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

**Nightshade** · January 28th, 2009, 10:16 PM

Originally Posted by Celebrian

Celebrian-

Yep... town tomorrow, for me

Originally Posted by kwaniesiam

You are my hero. I've been thinking about lightening my hair since using SPFX blood red on it, and now that there's a way to do it I'm going to go for it. Not for a while, still have to test of course, but this certainly sounds promising, your hair looks amazing and that is quite some drastic difference!

I'm very excited to hear results from other people even it it's just reporting in on strand tests

It really IS a big difference, and I just smile whenever I see it down in the mirror and the length has this beautiful coppery glow rather than the ruby red/burgundy sheen.

**Palms** · January 28th, 2009, 11:59 PM

Originally Posted by Nightshade

Palms, I'm really sorry to hear about how your henna's gotten too dark.

A few things:
I'm not a natural blonde, I'm a brunette, but the lighter cassia/henna mix tends to make my hair look lighter than it is.

STRAND TEST Please don't run out and buy Sun-In and try it right away despite the temptation. The only way you'll know what you're going to end up with is to take shed hairs, and make sure they're all lined up the same way (sticking the roots to a piece of tape works well). THEN apply the Sun-In (make sure you have a control strand test too as the comparable thinness makes it a poor comparison to the stuff on your head).

I recommend going back and reading how I did this, most importantly how I did this over the course of two months after I spent lots of time strand testing.

It's worth the time up front and it may well save the condition of your hair

ETA: I'm just curious what you mean by "black henna" since there really is no such thing, only henna (which dyes red) and indigo (which dyes blackish). Do you know what brand of henna you used, or what vendor you get your products from? I'm just concerned that if you used a henna compound that your hair may react with the Sun-In (which goes back to why strand testing is important).

thanks Nightshade, i have memorized your way by heart

i do the strand test on my head!!! is that wrong? i do it in hidden places frmo my hair. i am just waiting till i get my Sun-In and till that time i am pampering my hair.. probably today I'll do some protein treatment like mayo mask or they caramel treatment or something.. i know this lightening will stress the hair right?..

**Aditi** · January 29th, 2009, 12:08 AM

Lovely hair and color too

**jessie58** · January 29th, 2009, 01:04 AM

Well whatever the heck you did, it sure looks good, gah, your hair is pretty.

**Palms** · January 29th, 2009, 05:55 AM

an update on a previous test i did to remove henna:

before yesterday and out of curiosity, i tried to test the lemon juice way for lightening henna, i was planning to test on my head but something happened and i couldn't leave the juice for more than 12 min, so i tested lemon on shed hair, i left it in the diluted lemon juice mixed with coconut oil for more than 12 hour!! the hair was looking great -i expected it'll dry out but was extremely nice, but the main point is that the color almost didn't change that much at the time almost nothing at all!!! But as i was checking yesterday, the strand test i tested on are waaay lighter!! it became strawberry blonde!! from very very dark henna almost black to strawberry blond!! it seems it oxidized or whatever happened but it wasn't the same as this the day before!! and amazingly though i left it for more than 12 hours in the lemon juice it was in a good condition!! i am so amazed by this!!
just thought you might like to know!!

of course i am not going to do it on my head, but i thought the Sun-In with lemon Juice might have the same effect! can't wait to put my hands on it!!

testing testing testing

**iris** · January 29th, 2009, 06:03 AM

Originally Posted by twilight

that is... brilliant.

i've been seriously pondering how to remediate the excessive darkness of the ends of my hair (which are due to switching from hendigo to just henna). i wasn't about to bleach, so i figured i'd just live with it...

but i am definitely inspired to try out this method. sun-in is a pretty tame product, despite its peroxide content. *prepping test strands as we speak*

thanks!

Indigo really is a different animal - peroxide doesn't seem to work well on indigo - so I'm curious to see what you'll get!

**kwaniesiam** · January 29th, 2009, 06:37 AM

I have a few questions. I have a bit of roots showing, but the rest is a very even nice color, the particular color however is just a bit dark for me. Would applying sun in carefully to my entire head be best or should I take care and avoid my roots? I'm starting to scrounge up shed hairs now, so it'll be a while before I get enough for a test but I figured I'd ask in advance.

**NurseMama** · January 29th, 2009, 07:21 AM

Nightshade,

I am wondering if there is something about Sun In and the heat process itself that helps lighten or if 20-30V peroxide mixed with condish would have a similar effect? I have peroxide and I will be trying that out on a strand this week once I get a big enough hairball, but it occurred to me that it might not work without heat. A bonnet dryer would be ideal, but as I don't have one of those I was thinking about breaking out the hairdryer. Right now I am really wishing that the Sun In package stated what type of peroxide that it contains!

**Nightshade** · January 29th, 2009, 07:52 AM

Originally Posted by Palms

an update on a previous test i did to remove henna:

before yesterday and out of curiosity, i tried to test the lemon juice way for lightening henna, i was planning to test on my head but something happened and i couldn't leave the juice for more than 12 min, so i tested lemon on shed hair, i left it in the diluted lemon juice mixed with coconut oil for more than 12 hour!! the hair was looking great -i expected it'll dry out but was extremely nice, but the main point is that the color almost didn't change that much at the time almost nothing at all!!! But as i was checking yesterday, the strand test i tested on are waaay lighter!! it became strawberry blonde!! from very very dark henna almost black to strawberry blond!! it seems it oxidized or whatever happened but it wasn't the same as this the day before!! and amazingly though i left it for more than 12 hours in the lemon juice it was in a good condition!! i am so amazed by this!!
just thought you might like to know!!

of course i am not going to do it on my head, but i thought the Sun-In with lemon Juice might have the same effect! can't wait to put my hands on it!!

testing testing testing

That is very interesting, and as Iris said, Indigo is a bit of a different animal. I'm sure many people looking to lighten their indigo and not have it go green will track that closely! (Heck, I don't use indigo and I'M interested!)

Originally Posted by kwaniesiam

I have a few questions. I have a bit of roots showing, but the rest is a very even nice color, the particular color however is just a bit dark for me. Would applying sun in carefully to my entire head be best or should I take care and avoid my roots? I'm starting to scrounge up shed hairs now, so it'll be a while before I get enough for a test but I figured I'd ask in advance.

I guess the question here is- are you going to continue to henna your roots the same color as your length, or are you looking to switch to a lighter mix and start applying that to the roots? In my case I'm working towards the goal of just hennaing the roots with a lighter blend, so there was no need to lighten the roots. Does that make sense?

Originally Posted by NurseMama

Nightshade,

I am wondering if there is something about Sun In and the heat process itself that helps lighten or if 20-30V peroxide mixed with condish would have a similar effect? I have peroxide and I will be trying that out on a strand this week once I get a big enough hairball, but it occurred to me that it might not work without heat. A bonnet dryer would be ideal, but as I don't have one of those I was thinking about breaking out the hairdryer. Right now I am really wishing that the Sun In package stated what type of peroxide that it contains!

It would be nice if the Sun-In package was more specific

The conditioner/Peroxide and heat would be an interesting test. I know Iris mentioned that when she tried peroxide she got a sightly green effect on the hair, so I'd be keen to see what results you get with peroxide + heat.

**Heidi_234** · January 29th, 2009, 07:59 AM

From what Iris told me, hydrogen peroxide + conditioner didn't work much. The greenish cast she reported was probably due to the hendigo she had. In my peroxided hairball wasn't much green effect, it's light brown with blond streaks.