Commerical Dye over Henna question

[Skittles2u]

I have been using henna (from Mehandi) on my hair for at least 6 years. I'm very tired of having to prepare the henna and waiting the release time, then adding indigo and having it in my hair for 3 hours. It seems I realize my roots are gray, and then between just work and being lazy it takes me a few days to make the time to mix the henna, thus adding to my frustration that I can't decide I have some time to color my hair and just get it done.

When i look at any of the dyes in the hair section many of the boxes say not to use over hair that has henna on it. I don't think I want to go natural gray right now, due to still working and shocking everyone, myself included if I stopped coloring, also I don't want to cut my hair or have the obvious 2 tone look, my roots are really very white/gray.... any suggestions?

My fear is that 1) I'll ruin my hair.... 2) if I cut my hair to go natural, I'll hate the white/gray and end up dyeing it and then have short hair and still color it.

I dont really want to make henna ahead of time and freeze it (that was suggested too), I'm just tired of having to allow 3 hours for the henna on my hair and then the rinsing out of the henna is such a mess in the shower. I know I'm rambling, and I know I've seen lots of threads discussing henna vs natural color... I just hope to read something that helps me decide what to do and what the risks might be. I've had damage done with perm accidents in the past so am concerned of frizzing or frying my hair.

[FluffSpider]

You could use wash-out dye such as Manic Panic(its vegetable), to do your roots. It washes out, so you could grow the grey without the two-tone look. And if you dislike it, you can always henna once every 6 months and maintain with the dye

[Nevvie]

I'm fairly new to henna and haven't ever tried to dye over it so I'm not sure how that turns out. I would think that it wouldn't cause any more damage than dye normally does but that you may have a hard time getting the color right. Just a guess though.

I also thought I'd mention that there are brands of henna with instant dye release. I've used Henna Hut henna and am very happy with it. I just mix it up, spread it on then rinse it out an hour or so later. The colors are great too. It does take just as long to rinse out though (and bleeds a little worse than the other henna I tried). I think there are a couple other brands that are similar too. It might be worth a try before you go the chemical dye route.

[jojo]

You can use a chemical dye over henna but the problem being the henna red will still come through the dye and there is no guarantee the dye will take. Make sure you test some shed hair first.