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Aer
February 25th, 2010, 01:26 AM
Okay after searching Google, and this site, I still haven't found a solid answer to my hair question.

After I grow my hair to a certain length, I want to go to a salon, and get white blond highlights. I'm not one to use chemicals, but I know that bleaching is the only way I'm going to get the pale results I want. I don't want chunky wide highlights, just about three or four 2 inch wide highlights. My problem is that I henna now, and my research results have been confusing as far as how well getting highlights on hennaed hair would go.

I guess my question is: Can I successfully get very blond highlights in a head full of hennaed hair? I can say that I don't use indigo in my mixes and my henna is always BAQ quality, if this is any help.

rach
February 25th, 2010, 02:42 AM
I get the impression that's it's near impossible to get blonde in your hair after henna without out almost destroying it because henna penertrates deep into the hair it's self. If you did get hightlights the results I'm guessing would turn to a weaker orange shades of henna , I'm sorry if that's not what to here . I'm glad you mentioned the lack of indigo because yes that could be problematic as would metalic salts within some bad hennas which both can result in green but with pure body quality henna that won't be so much of a problem.

Always worth a strand test to be sure.

ilovelonghair
February 25th, 2010, 03:46 AM
I'd say: hair extensions, you can get them in pure white.

Fiferstone
February 25th, 2010, 04:39 AM
I agree with Ilovelonghair, everyone who has lightened henna successfully and discussed it on the LHC board has stayed within the red spectrum and so far as I know, no one has eradicated the red entirely without serious, hair-melting damage ensuing. As Nightshade has said, henna bonds to the keratin in your hair, and in order to remove it, you have to remove the keratin, which means major damage if you are attempting to go back to white-blond.

Isilme
February 25th, 2010, 05:00 AM
it's a very bad idea to try to remove henna, ask Shermie girl. She has short hair now. Ask Rini too.

Nightshade
February 25th, 2010, 07:34 AM
I've got to agree with everyone here, it's going to end badly. If you feel you must try it, collect shed hairs into a decent-sized lock and take it in and have them test on that. That way if (when) it falls to a gummy mess it isn't attached to your head :)

ademtce
February 25th, 2010, 07:41 AM
sadly if you try this, you will come back with your hair in your hands (whatever didn't melt).
the red/orange wont lift out of your hair till it melts.

i agree with clip-in extensions

redtea
February 25th, 2010, 07:46 AM
I think I'm the only one who had this done successfully here. In order to get rid of the henna, I had all over highlights put in. They came out platinum blond and all the henna was gone wherever the highlights were placed. My hair was around BSL at the time and I had get it cut and maintain between shoulder/APL for months because of the damage. You can check out my photo album. It's been 9 months now and my hair is in really decent shape again. If you're only getting a few highlights, it might not be so bad. I couldn't tell you what my stylist used though, but I know the bleach was on my head for a long time. ETA: I think the part of my hair that was most damaged that I had to get cut off was the part that previously bleached before I started using henna. The rest of it held up pretty well.

hannagrrl
February 25th, 2010, 08:24 AM
Here's my 2cents....
Not all hair is created equally.
I don't think that even with my own natual virgin hair, I could ever have platinum highlites (I have tried a few times in my life, but I could never get that "Rogue" effect!) Which leads me to believe that my hair is just too natually auburn to acheive platinum. I'm guessing that the others who have tried (and failed) may have the same issue.
Redtea, who has succeeded, may not have that problem. She probably could have acheived platinum-anything quite easily at any time previous to henna, so why not post-henna?

Just a thought.

ETA: ...STRANDTEST!!

redtea
February 25th, 2010, 08:54 AM
Redtea, who has succeeded, may not have that problem. She probably could have acheived platinum-anything quite easily at any time previous to henna, so why not post-henna?


Good point, hannagrrl. My hair is on the light side and I've easily achieved platinum in the past. My hair has also held up really well to all kinds of things, so it may be a little more durable than other hair.

hannagrrl
February 25th, 2010, 10:35 AM
Good point, hannagrrl. My hair is on the light side and I've easily achieved platinum in the past. My hair has also held up really well to all kinds of things, so it may be a little more durable than other hair.

Also, (Again, just speculating!) perhaps when you henna'd your hair, it wasn't the same way as the others. For example, when I henna, I use BAQ that's been turped with cageput then I throw in some lime juice just prior to application. I apply it to dry hair and let it sit as long as possible... overnight if I can stand it.
Maybe when you did it, you used a different type of henna and maybe put it on wet hair or mixed it with water prior to application?

I've been wondering if that's a major difference as far as outcomes go. (haha, almost a pun!) Acids make the lisome more aggressively absorb into the hair, as opposed to using water which may inhibit the process slightly, resulting in a "lighter" (less potent) result?

spidermom
February 25th, 2010, 11:04 AM
From what I've seen here, henna + bleach = orange, followed by mushy, falling-to-pieces hair.

hannagrrl
February 25th, 2010, 11:39 AM
From what I've seen here, henna + bleach = orange, followed by mushy, falling-to-pieces hair.

Well, not always. I've had highlites added since henna-ing and (IMHO!) they look pretty good. Yeah, they're an orangey shade of red/auburn, but I wasn't really going for blonde in the first place (just trying to break up the all-over henna color). And I've since henna'd over them, as was the original intention. I have no intention of having them redone any time soon, but only because it DOES fry the hair a bit... but not enough to make it fall out or melt. Then again, my hair is pretty thick. I might not suggest the same things to someone with "super fine" or even just "fine" hair.

ETA: I remember having a conversation like this with the girl who put in my highlites just prior to afreomentioned highliting... I think she made sure to use a lower bleach/developer mix and we didn't leave the bleach in for as long as one might at home. Just something to think about. *shrug*

Shermie Girl
February 25th, 2010, 12:03 PM
Okay after searching Google, and this site, I still haven't found a solid answer to my hair question.

After I grow my hair to a certain length, I want to go to a salon, and get white blond highlights. I'm not one to use chemicals, but I know that bleaching is the only way I'm going to get the pale results I want. I don't want chunky wide highlights, just about three or four 2 inch wide highlights. My problem is that I henna now, and my research results have been confusing as far as how well getting highlights on hennaed hair would go.

I guess my question is: Can I successfully get very blond highlights in a head full of hennaed hair? I can say that I don't use indigo in my mixes and my henna is always BAQ quality, if this is any help.



In a word, no. It isn't possible. And yes, I know that for a fact. :flower:

Henna and bleach are incompatible. Henna binds to the keratin in your hair and becomes a part of the structure. If you bleach the hair enough to actually remove the henna, the hair it's self is destroyed.

If you want bright, white blonde highlights, may I suggest that you get clip in extensions? You can get them in synthetic or human hair (which you can bleach and tone to your exact desired shade, if you don't find it ready made) on gentle, hair friendly clips and just put them in and take them out at your whim.

spidermom
February 25th, 2010, 12:06 PM
Well, not always. I've had highlites added since henna-ing and (IMHO!) they look pretty good. Yeah, they're an orangey shade of red/auburn

Don't know why you said "not always." You're agreeing with me. Bleach + henna = orange. If you had continued bleaching to try to get to white blonde, you would probably have ended up with the second part (mushy, falling-apart hair).

Nightshade
February 25th, 2010, 12:18 PM
Don't know why you said "not always." You're agreeing with me. Bleach + henna = orange. If you had continued bleaching to try to get to white blonde, you would probably have ended up with the second part (mushy, falling-apart hair).

Yep, this is exactly right. The only reason I got my hair to lighten up from auburn to copper was because I stopped while there was a lot of orange in my hair yet. The problem comes in when people try to make the jump from orange-blonde through the brassy stages to blonde.

That's where things, literally, fall apart :(

We're not trying to be a bunch of nay-saysers we've just seen this happen so many times :blossom:

hannagrrl
February 25th, 2010, 12:36 PM
Yep, this is exactly right. The only reason I got my hair to lighten up from auburn to copper was because I stopped while there was a lot of orange in my hair yet. The problem comes in when people try to make the jump from orange-blonde through the brassy stages to blonde.

That's where things, literally, fall apart :(

We're not trying to be a bunch of nay-saysers we've just seen this happen so many times :blossom:

Well, then how did redtea do it? :confused:

Shermie Girl
February 25th, 2010, 12:38 PM
Yep, this is exactly right. The only reason I got my hair to lighten up from auburn to copper was because I stopped while there was a lot of orange in my hair yet. The problem comes in when people try to make the jump from orange-blonde through the brassy stages to blonde.

That's where things, literally, fall apart :(

We're not trying to be a bunch of nay-saysers we've just seen this happen so many times :blossom:


That is exactly what happened to me. I was able to successfully lighten to a certain point. The day I attempted to push it just that bit further, I had melted, stretchy, ruined hair that had to be chopped off.

Henna red to platinum blonde just can't happen and maintain hair structure and length. I wish it were possible. If there were a way, trust me, I would have found it. :flower:

redtea
February 25th, 2010, 12:45 PM
Also, (Again, just speculating!) perhaps when you henna'd your hair, it wasn't the same way as the others. For example, when I henna, I use BAQ that's been turped with cageput then I throw in some lime juice just prior to application. I apply it to dry hair and let it sit as long as possible... overnight if I can stand it.
Maybe when you did it, you used a different type of henna and maybe put it on wet hair or mixed it with water prior to application?

I've been wondering if that's a major difference as far as outcomes go. (haha, almost a pun!) Acids make the lisome more aggressively absorb into the hair, as opposed to using water which may inhibit the process slightly, resulting in a "lighter" (less potent) result?

Since you're curious, I can tell you the history of my hair to the best of my recollection :)

The first time I used henna, I used it over dark golden blond hair with very light, nearly platinum highlights on top. I used a mix of henna and indigo I ordered from hennaforhair (3/4 of the Raj henna 1/4 indigo) mixed with lemon juice and left it on 4 hours. The indigo faded out completely in a matter of days leaving my hair bozo orange where the light blond was and a decent color on the darker parts. I did straight henna again after that for another 4 hours, still left it bozo orange.

Over the next couple months, I tried the various methods mentioned on here to remove it, but never had much success - yogurt, baby oil, lemon juice (this worked a little, but made my hair really dry).. I can't remember all the stuff I put on my head in that time just to get rid of it, but if it was ever mentioned on here you can guarantee I probably tried it.

Once I gave up, I dyed my hair dark brown. It faded out, but also toned down the color a bit. Then I decided to just maintain my roots with regular red haircolor for a couple months (actually found a shade that matched well). I got sick of the red hair again and dyed it dark brown two more times, both times fading out and leaving it a more toned down shade of red, but still obviously red.

Then, I decided to give into the red. I started doing henna glosses a couple times, and then I ordered the Morrocan henna and did 1/3 henna, 2/3 cassia mixed with warm water all over my head a couple times, two to three hours at a time and after that did roots only.

My before pictures are in my album, so you can see the color I had before I got it bleached and how it looked right afterwards.

It wasn't as deep as a lot of people on here, but it was definitely red.

redtea
February 25th, 2010, 02:13 PM
I just tried taking a close up picture of my hair showing a strand of the completely bleached out hair vs. a strand of the leftover henna. My highlights were done very finely, so it's hard to find a large enough chunk of the henna, but I think this shows the difference. You can see there's no orange left where it was bleached and my hair is in good condition:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=2957&pictureid=65036

Here's my hair right before getting the highlights:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=1405&pictureid=62526

Fiferstone
February 25th, 2010, 05:58 PM
Hi RedTea:

Judging from your picture, You're bleached hair hair is golden blond. I don't see any, white-platinum blond :blossom:

I still think that white-platinum blond (rogue) highlights from henna are an impossibility.

hannagrrl
February 25th, 2010, 06:10 PM
Hi RedTea:

Judging from your picture, You're bleached hair hair is golden blond. I don't see any, white-platinum blond :blossom:

I still think that white-platinum blond (rogue) highlights from henna are an impossibility.
I wonder...... What's the biggest challenge to getting (and maintaining) platinum/white blonde hair? Yellowing. But they sell product lines to counteract this, even though it's on a surface level.
Could it be possible that we could use the same color correction methods to kind of counteract the remnants of the henna in the hair to get an "almost" white blonde, if temporarily?

....Does that even make sense to anyone else but me? :p

redtea
February 25th, 2010, 08:51 PM
Hi RedTea:

Judging from your picture, You're bleached hair hair is golden blond. I don't see any, white-platinum blond :blossom:

I still think that white-platinum blond (rogue) highlights from henna are an impossibility.

It was definitely platinum when I got it done. Afterwards they applied a toner and I've since done an all-over color with dark blonde. My original picture might show it a little better. I'm not really sure why I feel like I'm arguing this here? :confused: I know what color my hair was and they did completely get the henna out.

Right after I had it done:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=2957&pictureid=37173

Aer
February 25th, 2010, 10:01 PM
Very pretty Redtea. I don't mind if maybe it didn't get as pale a white blond, I actually wouldn't mind gold, and I realize that there will be a certain amount of damage, but what I don't want is orange streaks. I would be very unhappy with that.

Redtea, did the hairdresser do anything particular to your hair that may of helped it get to the lighter shade with out the henna orange coming through?

ZaBasDa
February 25th, 2010, 10:45 PM
I don't think it would be possible to get the hair pure white with bleach alone without it turning into complete mush. It might be possible for you to get hair that is light enough to have a toner added to correct the color more toward white. I think it has a lot to do with what color your hair is under the henna, how that hair bleaches, how many layers of henna you have on your hair, and how dark/red your hair is now.

For example, I have very dark brown hair that can get light gold with two bleachings. I henna'd over white blonde hair and ended up with hair that was the same color redtea's henna'd hair was and it never got darker than that. I did a bleach strand test on one of those steaks and it didn't get noticeably lighter. The bleach strand test on my just the natural/henna'd hair came out the color of a red crayon.

My friend with medium blonde hair had one or two henna glosses on her hair. It was still medium strawberry blonde. She was able to get highlights that were light gold over her henna'd hair.

So obviously if you have less henna and lighter hair, it will be easier to get the blonde highlights you want. Hair that is naturally red bleaches to something with red undertones. Henna bleaches to lighter orange red. With auburn plus henna'd hair, I'm not sure this will be possible for you. I would strand test to see if you got something light enough to tone whiter, but I think clip-in extensions are probably going to be what works for you. :flower:

Shermie Girl
February 26th, 2010, 12:07 AM
I suppose if someone like redtea only had a fairly light layer of henna and glosses, highlighting to a lighter shade could be possible, as we have seen in her photos. If I remember correctly, she still had to cut away damage from the process.

In my case, I had full henna saturation from many, many, many full head and roots applications. My hair was a very deep burgundy. No way was anything going to lift that past a gold/orange with strong red tones. No how, no way. :)

Okay, I went and uploaded a couple of shots of the old hair.

Here it is at maximum saturation. As you can see, it about doesn't get any "redder" than this.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j56/Shermie_Girl/DSCF1275.jpg

And this was taken during my henna removal attempt. This is as light as my hair ever got. In the next day or two, I attempted another lightening treatment and totally destroyed my hair and had to cut it.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j56/Shermie_Girl/032-1.jpg

I messed with it, tried to save some of it, tried to tone out that orange muck. Didn't work. My hair just get even worse and ended up like this:

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j56/Shermie_Girl/038-1.jpg

Every inch of that hair was destroyed, sticky, gummy and horrible. If you look at my sig pic, you can see a little henna glow in that bun. Oh, yeah, I still have some. Lurking, lingering, mocking me. :lol:

Unofficial_Rose
February 26th, 2010, 12:43 AM
Oh ShermieGirl, that is a dramatic chop. :( :grouphug:

It's also a very good warning to people to not dabble with henna lightly. I had a big chop after I bleached mine out too - but mine was less red - it was the indigo going green that made it necessary, even though you couldn't even see it when I highlighted it. But I digress - the OP has fortunately not used indigo!

Highlights are possible over lightly henna'ed hair, as Redtea says - I did this also, and took pics, but they're on my old computer, which died. :rolleyes: Obviously a whole head of bleach is very damaging, highlights less so. But my hair was very rough after that - much worse than unhenna'ed highlighted hair. Rather pretty though.

lilravendark
February 26th, 2010, 12:51 AM
it can be done I've done it but it takes a lot of bleach and toner is what will make it white try to get toner that will also repair your hair as well as get the yellow out.

Shermie Girl
February 26th, 2010, 01:04 AM
it can be done I've done it but it takes a lot of bleach and toner is what will make it white try to get toner that will also repair your hair as well as get the yellow out.


In my third picture, my hair had been toned out. The toner didn't remove any of the orange. (I used White Lady.) Also, toner can not repair damaged hair. It can make hair look better by adding some shine but it can't actually repair the hair. Believe me, I wish it could. :lol:

A very, very few people can remove henna with bleach and soap caps and so forth. But everyone I read about who did, ended up with seriously damaged hair that had to be cut and still had a bit of that old orange/red glow. :)

Shermie Girl
February 26th, 2010, 01:08 AM
Oh ShermieGirl, that is a dramatic chop. :( :grouphug:

It's also a very good warning to people to not dabble with henna lightly. I had a big chop after I bleached mine out too - but mine was less red - it was the indigo going green that made it necessary, even though you couldn't even see it when I highlighted it. But I digress - the OP has fortunately not used indigo!

Highlights are possible over lightly henna'ed hair, as Redtea says - I did this also, and took pics, but they're on my old computer, which died. :rolleyes: Obviously a whole head of bleach is very damaging, highlights less so. But my hair was very rough after that - much worse than unhenna'ed highlighted hair. Rather pretty though.


Yeah... It isn't something I ever want to do again. :lol:

I am very fond of saying that you don't flirt with henna. You marry it. And getting rid of it is like a nasty divorce. It takes a long time, is messy, expensive and ends up with a big chop.

That is why you often see me butting into henna threads and casting my warnings around. :lol: I just don't want to see anyone have to go through what I did. :)

rach
February 26th, 2010, 02:38 AM
Yeah... It isn't something I ever want to do again. :lol:

I am very fond of saying that you don't flirt with henna. You marry it. And getting rid of it is like a nasty divorce. It takes a long time, is messy, expensive and ends up with a big chop.

That is why you often see me butting into henna threads and casting my warnings around. :lol: I just don't want to see anyone have to go through what I did. :)
love the way you worded that :p and you are so right it is so a one way road.

i wasn't aware of how much you lost :bigeyes: i know it's late but i'm sorry for your loss :(

BlackfootHair
February 26th, 2010, 03:03 AM
Ahem. I would like to offer my advice. As someone who KNOWS how many henna apps likes to stay in hair.

I had grown my natural color out and was using henna. Finally I decided to go back to black, using a demi. It was black for several months (root touch ups). One day I decided I needed to go back to my natural color. *this was after dbf seen a old school pic and exclaimed how he loved the natural on me*

So, I bleached it. My roots went white, followed by platinum yellow:

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m195/blackfoot_hair/hair%20woes/th_hairwoes085.jpg (http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m195/blackfoot_hair/hair%20woes/hairwoes085.jpg)

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m195/blackfoot_hair/hair%20woes/th_hairwoes084.jpg (http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m195/blackfoot_hair/hair%20woes/hairwoes084.jpg)

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m195/blackfoot_hair/hair%20woes/th_hairwoes083.jpg (http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m195/blackfoot_hair/hair%20woes/hairwoes083.jpg)
(Note the overall length in the pic!)

My hair was still wet in those pics.

Finally the hair dried, and for sure, the black was gone. And where I had the henna??? Well...see for yourself:

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m195/blackfoot_hair/hair%20woes/th_hairwoes087.jpg (http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m195/blackfoot_hair/hair%20woes/hairwoes087.jpg)
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m195/blackfoot_hair/hair%20woes/th_hairwoes011.jpg (http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m195/blackfoot_hair/hair%20woes/hairwoes011.jpg)

Which resulted in me having to use hair color one more time on my poor hair, and a BIG chop as my hair was ATE by the bleach.

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m195/blackfoot_hair/hair%20woes/th_misc012.jpg (http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m195/blackfoot_hair/hair%20woes/misc012.jpg)

Luckily it really is JUST hair, and it DOES grow back. I'm finally back at the length before I bleached. I'm sure I would have been at waist by now.

(all pics are clickable.)

hannagrrl
February 26th, 2010, 04:53 AM
I'm sorry that your ladies have had such awful experiences with henna and bleach... :flowers:
There is a thread somewhere here on the henna board discussing the method of using honey to lighten henna'd hair. Perhaps the OP should check that out.

redtea
February 26th, 2010, 08:51 AM
Very pretty Redtea. I don't mind if maybe it didn't get as pale a white blond, I actually wouldn't mind gold, and I realize that there will be a certain amount of damage, but what I don't want is orange streaks. I would be very unhappy with that.

Redtea, did the hairdresser do anything particular to your hair that may of helped it get to the lighter shade with out the henna orange coming through?

I'm not sure what she did. I mentioned to my hairdresser that I'd really like to go back to blonde but didn't think I could because of the henna. She talked to her manager and her manager said she had experience removing henna and she looked at my hair and said it could be done. She then instructed her on what to use, but I didn't hear that part. I was there for at least 3 hours, probably longer, as my hairdresser carefully wove really fine highlights throughout my hair, so the bleach was on my head a long time. After she did all the highlights, she put me under a dryer for I think (can't remember exactly?) 15-20 more minutes. Her and her manager kept checking them every few minutes and when her manager said it looked good she rinsed out my hair.

When she took me back to her chair my highlights were definitely white blonde, so light then when I saw them I cringed because the contrast against my darker hair was extreme. I said to her "they're so light!" and she said "you don't like it?" and I just said I was surprised at how light they were. She then got out a book of toner colors - a very wide variety of colors and we agreed on what I remember looking like a medium neutral or neutral/ash blonde. She put it in my hair, left it in a while, I might have been under the dryer again, not sure, and then rinsed it out. It evened out the difference between the two colors a lot, but like my picture, still had the streaky look.

I had her cut my hair from BSL to around APL and for the next 8 months or so I maintained it between shoulder and APL by getting trims every couple months. My last trim I got about 2 inches off, but I had waited 4 months to get a trim. Before that, I had about 2 or 3 trims every 6-8 weeks.

After a couple months of seeing my roots I decided to start coloring my hair. My hair is turning white. I have white patch above my forehead and lots of scattered white hairs everywhere and it wasn't making me feel too great about myself, so I started doing my roots in a Preference light ash blonde. After a couple months of that, I thought it would be easier to maintain it if I colored it closer to my natural color, so I did a full head application of Preference dark blonde and have been doing roots only with that shade every 7-8 weeks. The full head application evened out the color little more I think, and so did the 9 month time period of course.

So, yes, I lost several inches, but it wasn't too unbearable. Most of the hair that was chopped off was my most damaged hair under my henna. Before henna, as I mentioned earlier, I had very light blonde highlights all over the top layer of my hair. The hair that was less processed fared really well and isn't causing me problems. Over 1/2 my length still has the highlighted/hennaed hair.

Before I got this done, I did some strand tests of my own with a bleach kit I bought at the store. I was never able to get my hair past yellow blonde. Somehow my hairdresser managed to get it past the orange, and then past the yellow to where it was completely gone. Pictures don't really do it justice I guess, but to me hair with any amount of henna looks different than hair with no henna. I really wish I could have snapped a picture right after I had the highlights done before the toner, but I was too freaked out at that point to do so :D If you could examine my hair in person, you'd be able to see the difference.

I'm sure that what I had done would be near impossible on naturally darker hair or hair with many more layers of henna. My natural color bleaches out really well and I only had 2-3 full applications and a few henna/cassia applications.

Shermie Girl
February 26th, 2010, 10:21 AM
love the way you worded that :p and you are so right it is so a one way road.

i wasn't aware of how much you lost :bigeyes: i know it's late but i'm sorry for your loss :(


Aww, thanks, Rach. :flower:

It was a bit rough, at the time, I won't lie. But, I had to accept it and just move on. I am now to the point where I can look at the few old hair pictures I saved and not feel a flood of regret and a lot of anger at myself for what I did.

I learned a huge lesson in all of this. "To thine own self be true!" :D And if that means being a blonde, then, be a blonde, dammit! :lol:

Shermie Girl
February 26th, 2010, 10:27 AM
Redtea, I think that your success lies largely in the fact that you didn't have a heavy lawsone buildup in your hair so the bleach had less to chew through. :)

My strand tests with bleach (even "pro" bleach) had my hair utterly destroyed to almost the point of being liquefied before my hair got anywhere near platinum or white blonde. :lol:

Oh, funny, this. I strand tested some of my hennaed hair with blonde box colour to see what would happen. It actually did remove the henna from the hair but the hair was hair shaped tubes of gelatinous goo in a puddle of extracted henna and I assume the keratin structure of the hair. Nasty! :lol:

redtea
February 26th, 2010, 12:04 PM
Redtea, I think that your success lies largely in the fact that you didn't have a heavy lawsone buildup in your hair so the bleach had less to chew through. :)

Agreed! Looking at your pictures, my "before" color was close to your "after" color. :)

I was never very happy with the red, so I never ended up doing heavy applications. Most of my time was spent trying to find ways to get rid of it or make the color less bright.

Sorry you had to chop off so much though! That was a dramatic loss! :( I'm glad you're spreading the word around here. I try to do the same sometimes, knowing how I spent months and months just fixated on getting rid of it and hating how I looked every time I looked in the mirror. When I finally got it lightened, I felt like a dark cloud had been lifted from my life. Amazing how hair color can have such an effect.

Shermie Girl
February 26th, 2010, 05:53 PM
Agreed! Looking at your pictures, my "before" color was close to your "after" color. :)

I was never very happy with the red, so I never ended up doing heavy applications. Most of my time was spent trying to find ways to get rid of it or make the color less bright.

Sorry you had to chop off so much though! That was a dramatic loss! :( I'm glad you're spreading the word around here. I try to do the same sometimes, knowing how I spent months and months just fixated on getting rid of it and hating how I looked every time I looked in the mirror. When I finally got it lightened, I felt like a dark cloud had been lifted from my life. Amazing how hair color can have such an effect.


Yeah, don't I know it. :D

There were aspects I really loved about henna. The way my hair looked and felt. The softness, the shine. I liked doing henna. Mixing, running around with a head full of it, even rinsing. It was like a little addiction. :lol: And sometimes, I still think about it. Longingly. Just for a moment. :lol:

I just couldn't be happy as a red head. I needed to be who I am supposed to be.

Aer
February 26th, 2010, 06:35 PM
Well, I think I'll just do what one poster suggested and get clip ins.I would have a nervous breakdown if my hair was turned into a fried mess. Redtea's turned out beautiful, but I know I probably have heavy lawsone on my hair, so it would be to risky for me attempt.

I did try honey lightening, and it worked a little, but I guess my hair doesn't really listen to honey well, because after several more attempts, it did nothing.

However. how would milk chocolate streaks turn out on hennaed hair? Iv'e got mixed info on putting dyes on top of henna.

hannagrrl
February 26th, 2010, 06:54 PM
Well, I think I'll just do what one poster suggested and get clip ins.I would have a nervous breakdown if my hair was turned into a fried mess. Redtea's turned out beautiful, but I know I probably have heavy lawsone on my hair, so it would be to risky for me attempt.

I did try honey lightening, and it worked a little, but I guess my hair doesn't really listen to honey well, because after several more attempts, it did nothing.

However. how would milk chocolate streaks turn out on hennaed hair? Iv'e got mixed info on putting dyes on top of henna.

Depends on what you're doing... manic Panic worked on mine. I've had the same streaks in for about a month. *shrug*

Shermie Girl
February 26th, 2010, 08:54 PM
Well, I think I'll just do what one poster suggested and get clip ins.I would have a nervous breakdown if my hair was turned into a fried mess. Redtea's turned out beautiful, but I know I probably have heavy lawsone on my hair, so it would be to risky for me attempt.

I did try honey lightening, and it worked a little, but I guess my hair doesn't really listen to honey well, because after several more attempts, it did nothing.

However. how would milk chocolate streaks turn out on hennaed hair? Iv'e got mixed info on putting dyes on top of henna.


As long is it is pure henna, dye should be just fine. But, as always, strand test a go-go! :D

Aer
February 26th, 2010, 09:30 PM
Everyone has been a great help, seriously. I'm glad I asked instead of just jumping into that could potentially leave me with unhappy results. I love my hennaed hair, but I wanted to add some different tones/colors to it. I am actually interested in manic panic, I've looked into doing temporary black streaks, and interested in their super-natural colors too. Has any one tried the super- natural colors?

lilravendark
February 27th, 2010, 07:34 PM
In my third picture, my hair had been toned out. The toner didn't remove any of the orange. (I used White Lady.) Also, toner can not repair damaged hair. It can make hair look better by adding some shine but it can't actually repair the hair. Believe me, I wish it could. :lol:

A very, very few people can remove henna with bleach and soap caps and so forth. But everyone I read about who did, ended up with seriously damaged hair that had to be cut and still had a bit of that old orange/red glow. :)

I mananged to get the henna out with many bleaches I made my hair white but the toner only works if you get the hair to a very pale yellow, Manic panic white snow seemed to make my hair break less anyway but my hair is pretty resilient. I also hennaed over the bleached hair with no problem either.

ZaBasDa
February 28th, 2010, 02:37 PM
Everyone has been a great help, seriously. I'm glad I asked instead of just jumping into that could potentially leave me with unhappy results. I love my hennaed hair, but I wanted to add some different tones/colors to it. I am actually interested in manic panic, I've looked into doing temporary black streaks, and interested in their super-natural colors too. Has any one tried the super- natural colors?
I've used both the manic panic browns and cobra is a really light brown, while nefertiti was a very warm dark brown only a few shades lighter than my natural color. They are both a warm/golden color and last about as long as the other manic panic colors.

Shermie Girl
February 28th, 2010, 03:57 PM
I mananged to get the henna out with many bleaches I made my hair white but the toner only works if you get the hair to a very pale yellow, Manic panic white snow seemed to make my hair break less anyway but my hair is pretty resilient. I also hennaed over the bleached hair with no problem either.


You were fortunate, indeed. :D You must have very resilient hair. Perhaps coarse? (You don't state your type in your profile.) My fine/medium hair is pretty resilient; it can take quite a bit of slapping around but henna removal was just too much for it. :lol:

Nightshade
March 1st, 2010, 08:01 AM
For honey, at best you're going to get a shade or two lighter, but several people, me included, didn't get any lightening from it. I think in many cases the amount of peroxide produced by honey just isn't enough to dent the henna. I had much better results with Sun-In :)