i'm planning my 3rd henna application. i think the orange/golden
highlights are mostly due to the color it was prior to henna (after
bleaching). my roots seem to have a nice burgundy color. the 2nd app
blended my rainbow locks a bit better too.
next i want to try sassafras tea mixed with my henna. i'm having an
awful time trying to find pure sassafras, so i might try something like
red wine to tone down that orange and give it more red.
even after the 2nd henna app, my hair is almost completely unmanageable
when it's wet. in fact most of the time i give up after 1/2 hour and
don't comb it out completely lol. after washing, i ring my hair out
before conditioning, and it's stiff! after conditioning, it's a bit
softer, but still feels like it's not getting the same level of
conditioning it got before i did all this. the henna has made my hair
thicker tho, and it has a different consistency. it can only get
better!
lol thanks! don't give it to me sugarcoated (another bad pun )
please...i completely agree with you. the color is nice and all, but i
don't think it looks right on me. it's actually toned down a bit since
this morning (and i'm alot calmer) and is a bit more red, but i am
still on the search for the perfect color.
i've been searching the hennaforhair forums all day soaking up
info...so far it seems that red wine, paprika, cloves, all spice, and
sassafras tea are my best bets for things to try. Rini, you were
definitely right.. the lemon juice made my mix more red. now i will try
new ingredients one by one. thanks to everyone for their inspiration
through these trying times lol
flame on!
SugarCube
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Red is definetly your color but I think a darker red would be better for you(don't take this the wrong way) but anyways your hair looks flamin (I know bad pun).
i did a basic henna/lemon juice with some lavender EO on saturday.
there is almost no change in the color (maybe a hint more red), except
that some of the darker parts are now a more drab brown. i really think
i messed up by putting tea and indigo into my first henna mix. it
darkened the darkest parts even more and didn't give me the red i am
craving. altho my hair is naturally a medium brown with slightly red
highlights, almost none of my hair is my natural color right now. i'm
anxious for some new growth...there are so many colors i'm trying to
work with!
i'm debating on a couple different things and will be doing alot of
reading over the next couple weeks before doing anything further...i
could Colorfix the darker parts and try to even the color a bit more,
but first i need to get my henna mix right. i'm afraid that each time i
henna, the bottom will get darker and browner. i could also apply a
vegetable dye such as Manic Panic to give me more red. i'm considering
mixing this with henna, but again i need to do more homework.
i'll get some more pics today and document my findings. i knew it
wouldn't be easy to get this just the way i want it, but i'm getting
quite discouraged lol. my biggest concern is not damaging my hair
anymore.. color is always fixable! one good thing, my hair feels MUCH
better after the second henna application
Edited by ataraxy - July 30 2006 at 1:59pm
missrini
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Ataraxy, I really think that the copper red of my hair is largely to do with the significant amount of silvers in my base colour. Your hair is naturally medium brown (no silvers?) so you would probably get a more cherry/burgundy red than me just with using straight henna (basic mix).
A friend of mine has similar to my base colour but with no silvers at all, and she gets quite a "purple" red. She has been adding a good amount of Tumeric to her mix so she balances out the purple tones (she prefers a more copper red).
there's the redhead i've been awaiting advice from! i was wondering if
i overcomplicated things. i should have done some research on
Colorfix...i had seen it mentioned a couple times and completely forgot
about it. i hit a point where i just wanted that black to be gone!
i definitely want red...i love yours Rini, but am looking for something
a bit more cherry burgundy for myself. of the 3 mixes i posted above, 2
of them used indigo to obtain the burgundy, and the other used a
pre-mixed "red sunset". i think the bleached hair grabbed too much of
the indigo. your comment about diluting makes alot of sense. i'm
thinking about doing my next application tomorrow, and will follow your
suggestion to start with the basic lemon mix. my boyfriend's daughter
will have a friend over...what better way to freak her out
missrini
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Hi Ataraxy.....yay for you!!!!! Your hair looks fabulous!
I am curious as to why you bleached to get rid of the darker chemical colour. A product like ColorFix would have done the job without damage. Perhaps that is worth looking into for any remainders?
I would be interested to see what result you would get if you just used the henna and diluted lemon juice....ie a very basic mix without any other additives. I think this would be a good one to try as then you could see what effects the different additives have one by one. I have found recently that the basic mix is best....I have no fluro orange on my greys with this and the colour is a lovely rich red. The additives can act to "dilute" the lawsone molecules (the dyeing part) rather than "tip" the colour sometimes. Indigo is the exception of course, but you would prefer to have red hair right?
Repeated applications of henna will deepen the colour, and if you give it a bit of time to oxidise the colour will deepen more.
Thanks for posting such a great description of your process and photos of your results. I know that your hair will reward you now that you are not using the chemicals anymore.
25 inches as at 1st Nov 06
Hellfrozeover
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thanks for the compliments gals, and sorry about the link...i usually check those to make sure they work!
well, i'm 1/2 irish but definitely look moreso now. i've been told by
alot of people that it compliments me much better than the black, which
is probably because it's closer to my natural color. i'm really
looking forward to my next henna app weekend after this one coming up.
my hair feels alot thicker and is very shiny, and i know it will only
get better. another thing i'm looking forward to is FINALLY having
healthy hair after all the damage grows out. i'm done with chemical
dyes once and for all!
whhoiskad
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The link of your hair photos didn't work for me at first because it had
a string of hairboutique before it, but I found it by removing that and
using just this part http://www.ink3s.org/pub/ataraxy/hair/
Thanks for sharing your photos. I don't know enough about henna to answer your question, but you look great with the red hair you have in the end!
Making metal barettes/concord clips hair safe, long hair style how to: http://alonghair.wordpress.com
warning: this is a long post, as i have tried to document every detail about this as i could.
background: i have naturally medium brown hair with reddish
highlights (father is mostly Irish w/ red hair and mom is Chech with
dark brown hair).
age 14 - 18: blonde highlights to full blonde
age 18 - 20: reds and burgundies
age 20 - 22: blue, purple, pink, fireengine red - my colorful phase
age 20 - 33: blue black
as you see, i enjoy playing with color! i finally got bored with the
blue black and tired of harmful dyes and decided to go back to reds and
try henna. i knew the only way to do this was to lift the blue black
out of my hair before applying henna.
click here for photos
of each phase - pics 2031 & 2032 are pre-lightening, showing
my black
hair with natural roots. you can also see that the black no longer
covered every hair toward the bottom.
phase 1 pics 2033 & 2034: lightening the blue black - altho
it is horrible for the hair, i decided this must be done. i refuse to
walk around with 1' of red and 2' of black hanging from it @ the
bottom. i think it looks really bad.
phase 2 pics 2035 & 2036: more lightening - my hair really
didn't like this phase. i made sure i conditioned it very well and was
extremely gentle..."antique lace". i was afraid to do any deep
conditioning (mayonaise, oils etc) until after the coloring.
phase 3: henna!
friday night i mixed my henna using my own blend between
Kim,
Snuffywump,
and Anna. i wanted
something bright and vibrant with a cherry/burgundy shade and less
orangish.
- 300g body art quality henna from Mehandi
- 2+ cups regular tea brewed strong
- 2+ cups black cherry tea brewed strong (could not find red herbal tea)
- 4 tbsp cloves / 2 tbsp paprika / 1/2 packet of unsweetened black
cherry Koolaid (my favorite drink...i had to!) in about 1 cup of water
- juice of 4 lemons
per Kim's instructions, i mixed my teas together with the liquid of my
"spice mix", let them cool a bit, then mixed with the henna. i then
covered it and let it sit overnight.
saturday morning i mixed up some indigo:
- 75g indigo from Mehandi
- juice of 2 lemons
- a small amount of warm water
i let the indigo sit for a couple of hours per Snuffywump's
instructions. i was afraid that if i mixed the indigo with the henna
friday night (like Anna does) that my color would turn out too dark.
a couple hours later, i put a few drops of lavender EO and about 1/2
cup of olive oil into my henna mix after filling the sink with hot
water and heating the henna a bit. i also warmed up the leftover tea i
brewed, which i'm glad i did...my henna was VERY thick! i then added
the indigo to the henna and headed for the bathroom.
i also filled this sink with hot water and mixed the henna over and
over again. i continuously added hot water and tea through the
application because by the time i was finished, the henna was drying in
my hair. i wrapped my head in plastic wrap and left the henna on for a
little more than 5 hours, then rinsed with water only. hair was close
to impossible to comb with leave in conditioner, and was impossible
without it.
phase 4 pics 2073 - 2075: sunday - day after henna before shampoo/conditioner
phase 5 pics 2084 - 2089: monday - after sunday night
shampoo/conditioner with leave in conditioner. it took me 45 minutes to
comb my hair wet after my shower, and i had to be extremely careful.
now the questions...did the paprika give me the orangish hue, or is
this because my hair was bleached? i will have to wait for awhile until
i discover the right mixture for my natural color, but in the meantime
i would like to deepen my shade and make it more of a cherry color
(less cinnamonish), but without darkening the darker parts (bottom)
anymore. i think i will try no indigo next time, and maybe some red
wine. i will be doing a 2nd henna mix in a couple weeks, which from
what i hear will help the dryness. in the meantime i will do a mayo
treatment this weekend.
all that said, thanks to anyone who was able to read this entire thing,
or any of it for that matter. i am truly ADDICTED that fast and can't
wait for my next application. i may not have the exact color i want,
but i am enjoying being a redhead again, and the color looks more
uniform than before i applied the henna. indoors it's not so orangish
and i am getting tons of compliments
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my LJ
)
please...i completely agree with you. the color is nice and all, but i
don't think it looks right on me. it's actually toned down a bit since
this morning (and i'm alot calmer) and is a bit more red, but i am
still on the search for the perfect color.
) but anyways your hair looks flamin
(I know bad pun
)
.
! 
