Former henna-head advice? -hair cut, new start?

[SeaPhoenix]

First - Yay to have the forums back!!! I was so sad when they were down - and worried they'd never be back!! Woohoo returning forums!!!
Ok.. next!

I've been on the henna train off and on since about 2003. I hit a point this past summer where I desperately just wanted to go back to my natural hair color (best guestimate from memory is a light brown that, if left to grow out long, streaks blonde at the tips).
I tried everything I could think of to try lightening up the henna - but, gave up, and re-henna'ed my 2-3 inches of natural hair growth at the roots... I then later (end of January) went to a salon - Regis - where the technicians swore they'd worked with henna before and successfully lightened it. The result was that they did a one step dye job all over, leaving me under a hair fryer for 30 minutes... the roots were a horrid bozo clown cherry red, and the rest was just.. dull, but the shade hadn't changed.. just dulled and lost its sparkle. The colorist then acted as if this was my fault and that I had asked for this result. I had her try to color correct it a bit.. but the roots never quite blended in.
I now have about 3/4 of an inch of natural hair, against the salon disaster color and color correction which is still a rather ridiculous bright red compared to the length (and this is after I went over it with henna and indigo t darken it down to match the rest of the hair).. and then the length... which.. is in ok condition.. buuut, I've seen lots of splits. I think doing a CO method for hair cleansing keeps it from getting too rough.
So - the long winded story gets shortened to this: Ever since the salon disaster, I've lost all hope of getting the henna out or toned down. I've been contemplating cutting my hair to my shoulders (its the shortest I'd be comfortable with), and maintaining it there while I deal with the long process of growing my hair out.
The good news would be - if I can keep my grubby little paws away from my supply of henna, in about a year, I'd have almost completely grown out the henna and salon color, and be good to go to begin the process of growing out all my hair long again, with its natural color.
Any other former henna-heads out there who finally opted for the hair cut option to cut out the henna and go natural? If so, are you happy you did it? And were you able to keep from running back to the henna? I've caved twice now. But - I am almost positive this time I really mean it. The main reason I kept caving was because the roots growing out annoyed the beejezus out of me. (My hair is now about mid back length/BSL)
The last hair cut had it at about chin length - so I think if I cut it, shoulder length wouldn't annoy me so much, because I could still put my hair up...

Hmm.. it also occurs to me that If I only have 3/4 inch growth since late January, my hair has slowed down... no doubt from my crappy nutrition this past couple months and lack of vitamins... (I'm in transition, moving to Guam with my husband - he's active duty Air Force - so keeping a steady routine is kinda nuts mid-move)...
Anywhoo... I ramble! Please, any former henna-heads - reply!!

[Gem]

I finally had to cut my hair. I tried putting temporary dyes over it while it grew out (yay, purple), but then they stuck and became not-so-temporary. I ended up cutting my hair to about 1.5 inches.
Now it's grown back to BSL...and so begins the fight to stay away from henna, or at least to use it moderately. I'm going to order a Lush product that has henna in it, but that won't change the color (Jasmine and Henna something something...). I'm missing the conditioning, as well as the color change, so I figure if I take care of one, the other will get better with time.
I think it's tough because henna is so pretty...but in combination with my complexion, not so much. My hair and my face have to co-exist.

[Madam Librarian]

I don't know what other lightening methods you tried, but I did lemon juice/conditioner soaks and later peroxide soaks to try to lighten my henna. I got impatient and frustrated and jumped into bleaching as well. Nothing got the henna completely out, but I was able to lose enough of the intense red to be able to tone over it with regular hair dye. I'm now sporting a shade of ashy dark blonde (when freshly colored) that lightens to a golden/strawberryish blonde when the color fades.

(I don't have any pictures of my new color just yet. I've been working like crazy lately and stuff like that has just fallen to the wayside. However, I would be glad to produce one in the next few days if it would help.)

As a result of all this chemical monkeying around, I had to do several trims to get rid of damage. I started with 24 inches of hennaed hair; after my final cut I am back at 21 inches. Not too shabby, I think, especially since I am now happier with the color and much happier with the condition since the trims.

The old LHC had a thread which described the lemon juice/conditioner and peroxide soaks in more detail. A small group revived that discussion on The Beauty Bottle while LHC was down. I'm sure some of those people will come along and add to the discussion. What we essentially found through experimenting and discussion, is it is goshdarn hard to remove henna without damage!

You might want to try the soaks I mentioned, but you might not since it sounds like you have a fair bit of damage already. If you do, strand test like a mad woman, and be prepared to have to cut some hair anyway. If you try to lighten, you might be able to save some length that you would have cut. I had maybe about an inch of unhennaed roots when I started lightening. I would have an extremely short pixie cut if I had cut away all my hennaed hair. I was able to save a good deal of my length by lightening and toning over the remaining henna. Since you are aiming for a light brown, you would probably get decent results from lightening and toning either with a deposit only dye or with ready made toners from the beauty supply store. This of course assumes that you have BAQ henna on your head.

I don't regret anything I've done in the process. I was sick of the henna color and sick of the whole process of mixing and waiting for dye release and slopping it on and waiting some more with 5 pounds of mud on my head. I had no problem staying away from the henna. I still have a leftover tub of henna mix in my freezer. I've been thinking about using it on my toenails or something, I don't know. But whatever I do, it will not be going back on my hair. :)

It is possible to get henna to a shade light enough to tone over, but be very careful of additional damage, and be ready to cut some hair anyway just in case. Had I wanted platinum blonde, I would have been disappointed. ;)

[Nightshade]

I know with a combination of lemon juice, conditioner, and peroxide treatments Iris has really toned down her henna and has gotten it much closer to her brown roots.

Here's my advice, go ask Iris, who is probably the most knowledgeable person here about what she did (I'd send you to read her journal, but alas, that's gone with the old board). Try what she suggests and for now, keep the length.

Another person to maybe as is Rini who did manage to get her henna lightened in a salon and color-corrected back to ash blonde. I know it took a few trips, and she went from BSL to shoulders, but whatever they did, worked. Again, she used to have the process up in her journal on the old boards, but now you'd have to ask her directly.

No worries, I don't think either of these ladies would mind a PM, but hopefully they'll stop in here to share their wisdom with everyone. :)

My theory is that if you CAN correct it enough to keep the length, WOOT! If you can't, then you can move to Plan B which is to cut it and grow it out. Since you're dithering with the idea of just being rid of the henna, there's no harm in abusing the length a little. You may have to go over it with a demipermanant dye or something, to help restore the brown, but who knows, it may be salvageable.

My final piece of advice is to get the henna out of your house. I plan to henna until my hair goes white, and am familiar with the buggy feeling seeing those drab-looking roots against the brightness of henna. Post it on the swap board for sale or in exchange for a fun toy that you can use to keep your hair up and out of the way while you get this all sorted out.

[LaurelSpring]

Greetings,

I am new here. Hi everyone. I am trying to use the honey/conditioner method to lighten my hendigoed hair. I have had some success lifting some of the henna but near the roots where I started using the indigo it wont lift so now my ends are lighter. I am going to try this several more times as I have read that others have had success with this and with the tomato sauce/honey/EVOO mix. If that still doesnt work I may try the 10 volume and see what happens. I'll let you know if it works!

Fran

[SeaPhoenix]

I remember Rini's and Iris's postings. Rini's success at the salon was what gave me hope in finding one that would work with me too - alas, my try at the salon did not work so well and has left me with a deep distrust of salon colorists - since these guys had told me they'd worked with taking out henna before (Yup - I've been using BAQ from Catherine's stash at the mehndi shop online) - and did so successfully... bah - so no more colorists for me.:brainbleach:
I was following and experimenting with the honey treatments and the lemon juice treatments that were posted for non-salon attempts at pulling out the henna. I've done the honey and coconut cream - the honey, tomato paste, and olive oil, the honey and conditioner, and the lemon juice and conditioner. They seemed to have some slight effect at first, but after a few days, would darken back up again, so it looked. Also have tried the colorfix, the malibu treatments, and colorfix followed by malibu followed by chelating shampoo...

I may screw around more with the various honey and lemon juice mixes - because as noted on your replies - if I'm contemplating just chopping out the henna.. what's a little damage to the ends anyway in trying to pull some more out and prevent cutting off a couple more inches than I'd like?
Also good advice on getting the henna out of the house... I always kept it on the excuse of doing henna body art.. which I rarely ever do anymore... but it all usually winds up on my hair after a few months... so yeah - must get rid of the henna...
:whip:
(It is such a pretty color though sometimes - if it would always be a pretty reddish copper brown I'd keep it.. but each batch seems to be a bit diff than the last - and a pain in the butt to try to remove when its not the desired color)

[CopperHead]

I know how you feel. I tried henna for a year and just could not make it work. I finally dyed over it with a dark brown and it looks great. No more two toned hair! I just bought a Cinnamon brown yesterday to use next time because it is still pretty red under the dark, so I am going to use that red instead of fighting it. The Cinnamon has red in it, so it should work well. I don't mind a brownish red at all. My hair is in great condition and I intend to keep it that way. :) I've never had a problem with chemical hair colors, so I am going to keep using them.

[Silver Strands]

I chose to cut mine after 7-8 months of trying various methods to remove it.

Not only did I have my natural color coming in but gray also-
what a mess!

I had it cut 4" all over.

I'm not thrilled with how short my hair is but I don't regret cutting it.
I truly hated the color that much.
And no, i'll never use it again or any other coloring method.

[Altocumulus]

I decided to stop hennaing my medium ash blonde hair after using a 50/50 henna and cassia mix for a year.

I tried the lemon juice/conditioner and honey/coconut cream methods and got a little lightening, but not much. I don't want to lose any length so am unwilling to try anything more destructive or to cut. I guess I'll have two toned hair for a long time!

[Liv]

It's not easy to advice you in this question. I stopped dying my hair summer 07, I have dark brown with a lot of grey/white so the roots showed up a lot.
At first I tried to lighten the henna/indigo colour with bleach and peroxide, it did lift the colour a lot but left me with multicolourd hair. No success, and it damaged my hair a lot. I the covered the mess with chemicals, more damage, and the colour faded the next months.... Eventually I had to cut my hair from BSL to my neck (almost shoulders), and are growing back the lengh. I still have two toned hair, but has managed to lighten the coloured part bit with honey/tomato puree/EVOO, so the line between my natural colour and the fake colour is less sharp.

I guess you have to decide what you prefer most, a quick transmission to you own colour or to keep the lenght while you grow it.

I hated loosing so much length as I did, and if I knew last summer about the lightening effect from honey/tomato puree/EVOO I would have gone for that - keeping my length and my hair healthy while growing out my own colour. You see, for me the first 3-4 months was the worst part, after that I it didn't look so bad with 2 colours on my hair. Oh, and I also cut bangs, somehow that made it easier too, less messy in a way. You can check out my blog, you will se pictures there of how my hair looks now and how it looked with henna/indigo. (My avatar shows my hair with henna/indigo). The henna/indigo colour was absolutely beautiful :), but looked all wrong with my skin complection.

PS: I think the tomato puree has managed to stain my whites a bit yellow, so I will switch to coconut milk and honey the next time.

PS again: And yes, get the henna out of the house! The temptetion to use it will be too much one day.:D

Feel free to ask questions if you need more details.

[Shermie Girl]

I am a former henna head who has had to cut and is still battling to rid my hair of the remaining red/orange.

What happened in a nutshell:

I loved henna. It was fabulous but I was so unhappy with my hair, deep down and decided to rid myself of it. I had near tailbone length hair with "virgin" hair to just below my shoulders and then dyed blonde, highlights and brown hair dye all under a cloak of beautiful henna.

I started out with lemon juice and conditioner soaks. Ramped them up by adding a little 10 volume (3%) peroxide. As I progressed and pleased with the continuing good condition of my hair, I went to soaks with 20 volume (6%) peroxide, then ramped it up to 30 volume (9%). I always did strand tests and was careful. My hair turned to a strawberry blonde-ish colour and it was darker where my "virgin" hair under henna was.

In an effort to push the lightening a bit further and to even up my overall colour, I did one too many soakings in 30 volume that resulted in fried, gummy, destroyed length. I tried to save it and couldn't. I cut. First to about APL length. Then to just below my shoulders, then to shoulder length. I also had to do layers, since my canopy, right to my roots was fried. Tho the upper part was salvageable.

I now have blonde roots and about half way down my length, remaining henna, which I am still trying to get rid of with strong, long lemon juice and conditioner soaks.

It is my own opinion that it is not possible to completely remove henna and retain long hair. Henna is just too permanent. All processes to remove it destroy most hair before the henna is completely gone.

I wish you luck in your attempts to remove henna.

[spidermom]

I'm sorry this bothers you so much. I don't mind seeing two- or more-toned hair. I am sure I wouldn't mind having it. I only did henna once and hated it, so I grew that out and over time it gradually faded and the line of demarcation blurred. Here is an idea: Perhaps you could paint some henna over just the canopy but let all the hair grow natural underneath. Gradually paint less. The idea is to blur the line of demarcation without harming your hair. The less damage hair has, the better it looks, I feel, no matter what color(s) it is.

[wintersun99]

My experience was exactly like Shermie Girl's, save I also had indigo in my hair. In short, I destroyed it to the point of it melting and breaking off from the ears down (it was arm-pit length) at the time. My hair is now in the siggy, but it certainly isn't healthy, it is only virgin for about 3". I'm sorry I don't have advice, I can only add that getting to obsessed w/trying to remove the henna and or henna/indigo can and probably will result in major damage. :(

[Anje]

I'm trying to get the henna to grow out without a line of demarcation, but I keep doing these updos where I see my red braids against several inches of brownish-auburn roots. So I'm sitting here typing this with my head in a bag and henna gloss on my roots... The current plan is to do an occasional gloss, just to blend the line. But my hair is naturally auburn, so there's not as much difference for me as for many.

Maybe by summer I'll be able to leave the henna alone. My hair should be coming in redder then, after all.

[ReadingRenee]

I have Henna Im growing out. I dont know why but I like the color demarcation on my head. I even have a few greys popping in and I STILL like it!

I think I was just really ready to go back to my natural color and stop messing with it. I hate always trying to get the perfect color with henna, with hair dye, with whatever.

For ME, I would rather have health over color. When I was younger I was the opposite. I fried my hair many times trying to reach that perfect shade of blonde by bleaching over and over again.

Now I value my hairs health and length over the color especially as the more natural color grows in, the better it looks around my face since my natural color looks best on me anyway. I should mention here that I almost never wear my hair down but rather pulled back and up.

Anyway, good luck making a decision and staying away from henna. :)

[Flutterbee]

I decided to stop hennaing my medium ash blonde hair after using a 50/50 henna and cassia mix for a year.

I tried the lemon juice/conditioner and honey/coconut cream methods and got a little lightening, but not much. I don't want to lose any length so am unwilling to try anything more destructive or to cut. I guess I'll have two toned hair for a long time!

Same here although I was using 50/50 henna and indigo. I refuse to cut any length so I will just be two toned for a while (or three toned since the indigo became sorta permanent in some areas, as you can see in my siggy pic). I wear mostly updos anyhow so it's not that big of a deal for me.

[Alba-NY]

I am posting withour reading other replies...

Your natural colour sounds similar to mine except perhaps mine could be lighter? Or not? and I bet mine is ashier for some reason. I used henna for several years, and didn't kow to apply at teh roots only for touchups. I did the full length everytime!

Anyway, I am nearly at fingertip, and the last time I hennaed was nearly 2 years ago! [ETA: when I was at tailbone or so.] I think... was it one? Nope, definitely two! Wow. I wish that my journal was available :( It chronicalled a lot [9?] Colourfix attempts at removing the henna, among other things. [ETA: Bleaching was not an option for me as I did not want to cut at all, and my hair is too fragile.]

I tried to dye it out too. I think it might have been a year ago that I used plain brown semiperm. It was too dark for my natural colour, but looked nice... and faded fast.

Just before Hallowe'en I was freaking out about the colours. At that point the entire head looked brownish blonde, and then there was a Red bun stuck on. BAD.

So I tried indigo. It worked, but faded. Fast.

Then I used blue manic panic. It was too blue and black and dark at first, but I still didn't mind because I wasn't seeing Red anymore! Today in my home it looks really good! It is brownish and has only hints of blue at the ends. I have a cinnabun on top of my head, and no it does not look 100% the correct colour close up... but back up a metre or two and I think no one would notice anymore! There is a slight glisten of red in each strand when you look, of course, but together it is not.

I do worry about it fading more, but it has been months, so maybe not. Also I worry about sun bleaching my hair lighter so the dark is wrong. Mostly I wear scarves though, so not too much a chance of it happening or being seen.


Hope that helped somehow.

[KarenLynn]

I used henna for about two years, on top of a multiple-processed mess that oddly enough was pretty close to my natural ashy brown color. The condition, though, was something else. Hiding it with henna gave me a surprisingly even color, and it also felt a lot better. Nearly two years ago now I started thinking about growing it out, though. I did always want red hair, and it was a nice color, but the upkeep wasn't all that enjoyable and I wasn't convinced the color really worked for me anyway.

I considered my options for a while, and started just glossing the roots while I thought some more about it. It was enough that you couldn't see a demarcation line, but the stain was still more subtle than a full henna. I did the last glossing in November 2006, and have just let it grow since then.

At first my roots looked dull and gray next to the henna, but as they got longer it all looked better. Now I have two-colored updos on a virgin base. Sometimes it frustrates me and I want to chop all the henna off in one go, but I knew I wouldn't be able to do much with my hair then. And really, I'm not the one looking at my hair all day. If other people are bothered by it, they've never mentioned it to me.

My plan right now is to keep growing and cutting off the hennaed parts little by little. I may do a bigger cut at some point, but not anytime soon. I do get impatient to have my hair all virgin, but I'm happy with the decision I made on how to get there.

Best of luck on finding a solution that works for you.

[missy60]

I see threads all the time about removing henna. Has anyone tried to remove henna this way Saturate the hair dry with rubbing alcohol. Apply mineral or olive oil to the hair till it's well coated (right over the alcohol). Bag the hair and place under a heated dryer for about 45 minutes (a blow dryer will NOT do the job). You'll see the henna fall off and lay in the bag, then apply a liberal amount of shampoo and 'lather' the hair up well before rinsing with water very thoroughly. Shampoo again and rinse well. Condition.

I have seen this all over the web as a way to remove henna, but I havent heard of anyone here trying it. It does sound like there might be a little damage with rubbing alcohol but I wouldnt think it would be as bad as repeated peroxide soaks.

[Anje]

Ack! No rubbing alcohol for my hair, thank you. Sounds horrifically drying.

[SeaPhoenix]

I wound up having layers cut yesterday -because hey.. my husband offered to take me to the salon between running errands, so I figured, "why not?" lol... (longest layer is just below the shoulders). It's weird to have short hair.. (yet again!), this will be my 4th short hair chop since December 2005...
My current Conditioner cleansing method will have to change as it is too heavy for the short layers - but worked very well with the one length mid back length hair... But, luckily for me, I've found some nice natural shampoos and conditioners that worked well without weighing down the hair.... If I'm going to have layers, they may as well be bouncy lol... And as an added bonus, I love the movement I get with the layers when a breeze passes by. :-)
The look is good on me - and my husband has actually remarked that I should just keep my hair this style, permanently lol.. but in a year or so once my hair has grown out the combo of henna and indigo, I'll be growing my hair long again! This will also encourage me to hit the vitamins more rigorously, to speed up the hair growth lol.
I also think the shorter hair will be a lot more cool (temperature wise) for where I'm about to move to for the next 3 years (Guam)... It's long enough that I can pull all of it up into a perky-non-headache-inducing-pony-tail, but short enough that it doesn't weigh heavy if left down...
Thanks all for the advice! Now that I have chopped most of it off, I think I'll steer clear of trying to remove the henna/indigo... My skin is super sensitive to chemicals - and that one salon visit left me itchy for a week... so did the colorfix attempts lol..
So no need to go getting my skin all hypersensitive while potentially damaging the hair more when I've already chopped it and what I have is fairly healthy... (The salon hair cut lady even commented on how healthy my hair was, especially after I told her all the stuff I'd done to it to try to remove the henna, before deciding to chop it lol)
So yay! Let the grow out begin!! :bottomsup:

[missy60]

Ack! No rubbing alcohol for my hair, thank you. Sounds horrifically drying.

I wouldnt even suggest it since I havent tried it but some of the methods people are using to try to remove it sounds horrifically drying already.

I wouldnt suggest it for your hair any way I cant see any different colors in it at all. You have lovely hair. I just wonder why no one has tried this method as maybe an alternative to cutting their hair.

[wintersun99]

I see threads all the time about removing henna. Has anyone tried to remove henna this way Saturate the hair dry with rubbing alcohol. Apply mineral or olive oil to the hair till it's well coated (right over the alcohol). Bag the hair and place under a heated dryer for about 45 minutes (a blow dryer will NOT do the job). You'll see the henna fall off and lay in the bag, then apply a liberal amount of shampoo and 'lather' the hair up well before rinsing with water very thoroughly. Shampoo again and rinse well. Condition.

I have seen this all over the web as a way to remove henna, but I havent heard of anyone here trying it. It does sound like there might be a little damage with rubbing alcohol but I wouldnt think it would be as bad as repeated peroxide soaks.

total misconception (I know, it just keeps getting propagated all over the web) but it does nothing. I think it started with hennalucent, and maybe it worked with that brand, back in the day, but remember that back then, hennalucent was not body art quality henna, it was full of metallic salts. my suspicion is that this removal method has something to do with the chemicals and metallic salts in that brand.

[missy60]

Thanks for the reply Wintersun99 like I said I have seen this method mentioned on alot of hair sites. I just wondered why no one had tried it yet. I have read about alot of damage done to peoples hair trying to remove henna, but no ever mentioned trying this method.

[Unofficial_Rose]

Hi - I went through all this last year, so I know what it's like.:bigflower:

Forgive me if I've overlooked this, but I haven't seen any mention of yogurt yet? I overdid the BAQ, went burgundy and spent a great deal of last Easter with (sigh) yoghurt packs on my head. (Sometimes yoghurt and honey). I did remove most of the burgundy so that I got a more natural looking reddish-brown. I did the lemon juice and condish thing too, which works but frustratingly darkens up again, in a way that the yoghurt doesn't.

I also Colorfixed (minus the 3rd step). This re-oxidises a bit but it may help you get enough out so that you are happier with the colour. It stinks (sulphur) but it does not damage. I did it 3 times - it got enough out for me to start highlighting again, although my hair is now in poor condition, and some of the ends which were very saturated with henna, I ended up cutting off.

But the colour is practically back to it's normal blondy-brown, although the bottom 4 inches have a strawberry-ish cast. So much happier with it this year :hollie:
So what I'm saying is, before you hit the peroxide/scissors, try a) yoghurt and b) Colorfix (without the peroxide step).

Good luck :waving:- you'll get there!

[Alba-NY]

I just want to show a photo. I put it in my journal today and realised just how well the colours blend. Would you guess I had hennaed for years?!

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c379/alba-ny/IMG_4422-1.jpg

This is a photo from my photobucket album in March 06.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c379/alba-ny/marzo06167-1.jpg

The bun's middle coil is virgin colour, if not indigoed/Manic Panicked a little. The two outer coils have 4 or 5 years of repeat hennas (over a bit of Sun-In and some highlights) the semiperm brown that washed out, the indigo that washed out, and the final Manic Panic in blue.

Looks alright to me. I think some of you might want to look into the toning option.
I repeatedly hear the MP is not damaging btw.

The rubbing alchohol thing reminds me of when I had my EEG thing hooked up for a few days with superglue on my scalp. They used nailpolish remover to take the electrodes off. I can tell everyone one thing :D Nailpolish remover doesn't remove henna either, LOL

[MeMyselfandI]

Have you given colorfix a go at the henna.

[hiddencat]

I wasn't coming from henna, but an impulsive bleach job that I almost immediately regretted. Mu hair was nearly shoulder-length at the time. I colored darker blond over it, but the dye would always fade, the texture was totally different than normal, and I decided that I really, really just wanted my real hair color again.

I blunt cut to chin length. It grew out to shoulder length, and I cut to chin length again. I still had a few obvious chunks of much lighter, obviously dyed hair, so got a very short haircut (the blond was still high and near my face). This took out all of the dye. It took about 5 months to grow it out so that the shortest layers were chin length, and I blunt cut it there so that it would be mostly even (it looks like I have long layers in relation to the overall length).

I think it's really helpful to start with a clean slate when growing out. I know it's all my natural color, so I'm more attached to it and I enjoy watching it get longer and see the color develop more (when I'm really short, it's light brown, as it grows it turns more between light brown and dark ash blond but with a hint of copper, and I'll get blond streaks from the sun). Oh, and about 6 strands of gray.

From the time I bleached out my hair to now where it's all my color and midway between my chin and shoulders, it's taken nearly 2 years. And I will never, ever dye my hair again.

[MerryKat]

I hennaed a couple of times over multiple highlights and box colours. I got bored with the hours spent with mud on my head and changed to henna gloss' which was easier and faster with less dramatic colour.

When I decided to stop hennaing, I grew my hair for about 3 or 4 months and then coloured with a semi-perm medium ash brown which evened out the demarcation line. I have been growing since June 2007 and have around 12cm (around 4.5') new growth. There is a difference in my virgin growth versus the ex henna / colour but it is not a distinct line - it blends in. This maybe helped by the fact that my hair has an auburn shade to it and when I was younger I had very deep auburn hair (sadly the colour faded as I grew up and had children).

I have no intention of cutting and I will live with my blended colours till the henna section eventually sheds.

[ari810]

I am posting withour reading other replies...

Your natural colour sounds similar to mine except perhaps mine could be lighter? Or not? and I bet mine is ashier for some reason. I used henna for several years, and didn't kow to apply at teh roots only for touchups. I did the full length everytime!

Anyway, I am nearly at fingertip, and the last time I hennaed was nearly 2 years ago! [ETA: when I was at tailbone or so.] I think... was it one? Nope, definitely two! Wow. I wish that my journal was available :( It chronicalled a lot [9?] Colourfix attempts at removing the henna, among other things. [ETA: Bleaching was not an option for me as I did not want to cut at all, and my hair is too fragile.]

I tried to dye it out too. I think it might have been a year ago that I used plain brown semiperm. It was too dark for my natural colour, but looked nice... and faded fast.

Just before Hallowe'en I was freaking out about the colours. At that point the entire head looked brownish blonde, and then there was a Red bun stuck on. BAD.

So I tried indigo. It worked, but faded. Fast.

Then I used blue manic panic. It was too blue and black and dark at first, but I still didn't mind because I wasn't seeing Red anymore! Today in my home it looks really good! It is brownish and has only hints of blue at the ends. I have a cinnabun on top of my head, and no it does not look 100% the correct colour close up... but back up a metre or two and I think no one would notice anymore! There is a slight glisten of red in each strand when you look, of course, but together it is not.

I do worry about it fading more, but it has been months, so maybe not. Also I worry about sun bleaching my hair lighter so the dark is wrong. Mostly I wear scarves though, so not too much a chance of it happening or being seen.


Hope that helped somehow.

I can't wait to see the newest color. When are you coming to visit? And... I love your scarves.

[Kazazi]

I also Colorfixed (minus the 3rd step). This re-oxidises a bit but it may help you get enough out so that you are happier with the colour. It stinks (sulphur) but it does not damage. I did it 3 times - it got enough out for me to start highlighting again, although my hair is now in poor condition, and some of the ends which were very saturated with henna, I ended up cutting off.


Unofficial_Rose, I would love to hear more about the highlights you got over your henna as I am in a potentially similar situation - haven't decided yet whether to highlight again, but am very tempted - see this thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=2570). What sort of highlights did you go for, how did they turn out over the henna and how, if at all, are you keeping them up now to minimise damage? Also, where did you get Colorfix in the UK?

I've only hennaed twice, last time just before Christmas, and I find the colour has by now faded quite a bit. Whether that's due to some of the honey treatments I have done, I don't know, but I'll keep doing them anyway because they make my hair feel nice. I now use SMTs with some coconut and olive oil added.

I think in my case, the fading is enough, or will be enough, for the roots to blend ok if I decide to not highlight. Somebody also suggested in the thread I started to do henna gloss 'highlights' to help the transitioning, so that's something else I may try if I decide to go down that route.

I'm so happy I found this board with so many experiences to share. It's really helpful :)

[Veron]

After about 10 years obsessively using henna, following damage by professional highlighting over dark brown hair showing some silver strands, I am fed up of retouching every three weeks and the unstable orangey result. Using a henna-indigo mix on the main length resulted in a dull harsh blackish red which was far too intense for my English rose skin tone. I have decided to just go for it and let my natural hair colour come through gradually, which is now about one inch of shiny pewter with silver sparkles and looks gorgeous compared to the departing fading orange next door. I have long hair and don't want to cut and have noticed that the colour is gradually loosing intensity with each daily shampoo. I have thrown away all henna in my house and walk past Lush now without even thinking of going in. It is going to be a long haul and I will be multicoloured for ages but I feel happier in my own hair colour which will be the real me. Anyway, most British women choose red when they go gray and I want to achieve a lovely long head of shiny grays with sparkles rather like my Russian Blue cat's coat which is splendid. So it's no stripping out either by honey or hairdresser and no cutting but cold turkey and lots of patience.

[Akiko]

Welcome to the board!
I have done henna/indigo for a few months and realized grays are coming in now. Well, there are so few now. But I can foresee it will be time-consuming to cover grays with hennindigo. So I am trying see how I feel without henna/indigo for a few months.

I noticed more people color their hair in red in Europe. Never been to England, but when I went to Italy/Germany/Holland, both my DH and I were surprised to see quite brilliant red hair, which we don't see much in the US.

I like natural color in general. Have you ever visited 'Salt and Peppe (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=16951)r' thread? There are lots of people growing their beautiful silvers. Lots of wonderful ladies and support there.

[SeaPhoenix]

Haha... I'm actually back to eyeballing henna. I've been contemplating it quite a lot for pretty much the year + that I gave it up and started chopping. I'm edging closer and closer to putting my feet back in the mud so to speak (well.. not my feet, but my hair)... I've seen my real hair color now... There are photos of it... I've played with having short hair, and learned I can still look cute and feminine with short or long hair... and I've discovered the henna wasn't a bad color for me after all - I just needed to take my "omg I wish I had blonde hair" glasses off(especially since I won't ever - yay chemical sensitivities and natural color a lot darker than it had been as a teen)... I might be ready to hop back in to the henna (without the indigo this time), as I grow my hair back out.... and when the greys start coming in more... if I'm doing henna... I'll just start diluting it down more with each roots application so there's a gradual fade off.... Who knows though :-) But it's been an interesting year of chopping and henna abstinence...

[Unofficial_Rose]

Unofficial_Rose, I would love to hear more about the highlights you got over your henna as I am in a potentially similar situation - haven't decided yet whether to highlight again, but am very tempted - see this thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=2570). What sort of highlights did you go for, how did they turn out over the henna and how, if at all, are you keeping them up now to minimise damage? Also, where did you get Colorfix in the UK?

I've only hennaed twice, last time just before Christmas, and I find the colour has by now faded quite a bit. Whether that's due to some of the honey treatments I have done, I don't know, but I'll keep doing them anyway because they make my hair feel nice. I now use SMTs with some coconut and olive oil added.

I think in my case, the fading is enough, or will be enough, for the roots to blend ok if I decide to not highlight. Somebody also suggested in the thread I started to do henna gloss 'highlights' to help the transitioning, so that's something else I may try if I decide to go down that route.

I'm so happy I found this board with so many experiences to share. It's really helpful :)

Not sure if Kazazi will see this answer after so long - sorry, I sometimes forget I've posted on a thread. I had bleached highlights, and my hair was dry - although repeated SMT's and overnight oilings helped a lot. It looked like it did on my profile, quite a pretty blonde/strawberry combination.

Nevertheless, I became sick of going to the hairdressers every couple of months for highlights, and sick of the roots. And I kind of missed being dark. So I henndigo glossed over it until it matched my natural colour - like in my avatar. I'm sticking to this colour now :) as it has feels more like the real "me" these days!