questions about long-term henna glosses, and how to keep brown tones out of henna?

[Eruwaedhiel]

I have done 2 full head henna applications over waist/ almost tailbone length bleached hair, (natural hair is medium/dark brown, I bleached it to orangey blonde after trying 1 application of henna) and I have a light/medium red color that I am trying to maintain for a while (I'm waffling a little bit, but the longer I have this color the more I like it). Although I do intend to let it darken eventually, I'm not ready for that yet, and even when I am, I would prefer to keep the red tones as much as possible, rather than have it go brown, if that's even possible? I'm not sure if henna always goes brown, or if you can get a deep orange/red from it without many brown tones? (I do know it will always look brownish in certain lights, but say, in sunlight?)

I have heard lemon juice can cause browning, and I have used it in my mixes thus far, does it really cause brown tones, or does it just allow more henna dye to bind to the hair, making the uptake better and the color darker? Is it really more effective than water at giving strong color? What about fading? I have read that mixes with lemon fade less, does this apply to any acid? Is there another acidic mix that gives redder tones? I'm a little confused on how it actually works, I'd love to hear from anyone who has tried both.

For now, I am trying to find the best way to maintain my roots (bleaching then hennaing) does anyone have any useful tricks for that? So far, I have only done my roots once, and even then only my part and hairline around my forehead, since I am unsure how to go about the rest of it. I am curious if anyone else has maintained roots that way, (just the top layers) and what it's ended up looking like? Could it make an interesting layered effect if allowed to grow like that , or would it just look bad?

Also, to maintain this color, I was thinking of doing maybe one gloss per month, but is that too much? And what proportions and time left on would be considered a weak gloss? I think my last one was too strong, I noticed it darkened my hair a bit. Will glosses always do this eventually, no matter how weak? Or is there a way to balance it so that your henna shine and color is refreshed, but doesn't darken any?

I'm sorry I have so many questions, thanks so much for taking the time to read it all.

[Nightshade]

Well the good news is that unless you're using heat, henna doesn't tend to turn brown. I haven't touched up my length in years and it's still nice and orange:



Sometimes using heat like flat irons will cause henna to brown, but if you're not doing that I don't see any reason why it'd go darker after the intial oxidization period. Additional applications of henna, even a gloss, will darken the color over time (to a deeper red, not so much to brown), so I wouldn't do them unless you actually notice your color fading.

My hennaed length had gotten too dark from repeated henna applications, and I lightened it up with Sun-In. I'm not sure if that's an option for you with the bleach (I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to use it on bleached hair), but if you strand test it and it's okay, maybe that'd be an easier way to blend in the top layer?

Otherwise I remember that there's a method of mixing bleach with shampoo or conditioner or something and using that to wash hair. It's normally done with a dye job has taken to darkly to lighten it up. Perhaps something like that would be another option for your roots?

[shinyspoon3]

I have tried lemon juice, various teas, and apple juice. The different acidity levels affected the time it took for dye release, but didn't impact the tone at all. The lemon juice batch, however, didn't fade as quickly as the others. I'm thinking that the brown tones you are getting might be just your base color coming through. My hair looks a little red-brown indoors, but that is just because the light isn't refracting off of the red-orange henna, making the dark blonde hair buried underneath the layers of henna more visible...if that makes sense.

I can't help you with your roots situation since I don't bleach first, but I use glosses all the time. Glosses do build up. For my first few glosses I didn't want a color change either, so I ditched the lemon juice and diluted my already light henna (only 1.8% lawsone) with way more conditioner to allow for more fading. I don't have an exact ratio for you; I just added all the conditioner I needed to make the henna the consistency of yogurt (I didn't use any water at all to thin it out). I left it on for an hour, but probably could have done less. Over the course of 4-6 weeks my hair would fade significantly so when I did the gloss again, it just brought it back to the color I really wanted. I'm not sure if it got a teensy bit darker each time I did this. If it did, I couldn't tell.
Hope this helps!

[hennalonghair]

Here's. thread I started about henna glosses.
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...d.php?t=128407

The reason why I made this thread was for the very reason you are discussing only I have never found my henna turning brown.
If you want to keep your length as close to the same colour you have now then I personally find it best to conver your length with a conditioner before colouring your roots. The reason I use coconut milk instead of conditioner is because I get scalp issues if I use conditioner on my scalp. I can still get full coverage on my greys while using coconut milk.
I had been using this method for years and never got a build up of henna on my hair. Unfortunately I can't show pics since I'm on an iPhone but it was a very light henna colour . Recently I did a full henna treatment using Deep Red from the henn guys and although I REALLY liked the colour I did find it a bit too dark for my liking and wished I had just done my usual henna gloss only over my entire length. I decided to lighten this out a bit by fading the colour with a mixture of heavy oils. A mixture of olive oil , almond oil and coconut oil. Left it on overnight and then took it out with conditioner only. Conditioner takes oil out of hair far easily than shampoo and far less drying. This worked nicely to tone down the colour some .

If you Re looking for a gentle acid that will help your henna stick better than your best most gentle one is ACV. Its an acid but its quite gentle and actually LOT less drying. Sure lemon juice will work BUT it is so acidic that it can strip the oils right out of your hair causing it to dry right out. I'd ditch the lemon juice and bleach if you want to maintain healthy henna coloured hair.
Henna can stain quite well over brown pwithout the need for stripping down your base colour first.
You may wish to use a henna strain that is known well for its orange tones like Jamilla.
I've been using henna now for 35 years now and have never been too successful creating brown strains with henna so your post originally confused me a bit.

Heat most certainly can change the colour to create darker tones but I just never use heat on my hair.

Henna is quite a versatile herbal treatment. I'm sure there Re other methods of achieving the look you'd like without the use of bleach or lemon juice. These two ingredients are very damaging to your hair.
I only used lemon juice ONCE in my henna and although it did help bring out the henna colour, the damage it did to my hair just wasnt worth it.

Unfortunately there are some big name distributors suggesting to use lemon juice with each henna treatment which I just find ridiculous. There are just sooo many alternatives sources that do the same thing without the harshness. Lemon juice just doesn't belong in a henna treatment at all.

[hennalonghair]

Here's. thread I started about henna glosses.
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...d.php?t=128407

The reason why I made this thread was for the very reason you are discussing only I have never found my henna turning brown.
If you want to keep your length as close to the same colour you have now then I personally find it best to cover your length with a conditioner before colouring your roots. The reason I use coconut milk instead of conditioner is because I get scalp issues if I use conditioner on my scalp. I can still get full coverage on my greys whilpe using coconut milk.
I had been using this method for years and never got a build up of henna on my hair. Unfortunately I can't show pics since I'm on an iPhone but it was a very light henna colour . Recently I did a full henna treatment using Deep Red from the henna guys and although I REALLY liked the colour I did find it a bit too dark for my liking and wished I had just done my usual henna gloss only over my entire length. I decided to lighten this out a bit by fading the colour with a mixture of heavy oils. A mixture of olive oil , almond oil and coconut oil. Left it on overnight and then took it out with conditioner only. Conditioner takes oil out of hair far easily than shampoo and far less drying. This worked nicely to tone down the colour some .

If you're looking for a gentle acid that will help your henna stick better than your best most gentle one is ACV. Its an acid but its quite gentle and actually LOT less drying. Sure lemon juice will work BUT it is so acidic that it can strip the oils right out of your hair causing it to dry right out. I'd ditch the lemon juice and bleach if you want to maintain healthy henna coloured hair.
Henna can stain quite well over brown without the need for stripping down your base colour first.
You may wish to use a henna strain that is known well for its orange tones like Jamilla.
I've been using henna now for 35 years now and have never been too successful creating brown strains with henna so your post originally confused me a bit.

Heat most certainly can change the colour to create darker tones but I just never use heat on my hair.

Henna is quite a versatile herbal treatment. I'm sure there Re other methods of achieving the look you'd like without the use of bleach or lemon juice. These two ingredients are very damaging to your hair.
I only used lemon juice ONCE in my henna and although it did help bring out the henna colour, the damage it did to my hair just wasnt worth it.

Unfortunately there are some big name distributors suggesting to use lemon juice with each henna treatment which I just find unfirtunate because there are just sooo many alternatives sources that do the same thing without the harshness. Lemon juice just doesn't belong in a henna treatment at all.

Some essential oils can help bring out the tines like tea tree oil, oregano oil, or peppermint. Alone these oils can take out henna but in tiny amounts they actually help henna adhere to the strands.

Hope this helps some.

[hennalonghair]

I know I really emphasized and probably overstated my concern in your use of using bleach on your roots.*
I'm all for members experimenting with hair treatments in order to get the results they desire . There's many members who bleach their ends so that the colour they wish to add shows up often as an ombré. Sometimes they just want their manic panic colour to show up.
Since they already know they will be trimming off most of the damage later it gives them an opportunity to sport a unique look for a while . So although it is a damaging process, its not as significant because its at the very ends which are later to be trimmed so this makes sense And something I understand.
You on the other hand want to bleach your roots which is the healthiest part of hair. Maintaining this routine would mean you'll be reapplying bleach to your virgin roots often, overlapping places you have already done. The bleach will break down the keratin structure in your hair causing it to weaken and eventually break. Not to mention the harshness this is on your scalp. The bleach could very well throw your pH level off causing scalp issues which you might not be bargaining for.*
Why not consider just applying a different strain of henna like red raj and create an ombré. The effect would look stunning AND it would certainly save your hair. Its a much healthier approach . You have beautiful long hair and you just might regret your choice of hair technique later on down the road.
Good luck in whatever your decision.

[Eruwaedhiel]

Thanks for the information everyone!

I haven't got my hair too dark yet, (the amla I had used faded out, yay!) so I don't think I'll need to try lightening just yet. I'm doing one more gloss, then I'll let it be and see if it fades on me over time. I haven't noticed any fading so far after any of my henna treatments, but I guess only time will tell.

When you said your hair got too dark, did it look browner then? As in a brownish auburn maybe? Or did it just turn really deep red or orange? What color hair did you start with? It's hard to tell from the picture, and I get confused by color terminology as it applies to hair. I don't really want an auburn color, as it always looks brown to me.


Do the conditioning effects of henna last with the color? does it stay shiny? If not, what else might I use for a similar effect that won't change my color? If I used cassia on my already hennaed hair, would it leave color?

I have only bleached my roots once so far, and then only the part and around my forehead at that, since I can apply it easily and precisely just there, but not so much underneath the layers of hair. I'm thinking if I continue that way I will end up with a sort of ombre underneath the top layer anyways. I did soapcap bleaching on roots that had been oiled for several hours beforehand, and I have seen absolutely no damage to them after doing it like that. I think as long as I wait to do it until I have enough roots to apply the bleach without overlap, that part should be fine. The ends were already damaged before I bleached them, and the bleaching just made them worse. I trimmed them this week to get rid of the worst bits, I'll keep doing that until I reach the length of hair that isn't too damaged.


I think possibly the reason I am seeing some brown is because I may have a bit of original color left in my hair after the very first time I bleached? It was orangey blonde due to a previous application of of henna, and it was hard to guess what it might have been without the henna color, so perhaps it didn't lift as much as I thought it did? Or maybe I'm simply imagining it. I got the ginger color I wanted, then I was unsatisfied with it, it didn't look red enough or bright enough to me. Perhaps it's all in my head.

I have a gloss on my head right now (1 tbs henna, 1 tbs hibiscus, 1 can coconut milk, trying to get slightly redder tones, I'm hoping to improve the color on the ends just a tiny bit where it didn't take as well) but I separated the top layer of my hair and wrapped it in plastic to protect it from color change, although I'm not sure how well that will work. Thanks for suggesting the conditioner trick, I also conditioned my hair before applying the gloss, so maybe it will keep it from taking too much color.

[hennalonghair]

Thanks for the information everyone!

I haven't got my hair too dark yet, (the amla I had used faded out, yay!) so I don't think I'll need to try lightening just yet. I'm doing one more gloss, then I'll let it be and see if it fades on me over time. I haven't noticed any fading so far after any of my henna treatments, but I guess only time will tell.

When you said your hair got too dark, did it look browner then? As in a brownish auburn maybe? Or did it just turn really deep red or orange? What color hair did you start with? It's hard to tell from the picture, and I get confused by color terminology as it applies to hair. I don't really want an auburn color, as it always looks brown to me.


Do the conditioning effects of henna last with the color? does it stay shiny? If not, what else might I use for a similar effect that won't change my color? If I used cassia on my already hennaed hair, would it leave color?

I have only bleached my roots once so far, and then only the part and around my forehead at that, since I can apply it easily and precisely just there, but not so much underneath the layers of hair. I'm thinking if I continue that way I will end up with a sort of ombre underneath the top layer anyways. I did soapcap bleaching on roots that had been oiled for several hours beforehand, and I have seen absolutely no damage to them after doing it like that. I think as long as I wait to do it until I have enough roots to apply the bleach without overlap, that part should be fine. The ends were already damaged before I bleached them, and the bleaching just made them worse. I trimmed them this week to get rid of the worst bits, I'll keep doing that until I reach the length of hair that isn't too damaged.


I think possibly the reason I am seeing some brown is because I may have a bit of original color left in my hair after the very first time I bleached? It was orangey blonde due to a previous application of of henna, and it was hard to guess what it might have been without the henna color, so perhaps it didn't lift as much as I thought it did? Or maybe I'm simply imagining it. I got the ginger color I wanted, then I was unsatisfied with it, it didn't look red enough or bright enough to me. Perhaps it's all in my head.

I have a gloss on my head right now (1 tbs henna, 1 tbs hibiscus, 1 can coconut milk, trying to get slightly redder tones, I'm hoping to improve the color on the ends just a tiny bit where it didn't take as well) but I separated the top layer of my hair and wrapped it in plastic to protect it from color change, although I'm not sure how well that will work. Thanks for suggesting the conditioner trick, I also conditioned my hair before applying the gloss, so maybe it will keep it from taking too much color.

Hi Eruwaedhiel*
The best way to explain the difference between henna and permanent chemical colour is that henna is acts more like a water colour while commercial hair dye is more like acrylics. If you don't paint then water colour paints are transparent and acrylics are opague. Water colours give a transparent colour that covers whatever colour you have to start with. I'll give you my grey hair as an example. If I do a full application of henna ( not a gloss ) on my greys I get an orangey/brown tone. (Depending on the strain I use) The thicker my henna paste and longer I leave it on my hair determines the colour I will end up with but its never really a brown. If you see my avatar those pinkish colours are from 'deep red' which has hibiscus in it which adds blue red creating this colour. If you look at my siggie pick my hair colour doesn't look pinkish at all.*
If I just do a henna gloss on my greys then they will look more orangey the more I dilute the gloss down . The second gloss as more of this orange so after a while it does appear a bit darker but its STILL very translucent .
Does this colour stay and shine? You bet!!!
You will get more shine and glow from henna than probably anything else. Henna reflects light more because it IS translucent not opague.( like acrylic colour)
When I said my hair went dark I meant that instead of an orange / red that most henna gives I used henna and hibiscus which leaves a blue red colour. Since blue red is darker on the colour wheel than orange/red then it appeared a bit darker on me than what I was personally used to but my hair isn't actually very dark at all. Plus I used a full out henna/ hibiscus treatment instead of my usual henna gloss but I needed full coverage on my entire length especially if I had two reds on the opposite side of the colour spectrum.*
Henna colour lasts but the conditioning aspect doesn't last forever. I mean its hair and we wash it and style it; it gets continuous damage so colouring with henna won't prevent all of this from happening BUT it does offer UV protection from the sun and does offer some protection because the colour covers and coats each hair strand. It adds fullness and thickness to hair without a doubt.
Cassia doesn't leave a colour at all and has often been referred to as the colourless henna for this very reason. Many people use it who want the conditioning properties of henna without the colour.
I'm not into bleach at all. I barely use the stuff in my own home and just wouldn't let it anywhere near my hair so I'd rather not even comment about that . I've told you what I personally think of using bleach on your hair so that's now up to you whether you take that warning or not.
You would get a perfect ambre look without the use of bleach.*
If you DO decide to use hibiscus powder with your henna then its very advisable to do a strand test first. Hibiscus powder has killer staining ability and with a 1:1 ratio, that's quite a potent mix. My hair colour has only 5 % hibiscus powder included in it and you are talking 50%. That's a STRONG mix and when a member here decided to do that mix she found her hair more on the burgundy side . Like egg plant colour. Of course you are doing a gloss so it won't be as potent but I STILL recommend a strand test first.
Also make sure if you are adding hibiscus to colour your entire hair otherwise you will have blue red roots and orange red hair. Your hair won't match and will look odd.*
I hope you understood what I'm trying to say if not please don't hesitate to ask before you begin.

[Eruwaedhiel]

Thanks, I do understand the way henna builds color, but I was seeing brown tones even on some of the few strands that were bleached to mostly colorless, so the brown would have to come from the henna itself in those areas, although I might have been seeing leftover spots of my natural color that didn't lift all the way in other places. After using the gloss ( I actually ended up doing two) however, I'm not seeing so much brown anymore, so perhaps it was the type of henna I used, I know it was old and probably weak. I think I'll be happy with the color I have now, It's a little strong, but it's only a day or two in so I know it will tone down a little bit over the next week or so.

I knew cassia can stain a pale hair slightly, but I didn't know if the color kept building like henna does. Thanks for letting me know it won't! I'll have to order some to keep the conditioning effects now that I'm at the haircolor I want.

I didn't notice much change in tone in my henna or strand test from adding hibiscus, vs. the strand test I did without it. I mixed up a bit of pure hibiscus powder just as an experiment and left a hairball in it for a few hours, and didn't see too much change in color there either, so I'm inclined to believe it won't do much to the color of my hair. Maybe it's staining ability varies from person to person and the differences in their hair, or maybe the henna overpowered it by a great deal, since it's a strong henna (red raj). I'll probably keep using it anyway because I know hibiscus has desirable properties of it's own.

[texangrrl]

My natural hair color is an ashy medium brown and I've done 4 applications of henna. I've noticed that mine does fade into a browner color. I still maintain some of the red, but it's more brown than red. I think the culprit for me is my hair dryer, but I'm not sure what I should do about that because I have to use it. There are a few cowlicks in my hair (the worst being right at the front on my forehead) and I have to use the heat from my hair dryer to tame them, otherwise my hair is off in all different directions and looks crazy. I wish the red tones would stay.