Henna (orange) going over red hair...

**Lady Mary** · April 13th, 2014, 11:16 AM

Envy of how it turned out, beautiful!

**Blue Mermaid** · April 13th, 2014, 05:18 PM

Well, I'm glad it turned out how you wanted it OctoberGourd! I just wanted to add a suggestion for others who may be following this/having similar problems. A hot oil treatment can REALLY lighten color! When I was in beauty school, my hair was chemically colored a beautiful shade of red violet. We had to practice performing hot oil treatments on each other...and oh my goodness, it pulled ALL the violet out of my hair, leaving me with an orangey reddish brown. I nearly cried! I only look good in cool tones. My hair was left fantasticly soft, though.

As for the aspirin- I personally would be wary of it, Salicylic acid is some strong stuff. Even 1.5% dries my face out horribly in a wash, I'd be afraid what it would do to my poor hair! But I suppose it would be gentler than using bleach. I think Salicylic acid is also in that liquid wart remover, it can kill all your skin cells if it's powerful enough.

That coppery red does look good on you, I think it looks very natural, like a sun kissed red head!

**veryhairyfairy** · April 14th, 2014, 06:56 AM

Originally Posted by Blue Mermaid

Well, I'm glad it turned out how you wanted it OctoberGourd! I just wanted to add a suggestion for others who may be following this/having similar problems. A hot oil treatment can REALLY lighten color! When I was in beauty school, my hair was chemically colored a beautiful shade of red violet. We had to practice performing hot oil treatments on each other...and oh my goodness, it pulled ALL the violet out of my hair, leaving me with an orangey reddish brown. I nearly cried! I only look good in cool tones. My hair was left fantasticly soft, though.

As for the aspirin- I personally would be wary of it, Salicylic acid is some strong stuff. Even 1.5% dries my face out horribly in a wash, I'd be afraid what it would do to my poor hair! But I suppose it would be gentler than using bleach. I think Salicylic acid is also in that liquid wart remover, it can kill all your skin cells if it's powerful enough.

That coppery red does look good on you, I think it looks very natural, like a sun kissed red head!

Thanks for the hot oil tip, I'm going to try it today as a deep treatment/experiment. I'm already nursing damaged ends which is why I haven't already tried the sun-in etc route. Hot oil may be a nice way to slowly pull some henna out without damage!

And I totally agree about the salicylic acid, it's a harsh substance and it's difficult to get the crushed/dissolved aspirin to be totally consistent. I could see people ending up with spots and chunks of lighter hair because the aspirin doesn't dissolve totally in water.

**Blue Mermaid** · April 15th, 2014, 11:17 PM

I would also like to point out that unless your a chemist it would be tricky to find out how much salicylic acid you're paste actually contains..if it can kill skin kills, it can probably melt your hair!