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Thread: I bleached over henna and lived to tell the tale!

  1. #1

    Lightbulb I bleached over henna and lived to tell the tale!

    Hello all, first time poster here!

    I just wanted to share my recent experience of bleaching over henna because I read a lot of posts on here prior to daring to bleach, so I thought it might be helpful for others to read about my hair journey!

    A bit about my hair first: natural colour is a sort of mousey light brown that I haven't seen for years and years, besides some root growth. It was a very cool ash brown, so naturally I wanted fiery, warm red hair from a very young age! My wish came true when I was 15 and my mother allowed me to dye my hair red, with conventional dye at a salon. I loved the colour, but it faded so quickly and I wasn't happy with my colorist at all (he'd refuse to do anything other than root touch-ups, claiming my hair would get too damaged, so I'd leave with bright red roots and faded red ends), so I decided to switch to henna. Was very happy with henna, used the Harvest Moon henna from Henna Hut for 5 years, and finally decided this year that it was time for a break! My eventual goal is pastel hair, but I know that will take some time, and I'm in a life situation right now where I can rock funky hair colours with no issue- so I decided to just go for it and accept the bright yellow/orange look for a while. I've often been told by hairdressers that I have insanely healthy hair, and I've always babied it, so I wasn't too worried about damage.

    Pretty foolishly, I decided to start with an at home bleach job. Since my mother had done my henna beautifully for years, I assumed she'd be equally adept with bleach. This was not the case (and I put no blame on her!). After about 25 mins of 30 vol bleach from Sally's applied all over, the colour was all OVER the place. My virgin roots had gone straight to white-platinum, while the rest of my hair alternated between streaks of red, orange, yellow, and brown. It was not funky, it was tragic. The texture felt fine, so I slapped on a few protein masks and started calling local salons.

    Out of the 4 places I called, half expressed reservations about touching hennaed hair, though none refused outright. So if anyone wants to go straight to a salon, I'd recommend doing a bleach test first on some hairbrush hair and maybe even bringing it in, just so the stylist isn't scared of melting your hair off. (Also do it for your own peace of mind!) I was careful to start off the conversation with "I KNOW I'm not going to get to platinum until the henna grows out, I'm keeping my expectations totally realistic". No colorist wants to end up with a shattered reputation because of an idiot customer who thinks they can go from dark auburn henna to white blonde in a day!

    Anyways, I ended up with a magical colorist. Magical. She remarked on how undamaged my hair was (possibly just good hair luck, but I'll list the products I used at the end!) and started thinking. It was like watching an artist plan out a masterpiece. She started by doing a gentle bleach right in the shampoo sink- I can't remember exactly what the technique was called, but it felt like she was very gently trying to scrub off the darker bits of dye. My hair looked much more even after that, and overall a bit lighter. Then she put her vision into action: highlights all over to lighten the darkest pieces, and a true red on the platinum roots to create a sort of play on the typical dark-to-light ombre, in shades of red and yellow instead of brown and blonde. I absolutely love the look. It certainly isn't for everyone and she did warn me that I'd need to play up my makeup to not look washed out. But it's exactly the change I wanted and eventually, when the henna parts grow out, I'll move towards pastel pink. In the months to come, though, I'm quite happy with my flame-ombre hair! Best of all, the texture really feels completely fine, though I'm continuing to condition like crazy. In the 'after' photo it looks a bit crunchy, but that's because she curled my hair and set it with a ton of hairspray, just to play up the attention-getting colour. I also didn't have to lose any length, as she said the ends looked healthy enough to stay.

    Now, to pictures! Here's my hair as it looked for the past 5 years- used to be very long, then short as of a year ago:



    And here's the result of my transformation!





    Anyways, I hope that was helpful to anyone considering a similar transformation, either as an inspiration or as a warning of what bleached henna looks like! If anyone's interested, these are the hair products that seem to work for me:

    Shampoo: Frederic Fekkai Color Care- used it for years with henna and it was always gentle on the colour, and intend to keep using it now!
    Conditioner: Frederic Fekkai Color Care again, it's seemed to do the most good for my poor bleached tresses
    Treatments: Beyond the Zone Dare to Repair, both the one that comes in a "needle" (very little product comes out but I'm a sucker for a gimmick) and the normal sized overnight treatment.

  2. #2
    Member Amenahh's Avatar
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    Default Re: I bleached over henna and lived to tell the tale!

    Both the before and the after hair look fantastic!!
    Thanks for posting!

  3. #3
    Can't keep away, it seems Unofficial_Rose's Avatar
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    Default Re: I bleached over henna and lived to tell the tale!

    Like it! Trying to lighten my hennaed hair and can't face asking hairdresser to do it. Well done in finding someone who's done such a great job.

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    Member bed_head's Avatar
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    Default Re: I bleached over henna and lived to tell the tale!

    Love your colors (old and new)!
    Long time henna head; Now embracing the silver!
    Last Dye: 9 June 2024 | July 28: 1 inch since last dye

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    Member SnottyDotty's Avatar
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    Default Re: I bleached over henna and lived to tell the tale!

    WOW, you really did find an artist to do your hair; it looks beautiful. I wish you lots of luck and fun with your ongoing colour progress
    .: Next Goal: WL by Christmas | Goal Length: TBL braid | Microtrimming out layers :.

  6. #6
    LHC FairyGodMum lapushka's Avatar
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    Default Re: I bleached over henna and lived to tell the tale!

    You're much luckier than I was, but I'd not touch it with more treatments after this... Why?

    Well, I bleached my henna off (well my mom did that for me) until it was the color you have now, with some red faded spots still here and there. She put a light brown dye over it. Then after about a month I wanted to touch up my roots. My hair turned a soot black instead of a light brown, I got a chemical cut & burn. I think it was just once too much, you know. Can always happen. I don't mean to scare you but... I'd be weary of further treatments.
    WCC method (washing) --- Rinse-out oil (MO) --- LOC/LCO method (styling)

  7. #7
    Member RavenRose's Avatar
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    Default Re: I bleached over henna and lived to tell the tale!

    I too recently had good results with bleaching my fine hair to get henna out-
    My henna wasn't quite as dark as yours, and more deep auburn instead of burgundy- First I tried color oops, which only lightened it a shade, then tried a variety of honey/oil and baking soda- which worked another shade off over the course of a month.

    I died over it all with a box dye of my natural color- which left me with bright copper Henna and 2" of Platinum blonde roots. ugg

    After babying for several weeks (protein, deep conditioning, daily light oiling, keeping it up) I did 2 bleaching sessions- one was a 20 Vol for 20 mins, with extra conditioner and added opalex (which made it about 16 vol), with a pre-oiling on already dirty hair, only on the copper, not the pale blonde or natural ashy roots, Hair was bright orange- but even about what yours is now.

    I was going to wait a bit longer, but my work was hinting that the unnatural color/3 toned wasn't professional, so 2 weeks later I did a second bleaching- this time a 15 vol for 15 mins- with added conditioner, oplex, pre-oiling making it closer to 12 vol, again just over the henna- my hair was pale orange/gold. I used a couple henna glosses to blend my natural roots/platinum/henna, and work was happy.

    Just last weekend (about 3 weeks after) applied a 10 Vol level 9 ash blonde to my whole head. 30 mins, added sensitive scalp, opalex, conditioner, pre oiled etc... It ended up a bit too light, but the henna is now a light golden blonde- no more orange tones, and blends beautifully into the other root areas. I am debating weather or not to do another similar Demi in a shade darker, to better match my natural, or just wait till next summer and my roots get some sun...

    My hair is noticeably dryer, and it stripped all the volume the henna gave me out. Ends are a bit more crunchy, But I also had other damage on my hair from the collar down.

  8. #8

    Default Re: I bleached over henna and lived to tell the tale!

    Quote Originally Posted by lapushka View Post
    You're much luckier than I was, but I'd not touch it with more treatments after this... Why?

    Well, I bleached my henna off (well my mom did that for me) until it was the color you have now, with some red faded spots still here and there. She put a light brown dye over it. Then after about a month I wanted to touch up my roots. My hair turned a soot black instead of a light brown, I got a chemical cut & burn. I think it was just once too much, you know. Can always happen. I don't mean to scare you but... I'd be weary of further treatments.
    I'm so sorry that happened, sounds terrifying! To be honest I definitely will be doing more bleaching as the roots grow in, because I don't want bright yellow hair and ash brown roots, and I'm aiming to get to pastel pink eventually. It sounds like you had a scary bad reaction or interaction between products. I'll only be trusting salons for the next while, and I'll make sure to keep doing strand tests, so hopefully I'll be ok!

    Thanks for the lovely comments, everyone- I'll update again in a few months when I attempt to go lighter.

  9. #9
    Member meteor's Avatar
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    Default Re: I bleached over henna and lived to tell the tale!

    Wow, looks great! Congratulations, soontobeblonde! That colorist did a great job lifting so much henna and blending it!

  10. #10
    Member Nuala's Avatar
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    Default Re: I bleached over henna and lived to tell the tale!

    The new colour looks very nice on you, soontobeblonde! But the henna also looked beautiful, especially with your skin tone and blue eyes!

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