Possibly getting sick of red but...I don't want to stop hennaing... Exploring options

[Asequui]

Well, as the title says: I may be getting kind of sick of the red hair and am being drawn back to brunette. I originally thought of just adding indigo. However, I'm apprehensive about a few things: 1) The permanence of indigo 2) I still have a lot of previously bleached length and am afraid of how it will react to the indigo. 3) I've seen people report that their indigo progressively got darker no matter what they did and I don't want jet black hair 4) I'm still trying to figure out if I should be aiming for a warm brunette or a cool one...I think I lean more towards neutral coloring so that doesn't help much...

So...here's what I've been mulling over in my hair-obsessed brain:

A) Ordering samples from mehandi and doing strand tests to see how henndigo reacts to previous bleached hair as well as what shades of brunette I can get out of it.

B) Strand testing demi permanents over the current henna to see what colors I get and then trying some henndigo glosses over that to see how it does...

C) Strand testing demi permanents over current henna and then using henna glosses over that

Question: If a person has brunette hair and does henndigo glosses using indigo and yemeni light (rather than a higher lawsome henna such as twilight) would that avoid more intense red? Ditto for straight henna glosses?

:eye: :hmm: :shrug:

[Avital88]

hi, my indigo always gets lighter i wished it would stay jet black, i also did it over lighter bleached hair.. it didnt turned out green.
Good luck

[Asequui]

hi, my indigo always gets lighter i wished it would stay jet black, i also did it over lighter bleached hair.. it didnt turned out green.
Good luck

That's a relief! Lol, I do not want to look like Swamp Thing. Granted, it would certainly be seasonal but still not something I'm aspiring to. :p

Avital, your hair is gorgeous!

Still trying to figure out the whole henna part of the equation...if I understand correctly (big IF), the lawsome content is what provides the color but not the conditioning... :shrug:

[Chromis]

My indigo always gets lighter and turns brunette as well. I do a two-step and it first is jet black, then turns into what you see in my sig and avatar pics. It turns out quite close to my natural colour actually! (I like henna for the conditioning and elimination of scalp itchies)

[Reptilia]

Subbing... I'm in the same boat! I've been debating this for months. I thought maybe I wanted it blonde again, so I bleached a few strands and don't like it at all. I'm way too tempted to just box dye a rich brunette over everything, but I've worked so hard to get where I am!

[Asequui]

Subbing... I'm in the same boat! I've been debating this for months. I thought maybe I wanted it blonde again, so I bleached a few strands and don't like it at all. I'm way too tempted to just box dye a rich brunette over everything, but I've worked so hard to get where I am!

Tell me about it!
Yesterday I had to talk myself out of buying box dyes at walgreens.

Another issue I'm worried about w/ indigo is that I don't want to venture into the dark brown category yet. I want to start with light to medium brown first since it's much easier to go darker than to go lighter. I think, considering the level I'm at right now, I'll have to settle for medium brown...

[cmg]

The first treatment is never really permanent. Why dont you try a henndigo? If you dont like it, let it fade away. If you do like it - do the upkeep.

[Baby]

If you dont want to be a dark brunett you can try buxus/katam(different names same thing) and henna. Katam gives a lighter stain than indigo. Ther are more info on it if you search the forum. I Have never done it but I am considereing it, I also am tired of red.

[Rosetta]

Still trying to figure out the whole henna part of the equation...if I understand correctly (big IF), the lawsome content is what provides the color but not the conditioning... :shrug:
From what I've read in the henna for hair forum, it actually is the same thing that provides the color and conditioning, you can't separate the two (whatever that "thing" is, lawsone, I'm not sure? :wink:) As you see I'm no expert (ehem), but that's how I've understood it :)

I've also been mulling over whether to give up henna or not recently, but for another reason, not because I'd be tired of red but to grow out my natural colour... I'm still a bit undecided, but as it looks like now, I'll be going for virgin ;) (At least for the time being...)

[Asequui]

Ok so I did give in to the hair dye demon and bought a medium ash brown semi from the store.
Some sections came out perfect but others came out waay too dark.

However, that being said, it's a semi so those should fade out to match (I hope), and the fact that it went so dark has erased the fear I had of the indigo going too dark.

So, later on today, will be ordering some indigo and henna from mehandi. I'm still puzzling over whether I should buy a higher lawesone henna like Twilight or a lower one like Yemeni Light or Punjabi Pride...

Lol, decisions decisions...:eye: :hmm:

This is what the box color looks like right now. Excuse the terrible picture. The front facing camera on my cell phone sucks.

http://i1040.photobucket.com/albums/b408/SashaTheStrange/2011-10-29001045.jpg

[Asequui]

OK, so rethinking adding indigo to this, even in gloss form...
Thing I'm worried about is if I decide to later try stripping some of the color out...I don't wanna look like a Smurf or Swamp Thing.

What I am considering, however, is continuing to use medium ash brown semi or demi perms and then doing a gloss with henna/cassia/buxus with Bhringraj and Brahmi.

I'm thinking that idea would add some warmth to the hair without going too red.

Also, I looked to see if I could find out how buxus reacts with hair color and bleach but couldn't find anything on that. Also, any idea what buxus does for texture and conditioning?

Any thoughts?

[Anainwonderland]

I would try a dif type of henna. Maybe one that may go a little darker and do it more frequently? Im no henna professional im sitting here with my first henna on my head rite now. But i loved your hair b4 u went darker i think it is beautiful!

[Asequui]

I would try a dif type of henna. Maybe one that may go a little darker and do it more frequently? Im no henna professional im sitting here with my first henna on my head rite now. But i loved your hair b4 u went darker i think it is beautiful!

TY!
I was using Celebration from mehandi.com. It's not available any longer but Twilight is supposed to be close.
Good luck on your henna!

I love the conditioning effect that henna has, plus the fact that it loosens curl patterns. I also love the color of henna red but...I just don't really feel like it's me. Going back to blonde was a disaster, red was fun, but brunette feels more comfortable.

I've been a redhead before via box dyes but I never seem to stay a redhead for very long... :shrug:

[Tizzles]

From your picture it looks like your hair pulls red when you color it, it could just be from the lighting or the pigment of your hair pre-box color. Since it was a semi permanent color, you could always wait about 6 weeks and see what color you end up with then go for the henna. I've been wanting to do brown henna also, but don't want jet black as I'm afraid it will wash me out. My natural hair color is dark brown with some red highlight, so I also pull red when I put any kind of color on my hair. I've been thinking of using Amla powder mixed in with a brown henna as I've heard it can take some of the red out of the color.

I would love to hear how your hair turns out with the indigo, I really want to try it, just afraid of my hair being black.

[Amber_Maiden]

I got sick of the red as well. Now turning to organic permanent dye to see how it covers it.

[laura85]

Amber Maiden - Please can you tell me what organic permanent dye is?

Asequui - I think your hair looks lovely with the henna and the box dye. If you want a brown alternative to henna I can recommend cassia/amla/buxus mix (I mix it with yogurt) for a nice soft brown colour. Only thing is it isn't very permanent :-(

[jojo]

Looking at your photo, I don't think you should go too dark maybe try a light brown semi dye, the ones without ammonia. Ive hendigoed in the past and its horrible to get out, at least with a semi it will get lighter overtime, with indigo theres no guarantee how your hair will take to it, some peoples hair like mine it sticks like glue, others it fades to nothing.

Id think long and hard about this and maybe collect some stray hairs and test how your hair will react. I think your red is gorgeous personally. Good luck.

[shannonsun]

If you like the effects of henna, try the Surya Brasil dyes. I do them over my henna'd hair and I love the tints and shine they give. They're actually conditioning and not damaging and you can do them as often as you want. They have a medium ash brown color too, if you want to try that once your current color fades out.

[Asequui]

Tizzles - It was from the hair pre-dye. Before I used a semi brown, it was henna red from a few full head apps and glosses. Same here with not wanting to go jet black. Simply because I've never seen an artificial black color look natural and am worried it would look very harsh...which is odd since I think I hover between winter and summer colorings. :shrug:

Amber_Maiden - Good luck with the organic dye! Please let me know how it turns out!

Laura85 - I've heard the same thing about buxus fading. However, someone on UTT reassured me that adding a small amount of amla wouldn't encourage curls, as that's something I want to avoid.

jojo - Yeah, the semi I tried is already fading at the top (the bleached ends are another story entirely...) with the henna red starting to show back through. yikes.

shannonsun - I did think of using Surya dyes to begin with but realized that they contain indigo which I'm still really apprehensive of using.

So, progress report:

The previously bleached ends grabbed the semi I did like crazy and went just shy of black. Now they've faded to a lovely dark cool brown that I actually really like.
The virgin roots took the color a bit lighter but show that this really is an "ash" color and still look nice, which is what I wanted. However, the henna+virgin hair is something else entirely. The henna is showing through again and is very orange/red under the ash brown.

I have a job interview Monday (cross your fingers) and cannot go in there with tri-colored hair.
So I bought another round of semi-permenant dye, this time medium ash brown and natural dark brown (apparently they don't make a "cool" dark brown). My plan is to smother the bleached/dyed ends in jojoba oil and conditioner and keep the color off them as much as possible. Then will mix the two colors and strand test. Hopefully that will even things up. Besides, I realize now that the medium reddish brown is not nearly as flattering as the dark cool brown (hence the discovery of my "season").

As far as henna goes, I'm planning on putting together a gloss of buxus, bhringraj, and brahmi powders with Moroccan henna. Possibly may add some cassia and/or amla.