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

[Nightshade]

I'm glad you guys found it helpful and are enjoying the results

[Scarlet_Heart]

Hey hey! I wanted to add my experience lightening henna with Sun In/hydrogen peroxide.

I started out henna-ing three years ago with no specific color in mind, I didn't really think about the build up... so of course I ended up going too dark. I lightened once about a year ago, and was fairly happy with my less burgundy but still deep red. But recently I've become enamored with bright orangey reds, so I whipped out my supplies again!

I went from this:

To this:

In one night plus about 5 hours.
My process is quite a bit different from Ms. Nightshade's. I soaked my hair in plain old 3% hydrogen peroxide (the main ingredient in Sun In) after a heavy coconut oiling, and left it under a showercap overnight. I also layered a sleep cap and wool beanie on top to enhance and trap body heat. When I woke up my hair was just slightly damp, so I rewetted and relayered for another 4-5 hours. I CO-ed the coconut oil out and that was that!
I don't own a hairdryer, so I tried to improvise, and I'm happy to say it worked!

I still need to tweak it a bit, I'm thinking a 30/70 henna/cassia application to redden it back up just a bit.

Sorry for the long post, thanks to Nightshade for the idea/inspiration!

Alright, Ms. Gratitudinous, I'm going to give this a shot! I've oiled up my hair and drenched it in hydrogen peroxide, wrapped it up all warm, and we'll see what happens. I'm only going to leave it on for about 5-6 hours. I could always do it again. Thank you for posting this!

[Nightshade]

Good luck! Let us know how it works out ^_^

[Scarlet_Heart]

Good luck! Let us know how it works out ^_^

It worked a little bit! Not quite as dramatic as Gratitudinous, but I think that's because my hair is darker to begin with and has more layers of henna. I think I'll do a little hydrogen peroxide on the darker ends of my length after the next few washes and see if it gradually lightens it up. Right now my crown is much lighter than my length, like yours was to start.

ETA: For what it's worth, on my length I didn't see a ton of lightening but it sure did tone down the cooler burgundy tones. It really warmed it up.

[Quezie]

I'm thinking about doing this!
I was planning on using regular 3% hydrogen peroxide, and I'm wondering if this will be better/worse than using sun-in.
Also, this is a silly question, but since hydrogen peroxide opens the cuticle, is it necessary to close to cuticle after, like with a vinegar rinse? Or is it best to just wash and condition after the treatment?

[Nightshade]

I haven't used 3% peroxide, but there's people in this thread who have.

I found a wash, condition and a rinse with cool water to be enough, but I don't think an ACV rinse would hurt

[redsiren]

I used peroxide, it worked really well! But after my hair lost a lot of it's shine, I think that has to do with it opening up the cuticle, so I think an acv rinse after would be a good idea (my hair is fine now, I used a heavy protein hairmask an a henna treatment, a lighter colour of course, and now it looks like it always did)

[DancingGirl]

The bun evolution is amazing!

[Nightshade]

Thank you so much

[lanyzoldcipoben]

It used henna and indigo. The length of my hair darker. I would like like like red roots. A mixture of henna and cassia get this lighter red color. I want to try the hydrogen peroxide lighten. But it scares me how much damage the hair. I want to use conditioner mixed with 5% hydrogen peroxide. Sante Brilliant Care Conditioner. Is it so lighten my hair?