Thread: so i'm living proof you can dye after henna but...

can you henna after dye?

I henna'd for 10 years then a few months ago successfully had dye work done..no weird colors resulted. But I'm quickly finding it's expensive to keep up and my hair is not as shiny as it was when I henna'd

So can I return to henna after dyeing? How long do you wait? How do you know all the dye is gone? Just visually?

i know..kinda ironic a silk dye artist asking but it's hair and i do silk hehe

I have henna'd after a pro dye before. I think I waited a month or two. Nothing bad happened, no hair fell out, the color was fine. The only issue I could see is if your dyed color is darker than the henna, it might take a while for the henna to be as bright as it was before.

I have long hair and switched a few years ago from using a level 4 (killer industrial strength product for people with "resistant" gray hair) commercial hair dye to henna-based vegetable color. I didn't find the transition difficult at all. One thing though; a lot of my hair is gray and in the front of my head it's white; grey/white hair seems to really absorb henna so that although the color does fade over time to something less bright, it really is a permanent color change. The product I use now is Logona herbal hair color. It's your typical powdered henna with other vegetable colors that you mix with hot water. It also contains however a starch of some kind that makes the glop more smooth and cohesive so it's a lot easier to apply than ordinary henna, plus much easier to rinse out than ordinary henna, which is a great blessing indeed.
Rosette

Oh and while I'm plugging my favorite product here, another thing about the Logona hair color: They give you PLENTY of product in the package. I do my roots first, wait, then go back and saturate all my hair for the last 10-15 minutes. My hair has been as long as waist length and there's enough to cover all of it easily. A person with short hair could color 2 or 3 times with one box.
R

thanks guys are there any specific henna brands that do better after hair is dyed? a bit of bleach was used to create highlights so i assume those will henna lighter than the rest of my hair which is naturally a dark auburn color

Is the logona hair color available online? I've been dying my hair red for about a year and I really like being a redhead but I hate that the vibrant red color fades pretty quickly. Does this happen with henna?

If you use Body Art Quality (BAQ) henna, you should be okay to henna over the dye. If you use a boxed henna with added chemicals or salts you could have a problem.

Here are a couple of websites you can order from:
Mehandi.com shop - Henna, Indigo and Harquus .... body art and hair care supplies that are hard to find!
Henna Sooq

There is also the Henna For Hair forum on the mehandi site that will help you answer some questions.

I use the henna from mehandi, but I live near their actual store, so that is easy for me to get. It is really good henna though.

I have used Henna For Hair BAQ Henna over hair that was treated with Clairol Natural Instincts. I waited a few months from the last application and had no trouble whatsoever.

I've seen people advise that you shouldn't henna over dye, but I did when I decided to stop using dye and I'm alive to tell the tale. No problems.

The rouge henna from Lush was my gateway drug into henna use, but I eventually started using BAQ henna from Henna for Hair, and this is what I now swear by.

Originally Posted by Cersei

If you use Body Art Quality (BAQ) henna, you should be okay to henna over the dye. If you use a boxed henna with added chemicals or salts you could have a problem.

Here are a couple of websites you can order from:
Mehandi.com shop - Henna, Indigo and Harquus .... body art and hair care supplies that are hard to find!
Henna Sooq

There is also the Henna For Hair forum on the mehandi site that will help you answer some questions.

I use the henna from mehandi, but I live near their actual store, so that is easy for me to get. It is really good henna though.

Oh! Yes, I agree. When I say henna, I definitely mean just straight up henna powder. If you buy a box of henna that claims to dye your hair any color other than red, there's no guarantee it won't do something crazy to your hair.

Originally Posted by Cersei

If you use Body Art Quality (BAQ) henna, you should be okay to henna over the dye. If you use a boxed henna with added chemicals or salts you could have a problem.

Here are a couple of websites you can order from:
Mehandi.com shop - Henna, Indigo and Harquus .... body art and hair care supplies that are hard to find!
Henna Sooq

There is also the Henna For Hair forum on the mehandi site that will help you answer some questions.

I use the henna from mehandi, but I live near their actual store, so that is easy for me to get. It is really good henna though.

seconded

I used to dye my hair with L’Oreal and Clairol, but I switched to just using henna last spring. The henna doesn’t lighten my hair, so my roots are darker than the rest of my hair, but it’s all shiny and red. It’s very red when I’m in natural sunlight, and I never had any problems with the texture of my hair or it falling out.

this is probably a stupid question, but henna is much healthier/better for hair then professional dye right? I've been professionally dying my hair for ages - but I find my hair is getting thinner and looks more damaged at the ends each time. My hair is long now, and I'd like to keep growing it, but it gets harder and harder to do that it seems...

I just dye it a very dark shade of brown right now, does anyone know if its possible to find a similar henna shade but without any red tones in it? (I hate red in my hair, it looks awful on me)

Thanks :)

Originally Posted by MellyBelly

this is probably a stupid question, but henna is much healthier/better for hair then professional dye right? I've been professionally dying my hair for ages - but I find my hair is getting thinner and looks more damaged at the ends each time. My hair is long now, and I'd like to keep growing it, but it gets harder and harder to do that it seems...

I just dye it a very dark shade of brown right now, does anyone know if its possible to find a similar henna shade but without any red tones in it? (I hate red in my hair, it looks awful on me)

Thanks :)

Henna only dyes hair red/burgundy. Anything claiming to be "henna" that colours hair brown or black should be treated with suspicion and caution.

What you *can* do is mix henna with indigo or katam/buxux to achieve a black or brown colour, but it's likely that there will still be some red tones. Henna is permanent. You'll also need to strand test to work out what mixture will work for you. You'll need to do a bit of research - I'd recommend checking out hennaforhair.com and longhaircommunity.com for mixture ideas and to learn a bit more about what to expect from henna.

Henna is much, much better for your scalp and hair than conventional dyes. Many report henna to have a strengthening and protective effect. It can also make hair feel thicker and have more body.

Originally Posted by Nat242

Henna is much, much better for your scalp and hair than conventional dyes. Many report henna to have a strengthening and protective effect. It can also make hair feel thicker and have more body.

I've only been hennaing my hair for about 5 months (2x to date), but I love it! My hair seems to have more body, looks and feels silkier, and has that henna "glow".

Originally Posted by Nat242

Henna only dyes hair red/burgundy. Anything claiming to be "henna" that colours hair brown or black should be treated with suspicion and caution.

What you *can* do is mix henna with indigo or katam/buxux to achieve a black or brown colour, but it's likely that there will still be some red tones. Henna is permanent. You'll also need to strand test to work out what mixture will work for you. You'll need to do a bit of research - I'd recommend checking out hennaforhair.com and longhaircommunity.com for mixture ideas and to learn a bit more about what to expect from henna.

Henna is much, much better for your scalp and hair than conventional dyes. Many report henna to have a strengthening and protective effect. It can also make hair feel thicker and have more body.

i second this...healthy is in

Originally Posted by Nat242

Henna only dyes hair red/burgundy. Anything claiming to be "henna" that colours hair brown or black should be treated with suspicion and caution.

What you *can* do is mix henna with indigo or katam/buxux to achieve a black or brown colour, but it's likely that there will still be some red tones. Henna is permanent. You'll also need to strand test to work out what mixture will work for you. You'll need to do a bit of research - I'd recommend checking out hennaforhair.com and longhaircommunity.com for mixture ideas and to learn a bit more about what to expect from henna.

Henna is much, much better for your scalp and hair than conventional dyes. Many report henna to have a strengthening and protective effect. It can also make hair feel thicker and have more body.

Thanks for the info! I don't know if I'm brave enough to try and mess with the colour to take the red out of it... but all this info about how it makes your hair feel/look sounds so nice! haha, maybe if I think I can handle red again I will try it...

Originally Posted by zorba

I've only been hennaing my hair for about 5 months (2x to date), but I love it! My hair seems to have more body, looks and feels silkier, and has that henna "glow".

I think "glow" is a great way to describe it!

Henna for Hair
is the best source for information about dying and henna

Originally Posted by steffib

I have used Henna For Hair BAQ Henna over hair that was treated with Clairol Natural Instincts. I waited a few months from the last application and had no trouble whatsoever.

Ditto. The only problem is that the natural instincts had gradually lightened my hair slightly, and there is a slight line of demarkation where I quit using it. It really isn't noticeable, but if quitting your current highlighting regime is going to produce dark "roots" there will still be a light/dark boundary after the henna.

The real problem arises when you henna over chemically treated hair, but the henna product you use is a "compound henna" that contains metallic salts like PPD (Para-phenylenediamine). These are most likely to be found in imported products that claim to dye the hair some color other than red, like black or brown. These chemicals react with the henna and the chemically treated hair to produce various disasterous results including serious chemical burns to the hair and scalp, green hair, etc. Thus the warnings to use only body art quality henna.

Oh, forgot to add: the main problem with the adulterated henna products is that they often don't list their ingredients, or falsely claim to be pure henna. So buy henna from a reputable henna supplier.

I began using henna a few months ago after a very bad reaction to commercial hair dye that I'd be using for years! I use natural henna with other herbs added in to attain what is now a dark auburn and I LOVE it...you can check out what I use on All Natural Hair dye, Lustrous Henna natural hair colors, vegetable dye the owner is SUPER helpful if you need assistance too!

Originally Posted by MellyBelly

Thanks for the info! I don't know if I'm brave enough to try and mess with the colour to take the red out of it... but all this info about how it makes your hair feel/look sounds so nice! haha, maybe if I think I can handle red again I will try it...

You're very welcome!

Henna is just a plant,nothing else so if you buy good BAQ henna, it should be fine over chemically treated or dyed hair
If you want a red stain use henna
If you want brown- use henna and indigo mixed together
for black- use henna, then use indigo right after
For the strongest red color- use Yemeni Henna

What kind of commercial hair dye in a box does the least damage to hennaed hair? I love henna, but my hair is just too dark and I need a change. I haven’t had any luck with trying to lighten my hair with honey, lemons, chamomile, etc. over the last year, so I’m ready to try dying or bleaching my hair. I plan to henna over the top of the dye after it grows out and I need to recolor. Is this a bad idea?

I use Jamila henna from Pakistan which for me I never had a bad batch. I hennaed my hair then did the hair dye thing for 8 years. I gave my hair a rest for a year to rest my hair from what I put it though. Now I started to henna my hair again and my hair is much happier.

Alrana

I used to use Hennalucent, but I can't buy it locally anymore. :(

Does anyone know a good product to switch to?

Originally Posted by mehndidancer

I use Jamila henna from Pakistan which for me I never had a bad batch. I hennaed my hair then did the hair dye thing for 8 years. I gave my hair a rest for a year to rest my hair from what I put it though. Now I started to henna my hair again and my hair is much happier.

Alrana

What kind of dye did you use over the henna? Did it change your hair a lot?

I just want to dye my hair a light red, but I don’t want to try it if it will be impossible.

Originally Posted by MellyBelly

Thanks for the info! I don't know if I'm brave enough to try and mess with the colour to take the red out of it... but all this info about how it makes your hair feel/look sounds so nice! haha, maybe if I think I can handle red again I will try it...

maybe start gathering hair to do a few strand tests- you can always use the left over henna for other purposes, or freeze it for later. No need to experiment directly on your head!

for those who like the general effects of henna but don't want to color your hair, I used to use cassia obovata (sp?)- similar application, similar results, just no dye (hubby agreed there was a 'glow')

Originally Posted by Gia al Qamar

I began using henna a few months ago after a very bad reaction to commercial hair dye that I'd be using for years! I use natural henna with other herbs added in to attain what is now a dark auburn and I LOVE it...you can check out what I use on All Natural Hair dye, Lustrous Henna natural hair colors, vegetable dye the owner is SUPER helpful if you need assistance too!

I started using their henna a while ago, it's excellent quality, very finely milled and mixes up like smooth pudding, I use the soft black which I believe is a mix of henna and indigo.

I always thought it was OK to henna over dye (since henna merely coats the hair shaft), but bad to dye over henna?