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

**Nightshade** · January 29th, 2009, 01:45 PM

I'm feeling the need to reiterate this from my first post, since it is so long:

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, " 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.

Really, I'm not joking at all.

BE SMART PLEASE! Strand test and TAKE YOUR TIME.

**kwaniesiam** · January 29th, 2009, 01:51 PM

That does make sense, thank you Nigthshade

I'm going to be using a different, lighter mix on my roots, so I'll try to avoid getting the sun in on them, and rather than cause even MORE henna buildup on the length, lighten it before I go for a new henna mix to even the color out. Thanks!

**Freija** · January 30th, 2009, 04:48 PM

Originally Posted by Nightshade

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

I've used peroxide on my hair quite a bit in conjunction with henna - my hair's still shortish and so I've been willing to experiment more. I'm pretty sure you've hit the nail on the head; that the peroxide is lightening the hair itself. Before my last trim, some of my ends looked translucent when held up to the light, yet they were definitely still henna-red - and besides, I've never had much, if any dye runoff after a peroxide session.

It's great to know that sun-in can offer that extra lift for people who have applied just one too many times (or fallen asleep with the henna on - it's easy to do!). I'm really pleased this has worked for you!

**kwaniesiam** · January 31st, 2009, 12:58 AM

Since (supposedly) the peroxide is lightening the hair itself under all that henna, would that cause it to be even brighter in the sunlight?

**Nightshade** · January 31st, 2009, 01:15 AM

Originally Posted by kwaniesiam

Since (supposedly) the peroxide is lightening the hair itself under all that henna, would that cause it to be even brighter in the sunlight?

If the pics I posted earlier in sunlight are any indication, then yes

**2BThinAgain** · February 1st, 2009, 10:05 PM

Thanks for posting this about the heavy coconut oiling and then using a heavy cassia only pack afterwards. I have got into some trouble putting commercial box dye on my hair and it is a plum purple right now..driving me crazy. I'll try this as soon as I can and get back with you.
Thanks,
Deb

Originally Posted by Javadandy

Your hair looks great! I am glad you stressed a few things in your thread:

1. Don't rush - take your time. A lot of time lightening can continue after the initial lift has taken place. You went slow and had control.

2. It worked for your color perfectly, you knew your goal was reasonable. You weren't expecting a total lift in the color.

When I was in high school, I wanted to be blonde ( ha ha ha ) I used sun-in heavily on my med-dark neutral brown hair - and I got "Hi C" o r a n g e without the depth or beauty of even the bozo-est orange Jamilla application. Then it broke off. What you describe is the smart way to sun-in! I wasn't smart about it, but that was a long time ago, thankfully.

You have a great example for those who need to tweak. Thanks!

Ktani - I have successfully reduced the purple tones of henndingo by using a heavy coconut oiling followed by a heavy cassia only pack. Coconut oil IMHO is a great way to take away henna build up and tweak color as well.

Thanks again for the great information. I love this place!

**Palms** · February 2nd, 2009, 02:38 AM

hi Nightshade, i have started to feel that the black henna i used to use wasn't indigo!! it is starting to fade and the red tone is appearing, as if the sun-in has removed the black henna and now i'm on my dark red henna now!! this is due to the fact that i hennaed my hair then i applied the "black henna".. , i think i might go for another session in a couple of days to start lightening the remained henna this time..

**Gothic Lolita** · February 2nd, 2009, 07:03 AM

Nightshade: First, thanks for both sharing your method and willingly taking such a risk on your beauiful hair. I already loved it before, you were one of my first hair-favourites when I started reading LHC!

I don't know how many times you applied henna, so maybe that's a factor too in the process of lightening. I've got about 6 layers of very light henna glosses on reddish brown hair. I like the color while standing in sunlight but it doesn't llok reddish at all when I'm indoors.

Do you think that it is possible to lighten things a bit up an then rehenna with my new henna/cassia gloss? I'd love to get the beautiful copper I have in sunlight indoors! Or would another application of henna somehow interfere with the peroxide?

And: Since the sun-in already contains water, could one add a bit more water to dilute the peroxide even further?

**Nightshade** · February 2nd, 2009, 07:42 AM

Originally Posted by Palms

hi Nightshade, i have started to feel that the black henna i used to use wasn't indigo!! it is starting to fade and the red tone is appearing, as if the sun-in has removed the black henna and now i'm on my dark red henna now!! this is due to the fact that i hennaed my hair then i applied the "black henna".. , i think i might go for another session in a couple of days to start lightening the remained henna this time..

Well, if it isn't indigo and you think it may be a standard PPD dye, perhaps you should try something like ColorFix? THat may pull the black out and make it so you don't have to do so many Sun-In treatments

Originally Posted by Gothic Lolita

Nightshade: First, thanks for both sharing your method and willingly taking such a risk on your beauiful hair. I already loved it before, you were one of my first hair-favourites when I started reading LHC!

I don't know how many times you applied henna, so maybe that's a factor too in the process of lightening. I've got about 6 layers of very light henna glosses on reddish brown hair. I like the color while standing in sunlight but it doesn't llok reddish at all when I'm indoors.

Do you think that it is possible to lighten things a bit up an then rehenna with my new henna/cassia gloss? I'd love to get the beautiful copper I have in sunlight indoors! Or would another application of henna somehow interfere with the peroxide?

And: Since the sun-in already contains water, could one add a bit more water to dilute the peroxide even further?

Thank you so much for the compliments! I'm so happy, for the first time in years I'm really, honestly HAPPY with my hair

I probably had about 6-8 full head hennas on my hair, using Rajastani and Prabada henna. So there was quite the buildup going on there before I switched to roots only with the lighter henna/casia gloss.

I think if you did some lightening you should be able to do a henna/cassia gloss without any signifiant darkening to the color. You may not need to though, as the peroxide isn't removing the henna so much as I think it's just lightening the hair underneath, so you may wind up with your ideal color. I can see wanting to do the henna/cassia for the conditioning benefits, though

And I would think that you could dilute the Sun-In further, though I'm not sure if that would offset any magical ratio or not. Part of me thinks no (unless you REALLY diluted it) as you're supposed to apply it to "damp" hair, and that's a pretty loose term to start.

**Gothic Lolita** · February 2nd, 2009, 11:07 AM

Thanks for your response. I think while I'm strand testing I'll also test if one can dilute the Sun-in. And I'll check if damp or wet hair makes any difference.

Eek, on the German brand bottle it says that you can leave on the Sun-In up to 10 hours. For an "extremly natural result, just like beach hair" you should even go out tanning with it. Ten ours of peroxide plus sun? Perhaps the enterprise making Sun-In also makes wigs....