Bleach and Henna

I truly love henna, but now that I'm a mom, the super involved routine that henna requires is unappealing. I have to prepare the henna the night before, then slather it on my head the next day and let it sit for at least four hours, the smell bothers me, it's heavy and makes my head/neck hurt, and on and on. My hair is always beautiful afterwards, but man, I just get sick of what I go through to achieve it. I also don't like that with repeated treatments, it darkens my hair, and I've found it very difficult to apply the thick henna-mud strictly on my roots.


If you are reading this, perhaps you got here because you are wondering if it's possible to bleach your hair that has henna in it. I am not a professional stylist, and everything I discuss is based on my own experience. Your mileage may vary, definitely consider seeing a hair stylist first, please do more research, so on and so forth.

Getting down to business: Can you successfully bleach henna hair? The answer to that question, in short, is yes. Well...maybe. There are things to consider.

Contrary to what rumors are out there, you CAN bleach or dye hair that has been treated with henna, as long as what you used is PURE HENNA. It will not have the same results as on "virgin" hair, though. Henna is extremelyyyy permanent and almost impossible to remove, even with bleach. So, your hair will lighten, but it will mainly stay orange, and not a traditional blonde shade.

Bleach, though. Just the word "bleach" alone is enough to send shivers down your spine, isn't it? It makes you think of the stuff you scour your bathroom tub with (even though it's not the same type of bleach). It just sounds terrifying.

It really isn't all that scary, as long as you do as much research beforehand as possible, take the necessary steps to protect your hair and skin, be realistic about your hair goals, and keep a few things in mind. First of all, and probably the most important thing you need to understand, do not attempt to use bleach or any other chemical hair process on henna that you are not absolutely positive is 100% pure henna. Any henna that has been mixed with other unknown additives can react horribly with traditional chemical hair processes.

First things first, we need to figure out: what is your goal here?

- Is your henna too dark, and are you just wanting to lighten it up a shade or two?
- Are you wanting to break up the color a little, with some highlights or maybe ombre?

The above is fairly easy to achieve. But...

- Are you wanting to go blonde?
- Are you wanting to fully remove the henna?

If those last two are on your mind, go no further. If you are wanting to channel your inner Gwen Stefani and go platinum bleach blonde after henna, forget it. Do not attempt it yourself. See a professional!

Also, very important: What is the condition of your hair? Can it handle bleach and still retain most of its health? You need to have very healthy hair before using bleach at all. Go slowly if you can - do small bleaching over the course of a few weeks or months and baby your hair in between. Don't compromise the integrity of your hair to get results fast.

Second, you also need to realize that hair that has been henna'd will not lift in the same manner that virgin hair will (or hair that only has regular dye in it). Henna itself is very reddish-orange, and when you bleach it, your hair will be BRIGHTER reddish-orange. Continuing to bleach the hair to get to blonde most likely will result in extreme damage. My advice, if you are wanting to go blonde, is definitely go see a professional hair stylist, and be honest with them about your use of henna.

If you are wanting to bleach henna hair to lift it just a couple levels, this is something that is attainable. Just remember to keep in mind that it will indeed be VERY orange the lighter it gets.

I would suggest trying a Vitamin C hair treatment (or a few of those) to see if the henna color will budge a bit before trying bleach. You can also try a "soap cap" - where a small amount of bleach is added to shampoo, and it lifts the hair more gently and slowly. Or, like what I did - you can use a blue toned bleach and a low level developer (20 volume) to give yourself an ombre style - it lightened up the overall look of my hair, without causing much damage, and it was very easy to do myself.

Before bleaching, it's important to prepare the hair. Coconut oil treatments before bleaching can help protect the hair and minimize damage, as well as NOT shampooing the hair for as long as you can stand before you plan to bleach. I personally did not shampoo for three days ahead of time, but I used those three days to condition, condition, condition my hair.

Like I said, when I used bleach on my hair, the result was very, very orange. My goal was to add pink/red vegetable semi permanent dye over the top, so a little bit of orange was not a big deal because I was planning on staying within the "warm" color range of pink/red.

If you are wanting to tone down the orange as it lightens, definitely look into getting a "blue" bleach and a toner to use afterwards as well. You may not be able to fully remove the orange from the henna, so keep that in mind.

It's really important to be patient with your hair, and not try to get the result you want as fast as possible. With bleach, and henna, it takes time. Be nice to your hair and give it a break. Bleach can be done in smaller increments, with deep conditioning in between. And, of course, baby your hair after any chemical process to help repair any dryness or damage that occurs.

If all of this sounds frightening to you - again, definitely find a good stylist/colorist who has experience with henna. I'm just the type of person that likes to read about hair, watch hair videos, and experiment with my own hair (as safely as I can!) and I have had pretty good results. My hair is still really soft and smooth and in good condition. But please, do as much research on this as you can before you attempt it.

Good luck!

Raspberry Pink Ombre with Ion Color Brilliance Brights

I felt like shaking things up a bit, and decided to do something totally different with my hair. I wanted pink!

I haven't had pink hair in a few years. Last time, I bleached my entire hair and colored it a bright cotton candy pink. Then I did a darker rose pink, and purple, cherry red, and so on and so forth. I like to take chances with my hair every now and again.

I have mainly kept to my dark brown or henna hair color for the past year and a half or so. I was missing pink, though...

I'm a stay at home mom now, and I figured, why the heck not? Let's get some colorful hair again!

I decided on an ombre style, because I did not want to bleach all of my hair, and I didn't want it to be TOO vibrant. I figured if I get sick of the pink, once it washes out I will be left with a regular ombre style.

I went to Sally Beauty Supply and purchased the tools I needed. This is what I used:

- Salon Care 20 volume creme developer (here)
- Salon Care Prism Lites Blue bleach (here)
- Ion Color Brilliance Brights in Magenta (here)
- Ion Color Brilliance Neon Brights in Hottie Pink (here)

...everything cost me under $15.

To prepare for bleaching, I did not shampoo my hair for 3 days. I conditioned it, and used deep conditioner a couple times as well.

I bleached my hair into an ombre style - I wasn't overly meticulous about this, I just applied bleach here and there on the ends and rubbed upwards. I left it in a little over 30 minutes, probably. I chose 20 vol because I didn't want a HUGE lift, I wanted something that lifted a little slower and a bit more gentle. I have henna in my hair, so I wasn't going to be able to lift to a blonde (I'll blog about bleaching henna soon), so I had a pretty orange-y result.

I have never used Ion Color Brilliance Brights before. I've seen them in Sally's, but I usually reach for Manic Panic or order Punky Colour instead. My vote has always been for Punky Colour, it's the best semi-permanent dye I've found for funky colors. I decided to get the Ion because it was $5ish a tube and BOGO half off. Two tubes cost less than one jar of Manic Panic. Having never used Ion before, I was a little unsure what to expect since I've read a lot of mixed reviews.

The product itself seems fine, my first impression of it is okay. The scent of the dye reminds me of Caress soap, kind of a flowery powdery soap scent. Not as great smelling as Punky Colour (which smells like grape juice, mmm) but it isn't awful either.

The Magenta color is a typical fuchsia shade, and the Hottie Pink from the new Neons range, was more of a cool-tone pink. Not really neon, but I bet on platinum hair it's probably stunning. I mixed them together about half and half.

The color result? Dark strawberry/raspberry pink. I like it, it isn't exactly what I pictured in my head, but I do like it. It's quite a change from what I've had lately.

Putting the pink on top of the orange resulted in more of a reddish pink.

Before and after

A note about the Ion Brilliance Brights color - this stuff is THICK. Very thick, like toothpaste - it isn't super creamy like I'm used to using with other brands. Many people complain that there isn't enough in the tube because it's so thick. The trick to using this stuff is to ADD WATER. Add water to the Ion and stir, stir, stir! Do not add conditioner like with other brands. Adding water doesn't affect the pigmentation of the product, it only thins it out to make it easier to work with.



I'm not sure if I would repurchase Ion Brilliance Brights or not... I will update once I've shampooed my hair a few times to see how long it lasts.

Pinky goodness!

How I Henna My Hair

First, let me be clear that I am NOT an expert on henna. Though I have spent a lot of time reading, researching, and watching tutorial videos about henna, I cannot claim to know everything there is to know about it. This is just my experience and results with using henna on my hair.

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Henna is something I have always had an interest in - but I had some reservations about it. I would research it on and off every so often, then something would make me hesitate: it takes a lot of preparation time, what if the henna I get isn't pure, it's super permanent so what if I hate it? Then I would think, "yeah, maybe I shouldn't. I'll just stick to my regular drugstore dyes."
In the last few months, my interest in henna began to grow. I started spending more time researching and reading all I could find about it. I was starting to really feel like hey, maybe this would actually work for me. It's all natural, there's no crazy questionable chemicals in there, I don't have to make an appointment at a salon, it's supposed to be good for my hair and not damage it, and it's permanent.
After reading and watching enough videos, I finally felt like I was ready to take the plunge and try it out. So far I have henna'd my hair three times, for the first two times I used Reshma henna, and then I used Jamila henna. Both worked very nicely for me, and I didn't see a huge difference between them. I got good dye release and staining power from both of them.



Now, I am the type of person that does not measure anything when it comes to recipes. I cannot tell you for sure how much I put in there, or how much YOU should put in your henna. I just eyeballed the measurements until I felt that the consistency was right.

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This is my method. Keep reading, it's a lot to go through...

Snip snip, bang bang

So... I decided to get creative one morning, grabbed some scissors, and gave myself some bangs. I think I like them.

Raspberry Red Hair

Last week, I decided to change my dark golden brown hair into something a bit more drastic. I love to change up my hair, and I'm not afraid to try vibrant colors.

Now I have bright reddish pink hair. I think raspberry is a good description for it since in some lights it looks red, and others it looks pink.

First I highlighted my hair with Revlon Frost and Glow kit. Then I applied my own mixture of Manic Panic and Jerome Russell Punky Colour shades: I used Manic Panic Vampire Red, Hot Hot Pink, and Punky Colour Red Wine and Rose Red. Just used a little dollop here and there of all those colors, mixed them up, and applied.

Here is the result. I really like it and have gotten many compliments on it. My husband also likes it. :)

It all started with pink hair

Last summer around this time, I went through some kind of quarter life crisis. I can't really call it as mid-life crisis, as I'm only 25 - so quarter life I shall call it, lol. Anyway, I basically went on a hair color rampage.

A frenzy.

I'm now a recovering hair color addict.

Over the past year, I changed my hair color, literally, about every  month. Before the major changes, I had long, flowing, silky dark hair. Dark brown, almost black, almost to my waist. I guess I got tired of having the same old look, so I drastically cut it into a chin-length bob and highlighted it.

I got so many compliments, I didn't know what hit me. People stopped me just to say how much they loved the new short, lighter hair color. It felt good to be noticed. But then... I wanted pink hair.