I am interested in switching to henna from boxed hair dye, but I am overwhelmed and hoping you guys can help me clarify some things.
I have been dying my hair red for about six years. I use Revlon Colorsilk (number 42 - "medium auburn" but it's more of a copper). I have wanted to switch to something that is 1) less toxic 2) vegan and cruelty-free and 3) kinder to my hair for a while, and it seems like henna is the way to go. I feel like I'm a good candidate because the following are true:
1) I'm a natural blonde so I feel like my desired color is achievable
2) I'm super committed to being a redhead (I often wish the science was there to change the color of your hair as it comes out of your head, but alas, it's not) so the permanence of it is appealing (no more icky washed out color!)
3) The time commit is a non-issue as I already have to block out a ton of time for touch ups because my hair takes an inordinate amount of time to dry
I've been doing a ton of research here, on Reddit, and various other resources, but I still have some specific questions/concerns.
1) How does switching to henna work when your hair is not all one color? I know that to get in a specific shade range requires a little bit of mixing of henna + other herbs. Am I going to need one mix for my length and another one for my roots if they're going to match? The dye I'm using now fades out quite a bit but not to my natural color (it's obviously got a lot of dye in it because I have to redo my length when I do my roots). I would obviously wait to do henna until it was time for my regular dye job. For reference, my target shade is around here:
https://i0.wp.com/therighthairstyles...=2&w=500&ssl=1 and my natural shade is "dishwater" blonde.
2) I love the permanence of henna but I am SO worried that it will be too dark, especially since I know it oxidizes to a darker color after the initial color. I would be really unhappy if I got stuck with something that was too dark because I'm super fair skinned. How can I avoid this? My hair is super porous (from all the box dye, yikes) so this is a problem that I have with my current routine. My hair is several shades too dark (darker than the color on the box) until the first couple washes. Then there's a sweet spot for a few washes, then it's an icky washed out barely red.
3) Touch ups. I love the idea of only having to do my roots, but how do I keep henna off my length during touch ups? Is a layer of conditioner enough?
4) How bad is the mess? Is it going to stain my bathtub/shower pretty easily like regular hair dye?
5) Is it true that it makes your hair straighter for good? I have barely any wave as it is so I would be super bummed if it straightened my hair out.
Thank you!
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