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

[Alley Cat]

Wow looks great Nightshade. Congratulations.

[iris]

Peroxide for the win!

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.

[Nightshade]

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

Peroxide for the win!

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.

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

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

[cindy58]

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

[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.

[ktani]

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

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

[Nightshade]

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.

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:



After:

[iris]

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

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

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

[KaeleyAnne]

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

[ktani]

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.