Hi all..going thru a "I need to change my look" crisis...right now I have auburn hair that was last dyed with henna in May 2005..I'm in the ocean almost every day and the color has faded.  Right now it's below shoulder length.  I've heard that you cannot dye over henna'd hair ..but is there a way to strip it?  I'd love to change colors and go from auburn to blonde..or maybe a caramel color with blond highlights. 

Am also considering weft extensions.  What are my best options?  Re-henna my hair and stay red, and add extensions?  Or cut my hair to remove any henna areas,  but add extensions until it grows out again.  Once it grows out dye it blond with blond extensions. 

I  have healthy hair now and swim a lot..any suggestions welcome.

Have you tried posting your question on the Hair Color forum as well?  They really have a lot of info on all types of color.

http://talk.hairboutique.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=33 - http://talk.hairboutique.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=33

I don't know anything about henna, but I am very familiar with the "I need a change" hair crisis syndrome (INCHCS).  That hits me about every three months.  I used to just fiddle with cut/color/curl, but now, thanks to extensions, I can change my length at a whim, too! 

I'm fighting the urge right now to change my hair again, but I'm going to try to hold out until March when I'm gonna go red, although not with henna for the very reason you're having trouble.  It's not a good option for those with INCHCS because it's so hard to get out. 

I'm really curious, too, about the mineral oil and heat idea, so I did a web search and found the answer right here on hairboutique:  http://www.hairboutique.com/tips/tip1141.htm - http://www.hairboutique.com/tips/tip1141.htm .

Good luck, and welcome to extensions!

aloha thanks for the responses!  Thank you for the link about mineral oil too..anyone know if this damages the hair?  My fear is stripping the henna, then re-dyeing and adding extensions will be too much stress on my hair..it's strong and thick but I'd hate to lose that:) 

I'll post in the hair color section too, thank you

I've loved henna for years now, it makes a perfect deep red that can be darkened easily..it's messy stuff but I can do it at home.  Hmmm maybe I should stick with it and just add extensions..I was researching a bit about extensions last night and looks like different color extensions can be added as well...so maybe add a few of different colors for a highlight effect or a confused hippie look :) :)  I do a lot of bellydance so it's nice to have something a bit theatrical..but I surf a lot too so upkeep has to be pretty easy.

Thanks ladies great to meet you all

Jes

You could strip it depending on what henna you used.If you used the cheap stuff,it would definitely be there until cut out.But if you used the body art quality fresh kind then it can be stripped,but it will be like stripping out black dye from your hair.

How much of your hair is new growth,and how much has henna on it?

Whether or not using bleach over henna will mangle it (your hair) depends on whether you were using compound henna with metallic  salts (what tangles was hinting at) or bulk natural henna like longhairdreams mentioned. I've personally never had a bit of luck stripping or bleaching henna from my hair but as you've dyed yours last so long ago it may have degraded to the point where you can. Can't hurt to try a stand test, anyway. What I finally did have success with was going darker - I kept trying different shades and the lightest that would completely cover the red colour was a level 5 neutral.  I used wella demi-permenant from sallys. Started out dark and then faded into a a true med brown with a bit of warmth. Since I had wanted blonde (gave up on that as the bleach didn't work) what I'm doing to get around it is adding in a full head of highlights with extensions in blended shades of brown and blonde to get a highlighted look.

I have no regrets about using henna, btw. It gave the most natural looking, lovely shade of red I've ever had. I'm just so fickle about hair colour!

Oh, and that bit with the mineral oil is bunk, I think. I've never heard of anyone having success with it. In theory it doesn't remove the colour, just the "coating" so the new colour can penetrate. But I'm pretty sure henna binds to the hair shaft at the molecular level, it doesn't just coat it.  It didn't work for me at any rate - I treated one section with oil and left a "control" section, and then tried to dye both with the same dye, and there was no difference in how well the dye took. Which is to say not at all. That was with the blonder shades.