Red dye or henna?

[queenbee1]

I plan to dye my hair in October, I know it's very damaging so I'll do it only once and grow it out for a year, and then dye again next October. So basically, I just have this one chance to get it right.

I have hennad my hair before (currently hennad) over bleached hair, I love it, but it's too dark and the red I want is cherry cola red/auburn. I have dark hair, Jet black to start with.

I have two options: use the dye that contains bleach (like I did last October), but this time in red (opposed to ash blond last October) and deal with whatever color shows up. A con would be that I've read somewhere in this forum that this lady's red dye used to wash out in a month. So mine wouldn't last for that long either (certainly not a year)

The second option is use the bleach containing dye (ash blond) on my dark hair and then use henna glosses to make it red.

What do you guys think? Should I buy the red hair color or ash blond again?
Also the place where I live, our dye options are Garnier, Loreal, Revlon, Keune and Framesi. I used the Garnier one last year. This year I might go for Loreal. We don't have deposit only/vegetable dyes like manic panic etc.

What do you guys suggest?

TIA :)

[sumidha]

If you want red that stays, I would bleach to lighten and then henna over it, personally. If you make a post at the Conventional Products & Accessories board there's tons of ways to bleach while being gentle with your hair, like using coconut oil before bleaching, bleaching multiple times with a really low volume, and probably more, I'm not a bleach expert by any means. :)

[Anje]

In my opinion, it depends on how permanent you want the result. Red permanent dye fades fast, arguably faster than red semi-permanent dye. Henna doesn't usually fade, but you get what you get, and you'd better be ok with it glowing orange in the sun.

[Shorty89]

Anje has good advice. I've used permanent red dye and it really does fade quickly and is damaging. I don't have any experience bleaching and hennaing, but it might be hard to do that without damage - depending on how light you need to go. Could you order MP or something like it online? I think that it could give your hair a red sheen in the sun, with no damage. Either way, good luck!

[Dark40]

I use permanent dye also but my natural hair color is dark brown to start with. So, what I do to get red hair is use a blonde shade from Clairol Nice N Easy. That product never damages my hair. As far as the damage goes it depends on how you take care of your hair in between coloring treatments. When you use any kind of chemical on the hair like hair dyes you should condition, condition, and condition. Also, keep your hair moisturized with some type of oil.

[Lizzie.torp]

Have you checked out the ethnic hair dye? A brand called Dark and Lovely has good permanent red hair dye for dark hair. I think it would be better than most box dye.

[queenbee1]

Thank you for your input everybody! I will try to look for Dark and lovely and MP online but I don't expect anything to come up. Ill probably try blond dye and henna like Dark 40 :D

[akurah]

When people say henna is permanent, we don't mean like box dye, we mean like it doesn't come out. It's really unclear if you're aware of this, or if you are ok with cutting your hair to get it out.

ETA: I just realized that I didn't read this as thoroughly as I thought so someone might have told you. Unfortunately I don't have time to reread and fix the post. Apologies

[Afanen]

Dark and Lovely is awful imo. My hair was tailbone length and I used it once (the Cinnamon color) because I didn't have money for henna and it ruined my hair and I had to cut it off. Just a warning :/
I have bleached hair with henna over it and dark brown hair naturally, so my hair is probably pretty similar to yours color wise. Maybe try a bleach bath on just the parts you want to lighten?

[queenbee1]

Dark and Lovely is awful imo. My hair was tailbone length and I used it once (the Cinnamon color) because I didn't have money for henna and it ruined my hair and I had to cut it off. Just a warning :/
I have bleached hair with henna over it and dark brown hair naturally, so my hair is probably pretty similar to yours color wise. Maybe try a bleach bath on just the parts you want to lighten?

Doesn't really matter because MP is expensive in my area and I didn't find dark and lovely. I'll probably go the bleach and henna route ��

[queenbee1]

When people say henna is permanent, we don't mean like box dye, we mean like it doesn't come out. It's really unclear if you're aware of this, or if you are ok with cutting your hair to get it out.

ETA: I just realized that I didn't read this as thoroughly as I thought so someone might have told you. Unfortunately I don't have time to reread and fix the post. Apologies

I have length I'm willing to sacrifice and the bottom half of my hair is hennad. If things do go wrong with the henna and dye combination I can wear it in updos and get a haircut since I was planning to go back to APL (from hip) in July 2018 anyway

[queenbee1]

Anje has good advice. I've used permanent red dye and it really does fade quickly and is damaging. I don't have any experience bleaching and hennaing, but it might be hard to do that without damage - depending on how light you need to go. Could you order MP or something like it online? I think that it could give your hair a red sheen in the sun, with no damage. Either way, good luck!

I agree but I'll have to bleach anyway. It's either box dye or henna and I'm leaning towards henna

[queenbee1]

In my opinion, it depends on how permanent you want the result. Red permanent dye fades fast, arguably faster than red semi-permanent dye. Henna doesn't usually fade, but you get what you get, and you'd better be ok with it glowing orange in the sun.

Thank you for putting things in perspective! I'm fine with it glowing orange in the su. I'm it'd look very pretty. ��

[queenbee1]

If you want red that stays, I would bleach to lighten and then henna over it, personally. If you make a post at the Conventional Products & Accessories board there's tons of ways to bleach while being gentle with your hair, like using coconut oil before bleaching, bleaching multiple times with a really low volume, and probably more, I'm not a bleach expert by any means. :)

I'll probably do that too! Thank you for the advice, I'll check out that part of the forum right now ��

[lapushka]

So what are you going to do for the year that your black hair grows in, and the red dye (henna over bleach can be *very* orange) is still there? Because that grow-out phase is *not* going to be easy. And it is hard to get henna right.

Maybe try henna over your black hair. You will have a subtle glow but at least it's not going to be damaging!

[Dark40]

Thank you for your input everybody! I will try to look for Dark and lovely and MP online but I don't expect anything to come up. Ill probably try blond dye and henna like Dark 40 :D

Yeah, I'm sure the blonde dye and henna will work. I thought that you couldn't mix box dye with henna??? Because, I remember as long as I've been coloring my hair for 30 years I've always read the instructions on box dyes not to use it along with henna or metallic dyes.

[akurah]

Yeah, I'm sure the blonde dye and henna will work. I thought that you couldn't mix box dye with henna??? Because, I remember as long as I've been coloring my hair for 30 years I've always read the instructions on box dyes not to use it along with henna or metallic dyes.

Pure henna is fine with box dyes. It's the adulterated stuff with box dyes that melts your hair because of metallic salts. Since that's an additive, if you use the pure stuff, you're fine.

[queenbee1]

So what are you going to do for the year that your black hair grows in, and the red dye (henna over bleach can be *very* orange) is still there? Because that grow-out phase is *not* going to be easy. And it is hard to get henna right.

Maybe try henna over your black hair. You will have a subtle glow but at least it's not going to be damaging!

Update: the henna still isn't cherry cola/red. It isn't orange either. It's brown and blends well with my hair :D

So now my routine is to henna it every month and then when im out of henna (or red enough) I'll grow out my Virgin brunette hair (I kind of miss it now)

[akurah]

Update: the henna still isn't cherry cola/red. It isn't orange either. It's brown and blends well with my hair :D

So now my routine is to henna it every month and then when im out of henna (or red enough) I'll grow out my Virgin brunette hair (I kind of miss it now)

If it is the shade you like, only do the roots!! Henna builds up over time.

[lapushka]

Update: the henna still isn't cherry cola/red. It isn't orange either. It's brown and blends well with my hair :D

So now my routine is to henna it every month and then when im out of henna (or red enough) I'll grow out my Virgin brunette hair (I kind of miss it now)

That sounds like it came together well for you! :D

Yes and do mind what akurah said! It may intensify and that might not be what you want when you want to grow it out. Maybe best leave it alone then. :flower:

[queenbee1]

I'm okay with it deepening into a darker color. Even if it turns into something I don't like I plan to chop back to BSL in five months anyway :D. I'm up for an adventure ;)

[ShirleyAnn]

I looked online recently how Lucille Ball did her red hair, out of curiosity, and knowing she was originally a brunette, then blonde hair hen went red to distinguish herself from all the blondes.
What I found was, she used to dye it golden apricot, and follow with henna. The brand/shade of henna was kept locked up, apparently.

(I'm going through a Lucille Ball appreciation phase at the moment!)

[Veganmayhem]

Ive been dying my hair red for years and would love to switch to henna but I don't know if it would be so vibrant.

[FrayedFire]

There's different shades of henna, too, I used like three or four sample packets of various shades in different sections of my hair, but only over the dye I was growig out. I will never use dye again, it's not worth the damage, but yeah, henna doesn't really fade, so you don't want to go over it too many times.

[Falear]

You must think very carefully before you decide to put henna on your hair. It won't fully come out for a couple of months. Henna is a permanent colourant and unless you spend a huge amount of money it can only be grown out or cut out if you do not like it. Also, you can't 'go over it' with an ordinary chemical hair dye, only with another henna product. The reason you can't dye over henna with a chemical dye is that henna coats the outer hair shaft, affecting the penetration of the chemical colourant. This coating of the outer shaft is why henna makes your hair gorgeous and shiny, but it's also why it's a complete pig to remove. What henna giveth, it taketh away!

Henna is super-special if you want a dramatic change and it does add superb shine to your hair but do think really carefully before going ahead.

We at Spam International know that whenever a hair dye product says 'do a strand test' the idea of it is so boring that you can never be bothered (well, we never can), but henna is the one hair dye where we would be sure to do a hair strand test before we used it.

The problem is that both natural and chemical dyes are always affected by the natural colour of your hair. If you have dark hair, you won't be able to go blonde without bleach. If you have light hair and you apply a light henna, it might look perfect - or it might come out the loudest shade of orange or sunset red you ever saw in your life. And this is a colour you will be stuck with for a month or two. Yes indeed, with henna it really does make sense to do a strand test to see how the henna hair dye will look on your own hair before going the whole distance!

[Dark40]

Thank you for your input everybody! I will try to look for Dark and lovely and MP online but I don't expect anything to come up. Ill probably try blond dye and henna like Dark 40 :D

So sorry for such a late reply as I've just got this message.....LOL Yes, You can try the Dark and Lovely and MP. Or, you can also try Clairol Nice N Easy Red shades. They have a couple of really nice red shades! And, I use Nice N Easy all the time when I'm dyeing or coloring my hair, and it doesn't cause any damage or dryness to my hair at all! I also love the ColorSeal Conditioning Gloss Conditioner that comes in the kit! It is awesome!!! It really leaves your hair looking and feeling so nice, soft, and healthy!!!! :)

[queenbee1]

Thank you so much everybody! after i posted this thread, i went with a blond dye and hennad on top of it. I loved the color alhough it wasnt exactly what i was looking for.

6 months after this, i got streaks in my hair (horrible color, clashed with my skin color, didnt look good on me at all) . I dyed my crown dark brown (same as my base color) and then applied henna twice.
Now i have a mix of apricot blond, copper and auburn hair. I love it! Will be continuing with monthly henna for another 6 months and then lets see if i grow the color out or get highlights (in a color than the one that i recently chose at the salon). I guess i’ll never learn :P

[queenbee1]

I’d like to add that my hair is still soft, healthy and free of split ends, although i did get a major chop from BCL to BSL (see what i did there?) . Because of all the damage i did, I’ll be microtrimming for a few months as well.

[queenbee1]

So what are you going to do for the year that your black hair grows in, and the red dye (henna over bleach can be *very* orange) is still there? Because that grow-out phase is *not* going to be easy. And it is hard to get henna right.

Maybe try henna over your black hair. You will have a subtle glow but at least it's not going to be damaging!

My hair is not ashy so there wasnt that much of a contrast to begin with
Ive never been let down by henna. Also for me, henna lightens on my hair. It is not as permanent for me and fades on me :D