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Thread: Henna on 50%+ gray hair

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    Member melesine's Avatar
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    Default Henna on 50%+ gray hair

    I have used henna before but it was long before I had any gray hair. My hair is naturally a warm dark brown and I have warm skin tone. My mom is a natural redhead. I remember henna making my hair even thicker and left my hair a bright red auburn. Now I'm somewhere between 50% and 75% gray and I've been coloring for years with Natural Instincts right now it's dark golden brown ( their golden cappuccino ). But I usually use Brown Black. I've been only coloring every few months, roots only for the last year because I've been on the fence about letting it go natural. Then I break down and do my roots.

    I'm worried about getting a good color match for my roots and the rest of my chemical dyed hair, and also about using henna over chemical dyes. From what I remember you can't use chemical dyes over henna? So if I henna and don't want to continue then what? I don't think I'm ready for my natural gray.

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    I'd rather be outside browneyedsusan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Henna on 50%+ gray hair

    Quote Originally Posted by melesine View Post
    *snip* about using henna over chemical dyes. From what I remember you can't use chemical dyes over henna? So if I henna and don't want to continue then what? I don't think I'm ready for my natural gray.
    Sure you can. (100% pure BAQ henna only) My first henna was over a salon brunette dye job that had about 1/2" of root growth--see May 2012 siggy-- (my temples were very gray because there isn't much hair there!). It came out great, no demarcation line, and left everything redder than before. I've not used chemical dyes since, but you can dye over henna with a darker color without problems. It will always flare red though. The trouble comes when you try to lift it and make your hair lighter. Then you're hosed. Henna is rock solid permanent. It won't fade or lighten with time, and you can't lighten it once it's in. No more bleach or highlights for you!

    If you don't want to continue henna, you can; dye it darker, or grow it out and cut it off, transition to "glosses" rather than full hennas and ombre it out. I'm 47, and quite gray, but plan to henna for several years yet. My natural color is ash brown and gray now, but it was strawberry blonde until my mid-20's.

    I also recommend a strand test before you jump in. (I collected 2" long sheds from the vanity top for several days in a coffee cup, hennaed them, wrapped in plastic wrap and carried in my bra 4 hours; rinsed in the coffee cup, and let oxidize in the bathroom for a week. Wowser! They came out red and sparkely and pretty! I've had that mud on my head every month since.) Let us know what you decide. Henna isn't for everyone, but I really love the stuff.

    henna keeps it
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  3. #3
    aka Elektros Alun's Avatar
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    Default Re: Henna on 50%+ gray hair

    Some henna mixes contain metal salts, and these react in a nasty way with synthetic dyes, damaging hair and sometimes turning it green. Pure henna is no problem of course, but not so good for grey hair. As long as the mix contains only herbs (not necessarily just henna) you should be OK, although sometimes this can be hard to verify.

    I have never used synthetic dyes myself, so don't have this problem really. OTOH, my beard is at the point where I need to dye it if I dye my hair, and I had thought of using synthetic dye on my beard and henna on my hair. Like you, I last used henna when my hair hadn't turned grey, or at least not so much. Beards ideally need a dye that contains a gel, otherwise I wouldn't be thinking of doing that. I guess that should be OK, although not something you need to worry about obviously! Not sure they would match, though.

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    Member AmyBeth's Avatar
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    Default Re: Henna on 50%+ gray hair

    When I started using henna my hair was colored to cover 25-30% grey, plus I had a partial highlight. I was worried about how the henna would affect the color treated hair, and then how the new, non treated hair would blend in. It turns out that henna, or hendigo, as I use is very very forgiving and blends really well. The grey is quite resistant, but once I got it on, it stays on, although the indigo seems to fade. I have a brown which approximates my natural medium ash brown with an occasional highlight because of the henna on grey, as opposed to the darker henna on my brown hair. Am I making sense?
    The other thing I might mention, is that in the run up to transitioning from salon boxed dyes to hendigo, I did a lot, and I mean a lot, of test strands on my hair with different home box dyes and henna/hendigo recipes. I'm talking about sections of hair on my head, not shed strands. They were all in the same color family, but all came out a little different. I wanted to see what each concoction would actually look like on my head, not on a paper towel. It all blended in nicely and looks completely natural.
    I believe that if you decide to go from henna to chemical again, getting the henna out is a huge problem. You could maybe get a boxed color to match the henna while you transition? That's not really one of my considerations because I can't really see myself going naturally grey any time, ever. And no way am I going back to chemical dyes. Chemical dyes do damage hair and henna/cassia/amla/indigo has been incredibly good to my hair.
    So the caveats are that henna isn't going anywhere except if you cut it off. And you're going to have some redness, well a lot of redness to your hair. Especially in the sun. I didn't really want red, I wanted my natural brown, but I'm overall happy with the trade off. I can't decide if my hair is a brownish red or a reddish brown. But it is a shiny, thick, incredibly healthy whatever color it is. And it's not potentially harmful, like chemical dyes.
    Last edited by AmyBeth; October 31st, 2013 at 12:27 PM.

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    Member AmyBeth's Avatar
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    Default Re: Henna on 50%+ gray hair

    One other caveat- you probably don't want straight henna over grey. It give the most electric bozo the clown orange you ever saw. That's why I use indigo over the henna. Brown with orange highlights just didn't thrill me.

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    Member caren's Avatar
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    Default Re: Henna on 50%+ gray hair

    Quote Originally Posted by AmyBeth View Post
    One other caveat- you probably don't want straight henna over grey. It give the most electric bozo the clown orange you ever saw. That's why I use indigo over the henna. Brown with orange highlights just didn't thrill me.
    YMMV. I use straight henna on my greys, and I really like the shade they turn. They look like nice, natural highlights on me. But I have heard on others they do the bright orange thang.
    I'd recc collecting a few greys from your natural sheds and doing a henna experiment to see how henna works on your hair.
    From pixie (cut off dreads)>chin>APL. On my way to waist. Next stop: BSL. Lady Purl, Of The Last Galaxy, in the order of The Long Haired Knights.

  7. #7
    Member melesine's Avatar
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    Default Re: Henna on 50%+ gray hair

    Ok you guys have all given me a lot to think about. I'm glad to know that you've used it over dyed hair without issue. I just did my roots 2-3 weeks ago so I don't have enough regrowth to do any tests yet on the gray. And like AmyBeth said, I'm just concerned about not ending up with clown orange on my gray regrowth since the rest of my hair already has a base color on it. I'm not even sure what color I want to go. I like the shade I am now but I'm used to being darker but I don't want to go a flat black as it doesn't look good with my skin tone. I need the warmth of brown or mahogany tones. I guess that would decide if I need to do a one step or two step process with indigo? I like the idea of doing multiple tests to compare.

  8. #8
    Member Prettychild's Avatar
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    Default Re: Henna on 50%+ gray hair

    I would like to hear about anyone getting brown over the greys. I tried a 50/50% henna/indigo and I still got orange bozo on the greys -bad because it doesn't look good on my skin tone.

  9. #9
    I'd rather be outside browneyedsusan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Henna on 50%+ gray hair

    Quote Originally Posted by caren View Post
    YMMV. I use straight henna on my greys, and I really like the shade they turn. They look like nice, natural highlights on me. But I have heard on others they do the bright orange thang.
    I'd recc collecting a few greys from your natural sheds and doing a henna experiment to see how henna works on your hair.
    ^this^ (Nae, in the "wear all your hairtoys once" thread, gets great results. She has a beautiful bun shot through with hennaed grays.) You'll have to test to see how it comes out. Gray hair is a strange beast.

    henna keeps it
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    Pixied for 15+ years and liked it.
    Growing for fun.

  10. #10
    Member earthybee's Avatar
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    Default Re: Henna on 50%+ gray hair

    I use red raj and over the few gray hairs I have it's a gorgeous bright red true red not orange color. I love it!

    {APL♥ BSL♥ MBL ♥ Waist ♥ Hip ♥ TBL ♥ Classic}


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