Is there life after henna?

[Mnemosyne]

Has anyone had a successful experience returning to conventional hair dye after using henna?

I have been coloring my dark blonde/light brown hair to a light copper color with henna (purchased from www.fromnaturewithlove.com) for about a year and a half now. It is not really much of a change but I like the little extra bump of color--I get lots of compliments. However, I find keeping it up is a PITA and I can never get the roots to quite match. I have an appointment with a colorist later this week and I'm nervous about it (I HATE salons). The colorist uses Tocco Magico hair color--does anyone have any experience with that brand?

TIA!
Mnemosyne

[RavennaNight]

Wow they sure are selling henna at a cheap price! Is it any good? It says its 100% pure and they are in connecticut. As far as discontinuing and going back to dyes, strand test your hair with the dye you will use to see if the henna you used had any metallic salts in it. From what I've read, you will sure know because the hair will fry and possibly boil if the henna you were using had metallic salts. Just make sure you test.

[Isilme]

you can go darker over henna, but you will always have the henna fire in sunlight.

[Mnemosyne]

Sorry if I wasn't clear--I want to stay the same copper color that henna gives me, only with commercial dyes.

[wintersun99]

Can you find a hair color that matches your current color and then just do roots only, going forward?

[almudena]

Provided you dye on 100% pure henna there is no problem. Strand test is highly recommended though.

[carlablack]

I'm definitely going to try commercial hairdyes and let go of henna for a LONG time (never had commercial dye experience but had a bad henna experience, so this might not help you)

Other than that, i heard commercial red hairdyes are hard to maintain because they wash off very easily.

Plus, hairdressers tend to apply bleach before colouring; i don't know if your salon is fine with henna but when you say "henna" to hairdressers here they all go "henna?!? it will never bleach and you will never get equal color throughout your hair!!!" so they simply refuse to apply any chemicals on your hair LOL :eyebrows:

[Mnemosyne]

Well, I decided to follow y'all's advice tonight, so I went out and bought the cheapest permanent haircolor I could find (Revlon ColorSilk in Light Auburn) and did a strand test (unfortunately I don't have access to the brand the colorist uses). My hair did not boil or bubble or disinegrate, so that made me feel a bit better.

Unfortunately the hair dye I bought is non-ammonia and I realized I should probably have done the strand test with an ammonia based dye. Ugh.

Carlablack, no one is coming NEAR my head with bleach! I have grown out bsl-length bleached hair twice now. Never again!

Wintersun99, I might do that going forward... the semipermanent dyes were tempting me in the drug store today.

I have an important work event next week so I really need this to look good :( That's why I think I am going to go to a professional this time and then just continue dying my roots every month with semipermanent. My desired color is a Titian red, which is what the bottom half of my hair is already, from my natural dark golden blonde. It should be a fairly straightforward single process, if only it were on virgin hair. I will ask the colorist to do a strand test first, though. No sense in paying someone $90 to destroy 25 inches of hair.

[Ohio Sky]

You could ask the colorist to do a strand test, but I wouldn't be surprised if they refused to color your hair after you tell them you've used henna.

I would trust henna from that site because I know many people here that use their products. The only other concern I would have is whether there was any indigo in it, because if so, your hair could turn green when exposed to bleach or peroxide.

[mellie]

I think you should reconsider going chemical. Henna is so much nicer for my hair and scalp, and such a more natural looking color. As mentioned, chemical red color tends to fade fast and look really unnatural too.

I don't think henna is any more a PITA than chemical color. I only leave mine in for 60-75 minutes, which really isn't that much longer than box dye. The color I get from it is totally natural-looking, and blends way better than the chemical dyes that I used before.

Especially because you are getting compliments with the henna color too!! :-)

P.S. And you hate salons, too - like me!! :-)

[GlassEyes]

It's possible, especially since you want the same color, but upkeep with chemical dye is going to be just as difficult and a pain as with chemical.

And I must say, I love your screename. Yay Greek Goddess of Memory and mother of Athena. :D

[CopperHead]

You could always try a stronger henna. BAQ henna stains very red and doesn't fade very much at all. If you add cassia, you can get a nice coppery red. I think it would cover your roots much better than the henna you are using.

[RavennaNight]

Well, I decided to follow y'all's advice tonight, so I went out and bought the cheapest permanent haircolor I could find (Revlon ColorSilk in Light Auburn) and did a strand test (unfortunately I don't have access to the brand the colorist uses). My hair did not boil or bubble or disinegrate, so that made me feel a bit better.

Unfortunately the hair dye I bought is non-ammonia and I realized I should probably have done the strand test with an ammonia based dye. Ugh.

Carlablack, no one is coming NEAR my head with bleach! I have grown out bsl-length bleached hair twice now. Never again!

Wintersun99, I might do that going forward... the semipermanent dyes were tempting me in the drug store today.

I have an important work event next week so I really need this to look good :( That's why I think I am going to go to a professional this time and then just continue dying my roots every month with semipermanent. My desired color is a Titian red, which is what the bottom half of my hair is already, from my natural dark golden blonde. It should be a fairly straightforward single process, if only it were on virgin hair. I will ask the colorist to do a strand test first, though. No sense in paying someone $90 to destroy 25 inches of hair.

Revlon Colorsilk :shudder: I had a moderate shed experience with that one 2 years ago. Scary stuff. But hey, if that passed the strand test, I guess you are safe :D

[ktani]

If you go with conventional colour that contains peroxide, this thread may be of interest, see Page 3 onward, to help prevent any damage from chemicals. http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=10495

Using a light coconut oiling as a pre treatment and then applying hair colour over it, has been reported to be helpful and it has not been reported to interfere with colour uptake, even on grey hair.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

[ktani]

You may also find this thread of interest. There is a lot of very detailed information and helpful advice in it.
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=5594

[granitbaby]

I tried to use chemical red colour instead of henna about 3 years ago. I kept it up for about 2 or 3 months and then I was tired of a burning scalp and the horrible washed out red colour. Chemical red colour washes out extremely fast even though it is supposed to be permanent, and washed out red equals pink in my hair.

I did go back to henna again.

[Mnemosyne]

Thanks everyone for the wonderful advice! I am leaning towards sticking with the henna at the point.

Glasseyes--Glad you like the screenname! I am a huge Greek mythology dork! It was my major in college :)

Ktani, those threads are amazing and so helpful! Thank you!

Granitbaby, is the hair in your signature hennaed or your natural color? It is exactly the color I want! If it is henna, would you pretty please share the recipe? :D

[iris]

Mnemosyne, what exactly is your problem re the roots not matching? Just that the color on the roots is lighter as long as the henna hasn't oxidized yet?

Do you do whole-head applications every time?

I switched from henna to elumen (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=5594), - it's a bit different from other dyes because it doesn't use ammonia or peroxide, so it's not damaging. I'm very happy with it, the upkeep is a breeze. It does tend to fade a bit from the roots though, so I'm touching up every three weeks or so (not a problem since it's not a lot of work).

It does sound like you could stick to henna and just work on solving the problems you're having with it, though. Depends on what exactly the problems are.

[granitbaby]

Thanks everyone for the wonderful advice! I am leaning towards sticking with the henna at the point.

Glasseyes--Glad you like the screenname! I am a huge Greek mythology dork! It was my major in college :)

Ktani, those threads are amazing and so helpful! Thank you!

Granitbaby, is the hair in your signature hennaed or your natural color? It is exactly the color I want! If it is henna, would you pretty please share the recipe? :D

I owe my hair colour to henna:)
It's actually a henna gloss made with equal amounts of henna and cassia (about 2,5 tablespoons of each) and then mixed with the double amount of yoghurt. I just let it sit for 30 minutes and then rinse. The first time I would recommend to use less henna and more cassia because henna gloss also causes colour build up.

[Mnemosyne]

Granitbaby--thanks for the recipe! Your color is lovely!

Iris, the top 6 inches of my hair are a dark golden blonde and then the rest of it is a light copper color. I think the hair that is redder is due to 1.) a henna application a year ago that was particularly bright 2.) the ends of my hair is more damaged and sucked up more dye particles 3.) I was much better with upkeep in the first 6 months and have been lazy about it in the past year 4.) I bought a bunch of henna at once and it seems to be losing its effectiveness over time and 5.) I try to apply the henna just to my roots but it always ends up getting everywhere.

How long does it take you to mix up the elumen (or is it pre-mixed) and then how long do you leave it on? What is the consistency like--a thick conditioner or on the runnier side?

[iris]

Granitbaby--thanks for the recipe! Your color is lovely!

Iris, the top 6 inches of my hair are a dark golden blonde and then the rest of it is a light copper color. I think the hair that is redder is due to 1.) a henna application a year ago that was particularly bright 2.) the ends of my hair is more damaged and sucked up more dye particles 3.) I was much better with upkeep in the first 6 months and have been lazy about it in the past year 4.) I bought a bunch of henna at once and it seems to be losing its effectiveness over time and 5.) I try to apply the henna just to my roots but it always ends up getting everywhere.
Sounds like one very careful application to just the lighter parts with a fresh henna would solve it?

Your 5. surprises me - I've never had problems being precise about where my henna went - have you tried mixing it up a bit thinner and applying to dry hair with a brush?


How long does it take you to mix up the elumen (or is it pre-mixed) and then how long do you leave it on? What is the consistency like--a thick conditioner or on the runnier side?
It's premixed, but you can mix colors. I leave it on for thirty minutes, I can be done with the whole process in under an hour, rinsing an applying included. The texture is like jello, takes some practice to get used to it. Easier to control than henna though.

I think all your questions should be answered in the elumen thread I linked to above - there is nothing I know about elumen that is not answered in that thread, in any case. It's a fairly short thread.

[krspies]

hi there. I"m a natural red head but I love to change up the shade of red in my hair. I used to use chemical dyes and my favorite was Garnier Nutrisse. None of them lasted long though. red is very hard to keep in.

When I switched to henna I fell in love. well except for the "henna gets darker" part. I even hennaed mine a dark brown recently and it is STILL exceptionally red. I love it. now I"m trying to go back light and then I plan to rehenna with a marigold/red combo. if I ever get it light enough that is.

Have any of you ever tried morocco method henna? it's a southern California company. Morocco Method henna is a vegan henna and I've experienced no damage as a result of using it.

[fharahzz]

I wish to dye my hair in the future can anyone give me some useful tip? thanks...