Bleaching henna?

[kwaniesiam]

I've decided I want to dye sections of my hair blue, but have previously used henna, and would need to bleach it for any color to show up. I've got dreadlocks now, so the condition of my hair after bleaching isn't really a big deal to me, I'm just looking for advice on what colors it may turn and what kind of bleach to use. 30 vol, 40 vol? It's not going on my scalp, about 2 inches from the root down, since that part hasn't locked up yet and I don't want to mess with it too much. Just the ends basically. Has anyone bleached out their henna? What colors did it turn, and did you find that it sufficiently removed enough color? Thanks :)

[mellie]

I was thinking of highlighting my hair, so I did a sample bleach on a cutting of my hair. I used a box of Clairol Highlighting Kit (or something like that). It recommended leaving it on no longer than an hour, I think. Well, my cutting did lighten, but not to blond (of course, my hair is really really dark, too), so I even left it on another half hour. The lightest that I got it was copper. However, that might be light enough for the blue to show up.

Another option which is much healthier for your hair is a clip-on extension:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=7097203

Hope that helps!

[Celebrian]

Provided you used only henna you can bleach successfully - but like Mellie, I found that mid-dark copper blonde was about as far as I got. Bear in mind though that I was bleaching over henna, old dark brown PPD dyes and so on.

If you're not terribly dark, you'll probably get to blonder shade more easily - but they will be warm in tone.

Beware if you used Indigo at any point, as bleaching over that can bring unwanted greenish hues (which I found cool, but not everyone does!). :D

[akurah]

Beware if you used Indigo at any point, as bleaching over that can bring unwanted greenish hues (which I found cool, but not everyone does!). :D

But if you're going for blue ultimately, the greenish hues may not be the worst thing ever....

[kwaniesiam]

I've never used indigo. Thanks! I guess I'll try it, worst case scenario it'll turn out a darker blue. i don't mind fading into green, though. Mermaid hair :)

[Whimsical wind]

Beware if you used Indigo at any point, as bleaching over that can bring unwanted greenish hues (which I found cool, but not everyone does!). :D

That happened to me. >_>

[Lexie]

A lot of it depends on how many applications of henna you've had. I hennaed a lot and bleached a bit for a while. Got the bleaching done professionally. The ends which had been hennaed many many times were about as orange as one full henna over blond hair. The roots were the lightest, pale yellow--hadn't been hennaed yet. As you looked from the roots to the ends, the color gradually built up to the intense orange because I always did full hennas the whole time my hair was growing.

If you have a lot of henna buildup, you might want to try some of the removal methods before you bleach, like LJ+conditioner, amla+olive oil, etc. Maybe even try just hydrogen peroxide. If your hair lightens easily, then you could just use that instead of adding bleach. I think Iris had found that her hair could lose all color pretty quickly with just 3% (10V). For me, it's not that easy. My hair is very stubbornly dark. 8 hours of 6% (20V) gets it to a medium to dark brown. 9% (30V) did remove my henna buildup too. In fact, almost all of the buildup that I had for a couple years. Damage was minimal. Thought I should mention that even if you're not worried about it.

[wintersun99]

I wholeheartedly agree with the peroxide lightening suggestion prior to bleach. I have also done it a few times, although not for as long a period as Lexie (as my hair has former bleach damage that is pretty dire) but my hair did hold up during peroxide soaks (I used 30v, sometimes alone, sometimes with shampoo, for 1-2 hours each time, probably did it 3 times) and there was a noticeable amount of henna that lightened up, as well as my virgin roots (oops). I should add, it did nothing for indigo, but luckily you don't have to worry about that! I know you aren't worried about damage, but it may turn out better in the end, as you might be able to get more henna out, then with short bleaching processes alone. Good luck

[kwaniesiam]

Thanks everyone :)

Conditioner is out because of the dreadlocks, but I'm going to try peroxide and lemon juice first just to see if that affects the color at all. If not, I guess the bleach will have to do the trick.