a try. It only bleeds the first few days for me and it covers a few white gray hairs I have totally. I truly love it and believe nothing compares (just my opinion of course :lol:)

[Anje]

Huh, that's unusual... I know there are a few people who have reported that henna won't stay stuck, but they're usually few and far between.

What's your hair like? Really non-porous and slick maybe? Are you maybe using silicone-y hair products and then applying henna to hair that's not been clarified? (I'm of the opinion that hair doesn't have to be clean for hennaing, but it shouldn't be coated with anything other than oil.)

I'll page Nightshade... she's compiled even more henna experiences and variation in her brain than I have and might have some ideas.

[Nightshade]

Nightshade to the white courtesy phone ^_^

Fricley, your hair type isn't listed, do you know what it is?

There are a few people, Pookatrina comes to mind, who never managed to get henna to stick but it is really rare.

I have two ideas you might be able to try:

- Henna operates by binding to the proteins in skin or hair so it's possible your hair is protein deficient and the henna is struggling to bind because of it. You could try a protein treatment prior to hennaing, or try blending protein, such as an egg, into your henna and seeing if that improves thing.

- If your hair has a remarkably tight cuticle, that might also be a factor. You could try a more aggressive shampoo before hennaing (like dandruff shampoo) to raise the cuticle a bit, and then henna without applying conditioner in between. It's going to make your hair feel terrible until you get the henna rinsed and chase it with conditioner, but lifting the cuticle might allow better henna penetration and so the lawsone can get to the protein and bind :)

Worth a shot, anyway!

ETA: I do agree with that Anje that your hair should be clarified if you're not doing that already ^_^

[Fricely]

Well, I'll admit I don't quite know how to describe my hair, because I'm really no expert about the topic I'm afraid. I wouldn't define it as either dry or oily. If I really had to pick one, I would go for very slightly oily. I don't find it "slick" as Anje suggested,and I tried using different products to clean them so I don't think silicone-y products are the problem. I don't know if that can help you understand what kind of hair it is, but it's straight and thick and and if I curl it in any way it holds for very little time.

The problem might be tha fact that my hair isn't clarified, so I will try that,the aggressive shampoo and the protein treatment that you suggested.
Oh, and I ordered Red Raj yesterday so I will try that too :)

Thanks a lot for the help, you gave me a lot of great ideas, and sorry if I can't reply in a more useful way ^^"

[Nightshade]

Hair type around here is what you see under a lot of the member's avatars. Mine is:

2a/M/ii

what that means is that my hair is slightly wavy (2a), the strands are of medium thickness (M), and the ii means that I have average ponytail thickness. There's a big thread (which I searched for but didn't find) that breaks all of them out :)

Good luck!

[Flor]

Fricely, what's your virgin hair color?

I'm also a bit confused by your description of the problem. You say that henna washes off and your hair turns orange-y? Well, then it's still there. Unless you're using henna mixes and it's indigo/cassia that wash off and you're left with henna only?

[Fricely]

My virgin hair color is very light brown, but when I first hennaed my hair it was lighter because I had dyed it a red shade that was lighter than my virgin color.

I found the thread for the hair type! I'd say that mine is 1b/M/iii

Also, in reply to Flor, what I mean is that when I apply henna I leave it on for a while because I prefer a darker color. So in the beginning my hair is not orange but a dark copper. However, the more I wash it, the lighter it becomes: for example, at the end of july I had this color:
http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/8386/fkjf.jpg

By the end of august it had became almost strawberry blonde. See what I mean? The red never goes away completely because anyway I hennaed it many times, and even before that it was dyed red, but it's definitely not the color I get with henna.

[woolyleprechaun]

This is truly unusual...henna is usually absurdly hardy. I second all the advice for clarifying and slightly harsher shampoos prior to an application.
I'm no expert here as my hair eats henna; it just sucks it right up and never bleeds or fades. Please keep us posted as my curiosity is seriously piqued :)

[Flor]

Same happens to me, actually. My original hair color is dark cool-tone brown and right after henna it gets bright coppery on the sun and dark mahogany in shade. Then after 3-4 washes, the intensity is gone and it's just a warmer shade of brown. And for some weird reason, it also appears to make my hair color one shade lighter (maybe it's just light reflecting illusion though)? However I haven't experimented with continuous henna use and I'm curious what will happen if I keep reapplying every 2-3 weeks. Hopefully it gets darker and stays that way.

[longNred]

Where are you buying the henna from? I get mine from mehandi.com, and I have NEVER had any color fade or even tinted runoff water. (Except when rising out the actual paste)

[Fricely]

Then we have the same problem I guess... the fact that really bothers me is that I can SEE the henna washing out every time I take a shower, and it's really frustrating...this summer my hair got wet 3 or more times a day between the sea and the showers, and aftyer two weeks the color was still leaching out :/ also, as soon as my hair gets wet, it starts smelling of henna! I don't know if that happens to everyone.

[Isilme]

You say that your hair was chemically dyed before. That means that it is at least a little bit damaged if not more, I also had this problem when I started to use henna. It did stick to my virgin hair but the length was just so porous and damaged that my henna faded a lot. It became better the more henna I used and the more virgin hair I got. Then most of my damage got cut later.

[Bagginslover]

If you've previously lightened your hair, the henna will fade somewhat. I have the same hair type as you, and I purposely bleach sections of my hair to henna over. These sections don't hold the henna as well as my virgin hair, and the henna does fade in those areas over time.

I would suggest you do a really good protein treatment (over the counter type, or home made, doesn't matter which), and then follow it with your new henna. I do regular coconut oil soaks that help my bleched bits with their protein levels, but I think you need something heavier duty than that as your fade is so much more marked.

Be sure you're getting BAQ quality henna too, types with filler just don't seem to stick as well, even if the initial colour is strong. Don't worry too much if you still see orange when washing afterwards-my shampoo suds are orange for weeks, and my colour stays strong, its just residual wash-off I think, the stain should stay as long as it has the protien to grip to ;)

[Flor]

Fricely, have you done hair porosity tests? I did it this morning and it appears that mine is low porosity. It didn't sink in water after hours passed and if I hold a single strand between two fingers and slide them in the end-to-root direction, it feels nearly as smooth as the other way around. Mine would always refuse to hold curls (without styling products involved), I struggle with buns (they tend to unravel) and hair elastics like to slip off. Maybe low porosity hair has more difficult time holding on to henna?

I do use cold water vinegar rinses after every wash, which could be contributing to low porosity situation. But I really love how rarely my hair tangles and how sleek and shiny it looks. But I guess there's a price to pay when it comes to henna.

[rach]

What is Pookatrina ?

[Fricely]

Thanks everyone, I've always used BAQ henna so that's not the problem. The protein treatment seems the best road to take right now, as soon as my Red Raj arrives I'll try that!
Flor, I had actually heard that porous hair struggles to hold on to henna and not hair with low porosity, or maybe it's both? I really don't know, but I think my hair is more on the porous side because of the dyes.

I feel very reassured thanks to your replies, I will let you know how it goes! :D

[Nightshade]

What is Pookatrina ?


Pookatrina is a member, though she hasn't been around in ages :)

[KiwiLiz]

Fricely, have you done hair porosity tests? I did it this morning and it appears that mine is low porosity. It didn't sink in water after hours passed and if I hold a single strand between two fingers and slide them in the end-to-root direction, it feels nearly as smooth as the other way around. Mine would always refuse to hold curls (without styling products involved), I struggle with buns (they tend to unravel) and hair elastics like to slip off. Maybe low porosity hair has more difficult time holding on to henna?

I do use cold water vinegar rinses after every wash, which could be contributing to low porosity situation. But I really love how rarely my hair tangles and how sleek and shiny it looks. But I guess there's a price to pay when it comes to henna.


Hmmm, I think Freckly has low porosity. My hair is just like how Flor describes above - curls don't hold, buns unravel, clips and ties slip off, etc.

For my hair, I started with one application of intense henna, now I do a gloss every 3-4 weeks. I also use something acidic to mix it with, no water, just lemon juice. The gloss seems to be as intense coloured as the original full on application.