Any dye stays only few days. What to do?

[Mizumi]

As title says, when I dye my ends/streaks it starts fading already after 2-3 days, no matter if it's henna or chemical dye. Last time I dyes my ends with blue toner, the result was visible but almost disappeared very quickly. I used to do some parts of my hair with henna but I had to do it every 5-7 days literally to keep the result. My hair is medium brown so maybe it's just too dark for such things, but result of henna IS vibrant, just doesn't stay :( what is the secret to keep it longer?

[lapushka]

Keeping henna longer? There is no secret, apart from multiple applications (it will also intensify/darken then until a certain saturation is reached) in a short period of time (say every 2 weeks or so).

[red-again]

And it does depend with henna how good a supplier it comes from. Not necessarily fresh, but bit does need to be stored correctly
What henna are you using?

[Mizumi]

It's Eld henna mahogany, cheap and has some chemical colour additions, I use it because it is quite cool toned and warm toned does not suit me

[SkyChild]

Odd.
Tips for keeping any colour lasting longer - wash in cool water and try to stretch washes. Use less shampoo. Try not to get shampoo on the sections that are coloured (if it's streaks like you mentioned)
Blue comes out the quickest of all hair colours, it just doesn't stick very well. I ended up mixing half of my manic panic dye bottle into my everyday conditioner so I'd be putting blue back in every time I washed some out. That works quite well.
Do you have bleached sections that you add bright colours to? One of my hairdresser friends told me that you are only meant to lighten hair a little. Platinum hair, the cuticle is WIDE open, so colour goes in ok but washes straight back out, whereas if it's only lightened a little bit, it gets in easier but the cuticle is more like a half-shut door, it catches the colour and stops it coming back out. If that makes sense.

Henna has always stuck with me until I cut it out, so no advice there.

[ravenreed]

Be careful using non-body art quality henna and hair dyes. If the henna has metallic salts, it can have a bed reaction with dyes and do horrible things to your hair.



It's Eld henna mahogany, cheap and has some chemical colour additions, I use it because it is quite cool toned and warm toned does not suit me

[Mizumi]

Be careful using non-body art quality henna and hair dyes. If the henna has metallic salts, it can have a bed reaction with dyes and do horrible things to your hair.

How can I recognize if henna has such metalic salts?

[Magalo]

Pure henna, called BAQ henna (used for body art) doesn't contain metallic salts. Most other do. Look at the ingredients list: if there's more than one ingredient, it's not pure.

Pure henna will not fade. I can get less vibrant (the hair on my canopy is less vibrant than the underside because it is exposed to sun) but will not fade/get lighter.

Also, do you use shampoo with sulphates? Sulphates strips the color off. Well, they strip everything off.

[Mizumi]

Pure henna, called BAQ henna (used for body art) doesn't contain metallic salts. Most other do. Look at the ingredients list: if there's more than one ingredient, it's not pure.

Pure henna will not fade. I can get less vibrant (the hair on my canopy is less vibrant than the underside because it is exposed to sun) but will not fade/get lighter.

Also, do you use shampoo with sulphates? Sulphates strips the color off. Well, they strip everything off.


I use sulphates rarely. Anyway is there a way to make henna color more cherry-ish? It would be great to achieve similar tone without chemicals!

[Magalo]

The more coats of henna, the more cherry it gets. :) The only way to do this is multiple applications.

[elea]

chemical semi-permanent dye only lasts if you bleach your hair first on dark brown.

[browneyedsusan]

Before I'd heard of henna, I could never get chemical color to stick either. I'd dye myself or go to the salon--because I thought salon color would last better--and end up faded to nothing after a week. I tried everything to preserve my color; stretching washes, washing in cold water, covering my hair in wind and sun, but it still faded horribly! I love red hair, so henna was a great solution for me. It is rock-solid permanent, and doesn't budge. (It gets lighter and brighter up in the summer, but I suspect that the sun is fading my natural ash brown, so the henna is more pronounced.)

Try snooping around here (hennasooq) (http://www.hennasooq.com/) and here (hennaforhair) (http://hennaforhair.com/). If you're patient, and run a LOT of tests on hairballs from your brush, I'll bet you'll find a great solution! I'm thinking henna chased with a dab of indigo or something other herb will give you great results! Good luck and let us know how it comes out! :)

[Mizumi]

Thank you for advice :) I will try it soon

[Rosetta]

Pure henna, called BAQ henna (used for body art) doesn't contain metallic salts. Most other do. Look at the ingredients list: if there's more than one ingredient, it's not pure.
That's actually a misconception - most hennas sold are pure henna, though they may not be labelled "BAQ". (These two terms - pure and BAQ - often seem to be confused with each other.) I've in my time bought many different kinds of hennas, many of them cheap ones sold in e.g. ethnic haircare shops, and never encountered any with metal salts...