How to make mild henna applications lean more red, less orange

**stardust lady** · September 27th, 2019, 03:01 PM

So I'm thinking that this cannot be done, but I'll ask anyways! I've been using henna for a year or two. When I started, I just did glosses for about 15 minutes or so and got a beautiful light stain. My natural color is auburn (more blond/brunette than red) or sometimes muted dark strawberry blonde in the summer. The henna gave it a nice boost without making it look unnatural.

Lately I've been going a little harder on the henna, leaving henna/cassia mixes on my head for 45 minutes to an hour and a half. What I didn't realize is that my coloring doesn't suit the intense orange I'm getting. I have a pixie cut now (for the first time in my life) so I'm not freaked out about potentially growing out the henna, but I don't want to give up on it yet.

I can't use any conventional hair dyed (cancer risk), I'm not interested in having to henna my light roots every 3 weeks if I go even harder on henna to bring it to the red-red shades. I'm curious if there's a way to achieve a red tint with glosses, instead of a clown orange tint. I thought maybe glossing with red Raj?

**stardust lady** · September 28th, 2019, 01:25 PM

Just wanted to add to this that I had an idea to mix my henna/cassia mix with one of ancient sunrise's acid powders. There are two I was considering: nightfall Rose and malluma kristalovino. The nightfall Rose says it adds an Ash tone to the color, and the malluma says it creates a deeper, darker Auburn stain. I think either of those suits me fine, but I'm curious about the nightfall rose. Anyone use it or know if strand tests exist for any of these acids?

**lapushka** · September 28th, 2019, 02:47 PM

There is only one thing to do, and that is strand test it! Honestly, henna is sooo hard to predict (you just can't).

But I'm confused... Do you want it redder or a muted light tone?

**stardust lady** · September 29th, 2019, 12:01 AM

True enough. I'll probably give the fruit acids a shot, the one that creates more Auburn stains. Wasn't totally sure what I wanted because I knew the fresh henna look was horrible on me but I wasn't sure if I needed to go darker, cooler, or just redder. I've also been on the fence about henna, but now that my current henna has oxidized I'm in love with it again. Oxidized henna looks natural on me, I just wish I could skip the orange panic phase.

I swear, I go through this every henna touch up. It was harder this time because most of my head is buzzed and I couldn't part my hair down the center of my head like I normally do right after I henna. My temple hairs are pale blond and/or completely translucent and they go completely orange for two days after henna. I guess I can always wear a hat for two days *shrug*

**BerrySara** · October 1st, 2019, 10:01 AM

Originally Posted by LadyStardust

True enough. I'll probably give the fruit acids a shot, the one that creates more Auburn stains. Wasn't totally sure what I wanted because I knew the fresh henna look was horrible on me but I wasn't sure if I needed to go darker, cooler, or just redder. I've also been on the fence about henna, but now that my current henna has oxidized I'm in love with it again. Oxidized henna looks natural on me, I just wish I could skip the orange panic phase.

I swear, I go through this every henna touch up. It was harder this time because most of my head is buzzed and I couldn't part my hair down the center of my head like I normally do right after I henna. My temple hairs are pale blond and/or completely translucent and they go completely orange for two days after henna. I guess I can always wear a hat for two days *shrug*

Would adding amla powder perhaps help? From my understanding, it tones down or mutes the intensity of henna. Of course I would strand test to verify.

**Corvana** · October 1st, 2019, 04:21 PM

What about Nightblooming's Enyo War Goddess? Or is that too dark?

**AshtangiPNW** · October 2nd, 2019, 09:31 AM

Originally Posted by Corvana

What about Nightblooming's Enyo War Goddess? Or is that too dark?

Looks lovely, but Enyo War Goddess mix would be a dedicated henna application instead of a mild one....so would probably also glow copper in the sun! You could always strand test, though. Amla supposedly causes the henna to lean a bit more towards brown. I wonder if hibiscus powder would help the henna lean more reddish? I know that my henna/cassia mix contains hibiscus. I also think the hibiscus effects might be temporary.....can anyone else weigh in on hibiscus and it's effect on hair color?

**poli** · October 4th, 2019, 12:21 AM

The cherry cola henna thread discuses hibiscus a lot, here. There is a color effect but it washes out eventually if you don't repeat it. I only ever used hibiscus tea never the powder.

**captainjanuary** · October 10th, 2019, 02:00 AM

Originally Posted by LadyStardust

My temple hairs are pale blond and/or completely translucent and they go completely orange for two days after henna. I guess I can always wear a hat for two days *shrug*

I deal with this too--my hair is very light, especially around my temples. Nothing I do helps me avoid the orange panic. The only thing that *kind of* helps is leaving pure henna on for longer periods of time and then it is a more intense red/orange rather than an intense orange/yellow. And by longer, I mean 6-7 hours :/

Since you have a pixie, you could mix up some henna and keep it sectioned in ziplock bags in the freezer and just take one out every month or so for touch ups.

**Sabrina Fair** · November 12th, 2019, 10:11 AM

Oops, started a new thread on this today when I should have posted here! Not sure how to link, but basically, I added an extract of Indian madder (a concentrated liquid extract, not a powder or a tea – from hennaboy in the UK) and it did indeed reduce the orange hysteria pre-oxidation and push the overall colour toward a cooler red colour. I’ve just tried it for the first time so not sure if it will last or not. I would think that you could add it to a gloss if you don't want to do an intensive henna treatment.