**UPDATE** Henna/ Amla Mix Color is too dark! Please help

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Wed, 2011-02-16 21:11
#1
Lavinniya
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**UPDATE** Henna/ Amla Mix Color is too dark! Please help

 Hi,

I have been researching henna for hair for a while and finally spent the money to buy high quality mehandi henna to do my hair.  I mixed 50g henna and 50g amla powder mixed it with black tea and left it to sit in a warm spot for 5 hours.  I applied the mixture to my hair not expecting much color change as I did not wait for optimal dye release, wrapped it up and left it on over night.  This morning in rinsed my hair and my roots are DARK red, the middle section is BLACK and the ends are like an ash brown.  Is this due to the amla? not waiting for dye release?  or something else?  Will it lighten with repeated shampooings?  Any advice on evening up this atrocity would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

 

** UPDATE*** 

Today I visited with my friend who is a hair stylist and she did a couple clarifying treatments to see if the black would lift.  But alas, it did not and she would not do anything to my hair now that I have hennaed it for fear of destroying it.  Anyway, my hair was super dry and brittle feeling after I left her, I came home and re-hennaed my hair with some I mixed up earlier in the week (48ish hours earlier).  YES! I hennaed over the black...and.....*drumroll*   The black is pretty nearly GONE! The dark section is almost seamlessly blended into the deep ruby red that is now my hair.  SUCCESSS!!! It is soft, shiny and beautiful again.  I think next weekend I will do one more full head treatment and see where my hair ends up.  The ends of my hair are still kind of crunchy and dry but that is a non issue at this point!  

 

Thank you for all your help and info, it is greatly appreciated.

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Wed, 2011-02-16 23:20
Carrie
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Re: Henna/ Amla Mix Color is too dark! Please help

Your uneven color is probably due to mineral buildup in your hair from the water you've been showering with. Henna and amla do not give black or brown results unless there is that sort of mineral buildup in the hair. To remove it, you can use Rainwash (it's about $3 in the Mehandi store) or ION crystal clarifying treatment from Sally's Beauty Supply. That should help your uneven color, leaving you with just the red of henna in addition to your natural color.

There really is not a reliable way to use henna and not get color from it. The warmth of the room where you let it sit could have accelerated dye release, but your body heat during an overnight application guaranteed that you had maximum dye release and maximum uptake. An overnight treatment is a VERY long treatment. Usually you would leave henna on for 2-4 hours if you want color from it.

The red color very likely is not going anywhere with shampooing. I would suggest first dealing with the brown and black color from the mineral buildup, then seeing where you are. If you end up with an even color that is simply too red, and you do not have any indigo in your hair, you can bleach your hair to a lighter shade of red. It will take a lot of bleach to get rid of the red entirely, and that usually damages the hair quite a bit.

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Thu, 2011-02-17 00:04
(Reply to #2)
Lavinniya
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Re: Henna/ Amla Mix Color is too dark! Please help

 Thank you SO Much for your response! I was suspicious of the water here since I have moved to a new city my hair has been acting and feeling more dry and crispy than usual.  I will try the ION crystal clarifying treatment!  I dont want to lose the red because my roots look FABULOUS and that was the color i was going for! but the black then ash brown do not look good plus it gives my hair a kind of neopolitan feel.

My plan is to clean/demineralize my hair (hopefully lightening the black) wait a month then re-henna.    What do you think?

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Thu, 2011-02-17 09:08
(Reply to #3)
Carrie
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Re: Henna/ Amla Mix Color is too dark! Please help

Sounds fine, if after all that you find you want to add deeper red color.

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Thu, 2011-02-17 21:38
Lavinniya
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Re: Henna/ Amla Mix Color is too dark! Please help

 Ok, so tonight I am going to go and try to find a chelating shampoo and put that on my hair for a few minutes to see if any of the dark will come out.  Here are some pictures before and after henna:

Before Henna my hair was a uneven medium reddish blonde/brown.  Dry, damaged, curly and frizzy and dull.    

Before:

i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m607/Lavinniya/IMG_0679.jpg

i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m607/Lavinniya/IMG_0693.jpg

i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m607/Lavinniya/IMG_0686.jpg

After it is now this 3 tone mess either due to... mineral deposits or whatever.  The red close to my scalp is beautiful, deep and shiny but as it gets closer to the ends it gets darker and duller, almost an ashy color.

After:

i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m607/Lavinniya/IMG_0709.jpg

 

i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m607/Lavinniya/IMG_0703.jpg

i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m607/Lavinniya/IMG_0710.jpg

i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m607/Lavinniya/IMG_0704.jpg

I will post pictures post chelation (if i can find some) and let you know how it goes. 

 

 

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Thu, 2011-02-17 23:02
(Reply to #5)
Carrie
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Re: Henna/ Amla Mix Color is too dark! Please help

Good luck, let us know how it works! If the chelating shampoo doesn't do it, try the ION or the Rainwash.

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Fri, 2011-02-18 00:15
Lavinniya
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Re: Henna/ Amla Mix Color is too dark! Please help

 OK! So I washed it twice thoroughly and now it's just really dry and still super dark *sigh*.  I guess I will just deal with dark hair.  I am kinda bummed that my hair isn't soft as it was before I chelated it though.  

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Fri, 2011-02-18 09:29
(Reply to #7)
Carrie
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Re: Henna/ Amla Mix Color is too dark! Please help

Is there some reason why you don't want to use the products that are designed to deal with this problem? They are very cheap and easy to obtain.

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Fri, 2011-02-18 10:35
Lavinniya
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Re: Henna/ Amla Mix Color is too dark! Please help

 Where I live and the hours I work plus the absence of transportation make it very difficult to get to my closest Sally's while it is open. Basically I have to rely on others to get me where I need to go.  I have a friend that is a hair stylist and owns her own salon, I am going to be visiting with her on Saturday so perhaps I will ask her about it and if there is anything she can do.  I will update next week if I am able to obtain the right products to remedy this issue.  Thanks for all your help.

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Fri, 2011-02-18 19:02
(Reply to #9)
Carrie
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Re: Henna/ Amla Mix Color is too dark! Please help

In case it helps, Sally's has an online store as well. I hope you find a good solution and are happy with your hair again soon :)

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Sat, 2011-02-19 23:56
Lavinniya
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Re: **UPDATE** Henna/ Amla Mix Color is too dark! Please help

Just wanted to say Henna fixed my hair.  This post refers to the update in the first post edit! I LOVE HENNA! Also, will post pics of fixed hair soon.

Also, I have been reading up a lot on mixes and figured lemon juice would be drying to my hair but saw that it was the most basic mix so that's what i used.  I realize now that this is probably the cause for my intense dry ends and next time will use apple juice.  

So basically whatever happened the first henna mix the second lemon/water mix (set for about 48 hours) completely fixed the problem.   

If i mix coconut oil in with my henna mix would it counteract or help diminish the drying effects of pure lemon juice? or is there another conditioning addition I can add to my henna mix to help with the drying effects of lemon juice?

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Sun, 2011-02-20 10:09
(Reply to #11)
ACWN
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Re: **UPDATE** Henna/ Amla Mix Color is too dark! Please help

Use oil afterwards, dont mix it in. Oil inhibits or entirely blocks dye uptake. Less acid will help for next time, but in the mean time I would say oil your hair very well, braid it (if you can), then bundle it up and wrap it in plastic... and sleep on it. In the morning, wash the remaining oil out and you should be good.

You can also do the same thing, but wrap your hair in a hot towel or a heat cap and let it sit for a little bit. The heat will open the hair shaft and let the oil really get in deep.

 

Also remember to wash your hair with shampoo when you rinse the henna out. If you dont, it can leave residue which can lead to dry, crunchy feeling hair until you do shampoo.

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Sun, 2011-02-20 10:59
Lavinniya
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Re: **UPDATE** Henna/ Amla Mix Color is too dark! Please help

 Great! Thank you for the info.  I read in another post to NOT wash your hair with shampoo when removing henna and not to use shampoo for at least 24 hours.  Also, I read that people do mix oil (Olive Oil etc) into their Henna mix to remedy dryness.  It is very nice getting such quick responses to specific questions so that I dont have to mess up a bunch of times before I get it right.  Thanks Again! 

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Sun, 2011-02-20 11:11
(Reply to #13)
Carrie
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Re: **UPDATE** Henna/ Amla Mix Color is too dark! Please help

With indigo you may want to avoid shampoo for 24 hours (though my husband could shampoo indigo off his gray and not lose any color at all - so this varies from person to person).

With henna you can shampoo right away. If it's real henna, that is. If a product calls itself henna but tells you not to shampoo right away, there's a clue:  either it's not 100% real henna, or the people selling it don't understand henna. Failing to shampoo after henna can lead to color bleeding until you do, and/or itching of the scalp and weirdly dry and crunchy hair.

There are quite a few people on the LHC forum who are reporting that coconut oil (coconut specifically) doesn't interfere with henna uptake for them. I would still advise anyone using indigo to avoid oil before or during application, and give the same advice regarding henna if they suspect their hair is dye resistant, and gray hair is *often* dye resistant.

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Sun, 2011-02-20 11:12
(Reply to #14)
ACWN
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Re: **UPDATE** Henna/ Amla Mix Color is too dark! Please help

It used to be to NOT wash it, but that was info from a while back. Some people still believe this, but we typically try to explain why thats not good practice. Once its in your hair, henna isnt going any where so theres no concern of it being pulled out. Indigo is another story though and its best not to use shampoo in the first 24 hours because it CAN be pulled out (maybe thats what you read and got them confused?). 

Same thing with oil. Some people do do it and thats perfectly alright, but for the most part we recommend AGAINST it for the sake of getting optimal color, especially if indigo or dye resistant hair happens to be involved.

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Sun, 2011-02-20 12:50
Lavinniya
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Re: **UPDATE** Henna/ Amla Mix Color is too dark! Please help

 Great! Yes, perhaps I got the Henndigo and henna information mixed up while reading the posts.   I also found that as my hair oxidized (over time) after hennaing it gradually got softer and softer.  

When I visited my friend (the hair dresser) and we were talking about henna, it was funny to me that she was very ...hesitant to do anything with my hair (even talk about it really) because of "all of the stuff" in henna.  I tried to explain to her the type of henna I used and the type she was thinking of (with metallic salts etc.) are different but she assured me that even if henna does not have metallic salts it always has all kinds of 'other stuff' which severely damages your hair over time.  ; )

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Sun, 2011-02-20 12:57
(Reply to #16)
ACWN
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Re: **UPDATE** Henna/ Amla Mix Color is too dark! Please help

Yeah, unfortunately most hair dressers are that way. Its been hammered into their heads in school that ALL henna is bad, regardless. *shrugs* Even if they know better, some dont like it simply because it keeps clients away - they dont need to constantly reapply as they do with chemical color because plant dyes dont fade.

 

You can always send your friend here for an education on real henna (or offer her the e-book) and assure her that that really isnt true.

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Sun, 2011-02-20 16:28
(Reply to #17)
Carrie
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Re: **UPDATE** Henna/ Amla Mix Color is too dark! Please help

Have your hairdresser get in touch with Julie Trainer, Mehandi's cosmetologist on staff who does trainings for haircolorists to teach them how to use plant dyes on their clients' hair!!  Julie has a website also: 

http://www.hennaeducator.com/Trainings.html

Also have her look at Megumi Organic Salon on Facebook for photos of her professional salon and client before and after photos ... she ONLY uses plant dyes and has beautiful results.

http://www.facebook.com/MegumiOrganicSalon

Here are more licensed stylists who use henna on their clients' hair. There is no reason for your hairdresser to stay in the dark about henna! 

http://www.hennaforhair.com/beauticians/

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Sun, 2011-02-20 19:05
Lavinniya
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Re: **UPDATE** Henna/ Amla Mix Color is too dark! Please help

 Wow! Thank you! I will definitely send her the links!  It is kind of sad to know that many people will never know how fun and beneficial henna is for your hair because their hair stylists say it is a big no no.

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Mon, 2011-02-21 21:19
Lavinniya
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Re: **UPDATE** Henna/ Amla Mix Color is too dark! Please help

Here are links to the new pictures of my bright and shiny new beautiful hair.  I absolutely love it! 

i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m607/Lavinniya/IMG_0719.jpg

i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m607/Lavinniya/IMG_0718.jpg

i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m607/Lavinniya/IMG_0715.jpg

i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m607/Lavinniya/IMG_0713-1.jpg

i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m607/Lavinniya/IMG_0713.jpg

This is henna mixed with 100% lemon juice and left to dye release for 24hours and applied to hair for 6 hours. 

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Mon, 2011-02-21 22:05
(Reply to #20)
Carrie
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Re: **UPDATE** Henna/ Amla Mix Color is too dark! Please help

It looks great!  So you couldn't remove the black by clarifying, and the next thing you tried was simply rehennaing, and the black is gone?

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Mon, 2011-02-21 22:10
Lavinniya
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Re: **UPDATE** Henna/ Amla Mix Color is too dark! Please help

 You bet!! I'm not sure exactly what happened there but.. yeah, the second application of henna evened it out and made it silky soft and shiny.  Perhaps it was hair damage or something?  I dont know. But i do know that I love henna for fixing my hair and i love the color!  I am so happy there is a miracle plant that can do this!!! :D

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