I Lightened my Too-Dark Henna with Sun-In (Yes, really.) VERY pic heavy!!

And I LOVE it!


UPDATE: I've re-written this as an article with more step-by-step detail and pictures. /UPDATE.

First, some background:

Despite my best attempts to do so for the last few years, I'm still been markedly unhappy with how dark the length of my hair was. Back in the day when I was a henna n00b I had no idea that multiple applications of henna would produce a darker color.

In a way it was probably a good thing, I'm sure those many full-head applications of henna really helped to hold my damaged hair together, but now I'm down to only about 4-6 in of damaged hair on the ends, but the length from about APL down is quite dark.

Eventually I developed a mix that gave me coppery hair (35% henna, 65% cassia) and switched to root-only applications. All well and fine, but that wasn't helping the length.

I tried damn near everything to get the length to lighten up including:

• honey lightening (with the proper dilution and several types of honey)
• Amla (sometimes blended with EVOO sometimes not)
• EVOO
• Yogurt
• ColorFix
• various shampoos
• adding other herbs, such as turmeric to my henna mix (which did stain the length brighter but washed out quickly and stained me and my shower moreso)

Way back in the day on the old Henna Removal thread (archived boards) I remembered that several people were using vol30 peroxide to lighten things up and that peroxide alone worked better than bleach for henna.

And Sun-In's main ingredient is, you guessed it, peroxide.

Now, before I go into what I did and how I did it, a few things to keep in mind:

• This is NOT A HENNA REMOVAL METHOD. You are not going to get back to blond with this.
• This method worked for me, and may work for someone else, to lighten up henna a few shades. Do NOT expect it to make you a copper redhead if your natural hair is dark brown or black. You can't go that far without damage.
• I did an assload of strand testing and went very slowly, doing this over the course of two months. If you decide to try this, speed things up or skip steps at your own peril. I don't want to hear, ":wail: Nightshade I nuked my hair trying this, but I didn't strand test and used a whole bottle of Sun-In on dry hair, hit it with a hair dryer and then went tanning on the beach for 10 hours." I'm joking here, but only in part.

So, here's what I did.

Strand testing. After gathering several test locks I set one aside as a control, misted one with Sun-In and set it aside. After a week, nothing had changed (this is without exposure to the sun or hair dryer). I tried it again the next week on a new lock with the hair dryer, following the instructions that said to apply the Sun-In to damp hair, comb through and apply a hair dryer. Now, we're seeing progress. I tried a few more variations before settling on a method. I'd post pics of the strand tests, but the color differences weren't showing up well.

Application to Hair. After strand testing and then waiting two weeks after the last test to see any residual developing I went for it. I-

1. showered and shampooed my hair, but did not condition it (henna lets me get away with this, YMMV. ETA: I do normally use lots of conditioner, I just skipped it this time as I didn't want anything on my hair before using the Sun-In)
2. towel tried my hair and combed it out gently.
3. shook the Sun-In bottle and then misted my hair, focusing only on the darker length, from APL down, going lighter where the transiton from henna to cassia/henna hair took place
4. combed my hair
5. busted out the hair dryer (which hadn't been used on hair for years), set it on medium, and applied it to my hair, not nuking it, but not making the heat ultra-diffuse either. I had my hand behind my hair and it was never too hot on my hand. While doing this I kept my hair somewhat contained rather than letting it blow all over. This 1) kept the heat where I wanted it and 2) kept tangling to a minimum.
6. When my hair was getting dry I ran the APL-down length under cool water in the faucet, an repeated steps 2-5. I did this about 4 times per session.
7. Then I hopped back in the shower, rinsed and conditoned my hair, then added a bit of my leave-in conditioner.
8. Waited. My hair continued to lighten over the next 2-3 days (almost oxidation in reverse). I experienced no redarkening of my henna. I waited 2 weeks before my next Sun-In session.

I did one session every two weeks or so, I think only three sessions total. I used a total of 1 bottle of Sun-In (the pink bottle, not the blue one).

And the results? Drumroll please....

Color Difference Before (ends to roots):
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-H...ifference2.jpg

Color Difference in the sun:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-F...enna%2BSun.jpg


Color difference with flash: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-H.../s912/Hair.jpg


Bun Before:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-n...40/BunRat2.jpg

Bun After:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6...B2%2BSmall.jpg


Before:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-j...0/Tailbone.jpg

After:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-N...09%2BSmall.jpg

After it settled down more:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-W...00/5-30-09.jpg


[/B] So there you have it. I may do another application or two, but I'm still waiting to evaluate how things develop over the next two weeks.

Damage? None, really. After the end of each session my hair was dry and tangly at the ends (duh!), but after a shower and some conditioner seems perfectly fine. The only stuff that tangles is the last 4-6 inches, which was already damaged and prone to tangling to start.

Why didn't I detail the process as I was going through it?

1. Because I wanted to go through it without the pressure of people wanting to see results
2. I didn't want to have to listen to 1,001 Sun-In horror stories. :lol:

Some important things to keep in mind:

• As you can tell by my Amazon Goddess Bronze Tan, I don't spend a lot of time in the sun. I don't tan, I don't go to tanning beds.
• I Took. My. Time. I can't emphasize this enough.

So- Questions or comments welcome! I'm so happy!

Woah big difference great job.. and no damage right? Just lifted some henna?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aisha25

Woah big difference great job.. and no damage right? Just lifted some henna?

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No noticeable damage, at least not yet. I went into this knowing I could damage my hair, and I was okay with that. I've grown out some epic damage, and figured I could handle whatever happened :)

Also, I don't think it lifted the henna... honestly I'm not sure WHAT peroxide does, if I'm just lightening the hair under the henna or doing something to the henna itself. Iris was much more up on the chemical side of what was happening down to a molecular level :lol:

:lol: well this is good and waayy better than bleaching and cutting. Great job:thumbsup:

Wow, it looks great!!! :flower: yay!

What a difference!!
I love your hair :inlove:

Very nice. The bun looks a lot better.

Wow!! Just WOW!!! What a difference. And it's BEAUTIFUL. I hope there's no damage that comes popping up later. You got amazing results.

Oh wow, you can definitely see the difference. It blends much nicer now. Good to know that Sun-in might help.

Great job! So glad it worked out.

No Sun-In horror stories, promise, just wanted to pass along a message from my salon... Sun-In reacts terribly with any type of product that contains metallic salts/or such, so if you've used those in the past (color dye like Feria, etc.) than please DON'T USE SUN-IN!

:applause

Congrats! The color looks so much more uniform now!

I'm very happy for you! I've recently tried something similar and had similar results, congrats!:cheese:

Thank you all! I'm just so thrilled. It's so nice to feel that wearing my hair up isn't so god-awful ugly anymore because of the color difference. Part of the reason I wore my hair down on my wedding as I knew the color difference would look terrible in an updo (I'd have worn it down anyway, but that was just one more reason to).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wintersun99

Great job! So glad it worked out.No Sun-In horror stories, promise, just wanted to pass along a message from my salon... Sun-In reacts terribly with any type of product that contains metallic salts/or such, so if you've used those in the past (color dye like Feria, etc.) than please DON'T USE SUN-IN!

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Very wise! Hence the strand testing to make sure that any residual dye in my ends wouldn't go wonky. It says right on the bottle not to use on color treated hair, and my henna and cassia have always been 100% pure, no scary boxed stuff.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lexx

I'm very happy for you! I've recently tried something similar and had similar results, congrats!:cheese:

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ooOOooo do post pics please! I figure I'll post more if I do more Sun-In, and if anyone else tries this, I'd love to see their results too :)

HOLY COW!!!! This is good news for everyone who went t dark :)

Amazing! I didn't think sun-in would be strong enough, but apparently it is enough to remove a few shades. The henna must really react with it! Great job!

Niteshade - your hair is lovely! And thank you for taking the time and posting your results. A huge wealth of information is on these boards. I love your hair - envious! smile...

Your hair looks fantastic.

If you want to help prevent hair damage, should you try this again, I suggest a light coconut oiling, followed by a light argan oiling, used as a pre treatment.

Coconut oil alone has been reported to work with bleach and conventional hair colour,
Bianca - bleach and then conventional colour
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...&postcount=111

her thread
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...ad.php?t=16279

and argan oil chelates more copper than coconut oil, http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...&postcount=249.

Neither oil has interfered with peroxide in 8 reports, http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...&postcount=258, which have all been positive.

Blowdryers today, do not get hot enough to really fry hair.
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...&postcount=262

:bigeyes: What is metallic salt??

I've loved your hair from the first time I saw your signature photo, I've never thought of your ends as being too dark. That said, congratulations on the results, the lighter red suits your skin beautifully! :flowers:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lora410

HOLY COW!!!! This is good news for everyone who went t dark :)

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That was the hope!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lapushka

Amazing! I didn't think sun-in would be strong enough, but apparently it is enough to remove a few shades. The henna must really react with it! Great job!

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I was surprised as well. I'm not sure what the upper limit is without lots of damage, but I went several shades lighter with no ill results!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kdaniels8811

Niteshade - your hair is lovely! And thank you for taking the time and posting your results. A huge wealth of information is on these boards. I love your hair - envious! smile...

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Thank you so much :flowers: And double thank you for using envious rather than jealous ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ktani

Your hair looks fantastic.

If you want to help prevent hair damage, should you try this again, I suggest a light coconut oiling, followed by a light argan oiling, used as a pre treatment.

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Thank you for the info :) I may have to try that. I have coconut oil, but no argan on hand.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aisha25

:bigeyes: What is metallic salt??

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It's a catch-all term for several compounds that are in some "henna hair dyes" to push the color outside the range normally possible with henna. You can read more about them here.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Michou

I've loved your hair from the first time I saw your signature photo, I've never thought of your ends as being too dark. That said, congratulations on the results, the lighter red suits your skin beautifully!

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Thank you :blossom: It's been a long struggle for accepting them and then I just said to hell with it :lol: And the copper does suit my skin much better, I'm warmed toned, so the cool darker henna just made me look ill.

I love your result, your hair actually looks more silky now (is that possible) and much more equal.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aisha25

:bigeyes: What is metallic salt??

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Do you mean metallic salt hair dyes?

"Metallic salt dyes .... with us for a long time. The old paint and brush on hair dyes for gray hair used in the 1800s were metallic salt dyes. The basic ingredients .... not actually changed that much. Metallic salt dyes .... almost always contained a lead compound, but modern dyes contain a variety of other metals depending on the shade of color. When the metallic salt compound is applied to the hair the metal salts undergo a chemical reaction to deposit a colored film on the hair fiber surface. ...."
http://www.keratin.com/ai/ai020.shtml

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ktani

Do you mean metallic salt hair dyes?

"Metallic salt dyes .... with us for a long time. The old paint and brush on hair dyes for gray hair used in the 1800s were metallic salt dyes. The basic ingredients .... not actually changed that much. Metallic salt dyes .... almost always contained a lead compound, but modern dyes contain a variety of other metals depending on the shade of color. When the metallic salt compound is applied to the hair the metal salts undergo a chemical reaction to deposit a colored film on the hair fiber surface. ...."
http://www.keratin.com/ai/ai020.shtml

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I never knew things like hair dyes and hennas can have metal in them. sounds so harsh to put these onto the hairs:(

Wow, you really got great results. :flower:
I was thinking about using Sun In in 2007 when I got tired of my dark red length, but didn't try it. I ended up cutting and bleaching, but if I had knew about this things would have been different.

Your hair was beautiful before and it is even more beautiful (if possible) now :)

Metallic compounds was maybe a better "catch" term... I don't know... maybe this will help. It basically has something to do with ingredients used in what is known as "compound Henna" or some chemical hair dye (usually the direct deposit dyes, Feria for example)

Cosmetic hair compositions

Very inspiring and interesting! I'm starting to hate how dark the henna on my length has gotten and I've been thinking about trying different lightening methods.

Your hair was beautiful before, but is still just as beautiful. :thumbsup:

FWIW, I think the coppery shade is more natural-looking. Great result, and most encouraging for those of us who've gone too dark with henna. (there are quite a few, I think). Also it's nice to go a bit lighter in time for Spring in a few weeks. :D

Wow! I am so happy for you Nightshade! I have been thinking about trying something similar with a peroxide/condish mixture to lighten my too dark henna a bit more. I had a lot of success lightening it that way when I first henna'ed, but it is still too dark. I have been scared to try again since the henna has fully oxidized now, but if you can get yours to lighten than I am certain that I could do something with mine! Woot! Methinks that it is time to start strand testing...

I love that copper colour Nightshade. I've always admired hair that colour and I'm a nut for ginger men! Well done you, I'm glad you're so much happier with the colour now. :D

Wow looks great Nightshade. Congratulations. :cheese:

Peroxide for the win! :thumbsup:

I have two questions:

1. What volume peroxide is sun-in? And what else is in it?
2. Do you see a greenish cast on the part that you treated?

I don't see a greenish cast in your pics - but I saw a definite dirty/greenish cast with 10vol peroxide on my hair. (I had bad experiences with 30vol btw, far too damaging). I've never been able to figure out if the green cast was my natural pigment showing up, or trace amounts of indigo showing up, or how the henna itself reacts to peroxide. So I'm curious about that.

:cheer: I'm hoping this will help other too-dark henna heads :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by iris

Peroxide for the win! :thumbsup:

I have two questions:

1. What volume peroxide is sun-in? And what else is in it?
2. Do you see a greenish cast on the part that you treated?

I don't see a greenish cast in your pics - but I saw a definite dirty/greenish cast with 10vol peroxide on my hair. (I had bad experiences with 30vol btw, far too damaging). I've never been able to figure out if the green cast was my natural pigment showing up, or trace amounts of indigo showing up, or how the henna itself reacts to peroxide. So I'm curious about that.

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1: No idea what volume it is. here's the ingredients:
Water, Hydrogen Peroxide, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Chamomilla Recutita Flower Extract (Matricaria), Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract, Linum Usitatissimum Seed Extract (Linseed), Hydroxyethyl Cetyldimonium Phosphate, Dimethicone PEG 7 Phosphate, Glycerin, Quaternium 80, Panthenol, Silk Amino Acids, Polysorbate 20, Fragrance, Benzoic Acid, Disodium EDTA

2. Nope, no greenish cast at all :D

Thank you so much for all your research, Iris. It was what inspired me to give this a go!

It looks very nice! Interesting to read how you achieved it.

Nightshade, that's great! I'm glad it worked for you! I'm toying with the idea myself, although I need to lighten the hair rather the henna, so this won't work for me.
Just a little question if you may - will you add a picture of your lightened new hair in daylight? It would be more color accurate.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nightshade

:cheer: I'm hoping this will help other too-dark henna heads :)

1: No idea what volume it is. here's the ingredients:
Water, Hydrogen Peroxide, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Chamomilla Recutita Flower Extract (Matricaria), Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract, Linum Usitatissimum Seed Extract (Linseed), Hydroxyethyl Cetyldimonium Phosphate, Dimethicone PEG 7 Phosphate, Glycerin, Quaternium 80, Panthenol, Silk Amino Acids, Polysorbate 20, Fragrance, Benzoic Acid, Disodium EDTA

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Conventional peroxide, unlike natural peroxide is stabilized, so the Vitamin C in the aloe gel will have no effect on it.

If you try the oils as a pre treatment, the coconut oil first, because it is absorbed into the hair better than argan oil, I think, you should not get the same dryness and tangling, based on the 8 reports with coconut oil alone, so far. Slip was reported instead of the hair feeling stripped.

Agan oil to me, based on the P&G research and my own research on its properties, should be a bonus and reduce any damage further, because it chelates copper so well and according to P&G, copper is responsible, along free iron (from the honey research I found), for free radical damage to hair and skin, caused by hydrogen peroxide.

Where to buy argan oil and more, including the 8 reports on coconut oil used as a pre treatment.
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...&postcount=250

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Heidi_234

Nightshade, that's great! I'm glad it worked for you! I'm toying with the idea myself, although I need to lighten the hair rather the henna, so this won't work for me.
Just a little question if you may - will you add a picture of your lightened new hair in daylight? It would be more color accurate.

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Please pardon yet another filthy mirror in my household. They always look clean until I take a picture in them :P

Oh, and fwiw, the winter sunset here is weak, so the other photos I posted are more color accurate :)

Before:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...ictureid=20634


After:
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f8...g?t=1233008377

No green at all, hmmm, that's interesting. :ponder:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nightshade

Thank you so much for all your research, Iris. It was what inspired me to give this a go!

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You're very welcome! I'm so glad it worked for you!

Nightshade, thank you very much for posting this. It's an inspiring example of how going slowly can have really good benefits.

I am so glad that this worked. It is a credit to Nightshade for following the posts in detail iris made on doing this, that paved the way for this result.