Henna to platinum blonde: is it possible?

[islaval]

Hey everyone! My hair is naturally medium brown, and I have been dying it with henna for the past four years. I use 100% body art quality henna, so artificial dye has never touched my hair. The last time I dyed my hair was July 2013. I love my hair color, but it's time for a change. I think I'd like to go blonde- really blonde. I understand that henna is permanent, but is it possible to bleach henna out without completely damaging my hair? My hair is halfway down my back and I don't want to lose any length.

[Lyv]

I think you'd end up with a lot of damage if you managed to bleach out the henna especially since you've been doing it for so long. It's very permanent for most people and even after bleaching I think it still tends to be a little orangey.

[butterflybutton]

I'd highly recommend not to until the henna is grown out. Any colour with hydrogen peroxide (even some without) can have a terrible reaction to the henna. Even if there is no reaction your hair will be in terrible condition, or very orange, not to mention that the majority of hairstylist will not risk the high chance of reaction.

Your best bet will be to take a clipping of your hair into the salon you wish to get to do your hair and get them to do a strand test for you.

[islaval]

Thanks for the advice... I figured as much. I suppose I'll speak to my hairstylist and go from there. Does anyone know of any henna to blonde success stories?

[Agnieszka]

I put couple of blonde highlights to my year old henna and colour turned up great (no red or orange undertones) but had to cut an inch due to immediate split ends. Till now I have to keep trimming blonde bits as they constantly split. My natural colour is light ash brown. I wouldn't do it.

[Flor]

Short answer - no. It's impossible to bleach medium brown hair (yet along with various henna applications) to platinum blond without damaging hair. The question is, if you want platinum blond so bad that you're willing to risk serious damage or it not working altogether and you ending up with something patchy and/or light orange.

[Of the Fae]

I tried bleaching henna to platinum blonde and failed miserably- I got neon-orange-elastic hair. Don't do it, just wait 'till it's grown out because you might lose half your length!
Eventually I rehennaed, so I could have just as well left it alone it was the only thing that made the damage somewhat manageable apart from a trim

[Firefox7275]

There are threads on this on the henna board. You have two issues, one can you shift the build up of henna (do not try to persulphate bleach it, the lawsone is highly resistant) using colour removers like Colour B4 extra or Color Oops. Two can you then lighten your brown hair to platinum without frying it (very challenging, protect with coconut oil and hydrolysed soy or wheat protein).

The only way you will know is by doing loads of strand tests on shed plughole hair, or by using your head as a laboratory and risking a pixie. Do consider the effect of repeat exposures to alkaline colour removers and alkaline persulphate bleach on your skin not just your hair. Rest your scalp for a week or more between sessions and run patch tests, you can react badly at any time. Trust me chronic dermatitis can be a nightmare, it is possible to end up with skin that is irritated by chlorine or fluoride in tap water.

[lapushka]

I am a dark ash blonde/brown color (blonette) and I used to use henna in the past. At one point, we tried to bleach it out. It took 2 full strength bleach sessions and still the red was in there. We could only put a light brown over it. So, I very much think you'd be better off growing the whole thing out first, then possibly bleaching your natural color to the color you want.

[spidermom]

This has been tried without success. You will lose a lot of length to damage.

[blue_eyes]

I don't have hennaed hair, but I can sympathize with your situation! I've been permanently dyeing my hair black for about 7 years and wanted a big change- to be a very light blonde. I made three attempts over the past few years with some very good salons and it never ended up working out well. I lost so much length due to damage (went from waist to APL), and my hair was such a mess of splotchy colors that I always had to dye it back to black just so I could go out in public! But I still want to be blonde, so now I'm just growing it out and starting over. It will be worth it in the long run! Not only will I have my dream blonde hair, but it will be healthy too. :)

[PixxieStix]

It depends on what you mean by success, there was a woman with a thread on the Natural hair care forum with a story where she did go from henna-head to blonde, but she lost a significant amount of length to damage and her hair was fried. You are best off allowing the henna to grow out, cutting it off, and then bleaching your hair from there.

[Magalo]

Henna is permanent. When you bleach hennaed hair, you natural hair color get bleached (under the henna) but the henna itself doesn't bulge. You'll end up with neon orange hair.

[lapushka]

Henna is permanent. When you bleach hennaed hair, you natural hair color get bleached (under the henna) but the henna itself doesn't bulge. You'll end up with neon orange hair.

I tend to disagree. We bleached with full strength bleach twice, what you end up with is bleached hair and it is splotchy due to the henna, but it will be significantly lighter. You do have to put a color over it, though! And that's the point. You will not end up with neon yellow/orange hair if you put a color over it, which you're supposed to.

[Nightshade]

Rini did it (you'll have to look in the archives, I think it was in the old board), but she lost her length from tailbone to shoulders and still had to tone it to hell and back. Even then, she was only really okay once she'd grown out the henna.

ShermieGirl is another one I can think of. Same thing, lost her tailbone-ish length up to shoulders and it was very, very damaged and still all had to be grown out.


Bleaching that blonde on it's own is going to be damaging. Doing it and trying to bleach through henna? There's no way to do it without a LOT of damage and loss of length.