I'm a reformed hair dye junkie thanks to LHC & Feye I'm on a new journey - no colour except my own.:)

I know that most girls here enjoy having their hair it's natural colour..... but what about those that do colour-what do you use? ;)

Over the past year, I've used henna twice. Love it and it loves my hair. And it doesn't change the color except to give off red highlights in the sun.

The only reason I color is to cover the grey. I have it professionally done. She uses a permanant color on the new growth, then some other type on the rest to blend it in. My hair really lightens, especially during the summer, thus the length must be touched up unless I want really light colored hair :rolleyes:

Henna only - I've used it more or less regularly for the past two years. I have light brown hair with reddish overtones to start out, so it's more of an enhancement of the red that's already in there than a totally different color.

I like being a redhead - many actually believe it's my natural color. Henna is good in that way - it gives a make-believe color on most people. Your natural color is always there as a base, henna only puts a reddish shimmer over what you already have there. That's why you have as many final results as there are people out there - unlike regular haircolor that will produce more or less the same result on everyone.

/Fia

Fia if you use henna on lighter coloured hair do you still get the same red tones?

Totie,

yes - you get the red tones. The lighter your base the more pronounced the red will be. As a general guide line this what you'll get with pure henna:

blonde - fire red
dark blonde - light red
light brown - reddish brown
brown - mahogany
dark brown - chestnut
black - red reflexes in sunlight

Try it on a strand from the nape of the neck to see what the results would be. It's quite easy to hide if you don't like the color it produces. The longer you leave it on, the more color you'll get and the more red tones you'll get. The shorter you leave it on the milder the color and the more yellow tones you'll get. I usually leave mine on close to four hours (I'm actually with henna in my hair when writing this - it's about time to rinse).

Different henna batches can also give slightly different results depending on when they are harvested, where the henna is from etc. It has never been a problem for me.

Application and rinsing can be a chore for some people. I prefer extracting the color from the leaves and to make a gel from the colored liquid. Takes more time to prepare, but it's a lot easier to apply and rinse plus it stays better on the hair. Let me know if you're interested in guidelines.

/Fia

I use a perm hair colouring, only on the roots to cover grey. I "shield" my length from the colouring by applying jojoba oil on it and then covering the jojoba with conditoner.

Hugs,

Teechia

I'm a reformed hair color junkie--now I'm a henna girl!

henna here :)

I am a hair dyin' fool. Permanent Ultresse for me, Lightest Golden Blonde, 11G for me!!!!!!!!!!! :D

I use semi-permanent dye on the roots and henna on the length. I tried using only henna for a few months, but it just doesn't cover the new growth very well. Fortunately for me, I've had no problems with using both henna and semi-permanent dye on my hair. I always strand test before using either, just in case there's a weird reaction.

:jestor:

bunniee

former dye junki e- check out my sig - but thts not even half the colors i've been -

I'm higlighting my hair with ruby red and copper tones and then I think I when that starts to fae out - i'm gunna play with henna

I just have to interject here… Even though I don’t colour my hair now, I just have to warn everyone! I think that lemon juice is the main culprit for that my hair became so damaged that I started to consider chopping it all of. :(
Even the harshest bleachers you can buy contain some sort of a conditioner specially designed for that bleach. Lemon juice just strips off all the oils and doesn’t even lighten it that much. Please don’t do it!!!
I know a lot of people think that natural is better, but when it comes to bleachers its not!
Just look at the labels- lots of long names of chemicals. There’s a reason why they make stuff like this in a lab and not just put lemon juice in the bottles, even though it would be cheaper and easier.
Lemon juice is *bad*!

I just have to interject here… Even though I don’t colour my hair now, I just have to warn everyone! I think that lemon juice is the main culprit for that my hair became so damaged that I started to consider chopping it all of. :(
Even the harshest bleachers you can buy contain some sort of a conditioner specially designed for that bleach. Lemon juice just strips off all the oils and doesn’t even lighten it that much. Please don’t do it!!!
I know a lot of people think that natural is better, but when it comes to bleachers its not!
Just look at the labels- lots of long names of chemicals. There’s a reason why they make stuff like this in a lab and not just put lemon juice in the bottles, even though it would be cheaper and easier.
Lemon juice is *bad*!

Hehhee, I agree!! I had some semi-permanent brown color in my hair that I wanted to get out fast, and I used lemon repeatedly.. also lemon EO which is very concentrated.. It did dry out my hair!! My ends are still a bit dryish, although I've been trimming them. The color would actually have gotten out anyway because my hair doesn't hold color very well, if I just had the patience to let it wash out naturally.
Jollie

I voted henna, but I've only used it a total of about 4 times in the last 2 years. It's tiring!

I tried Clairol's Natural Instinct the last time I colored. It was so much kinder to my hair, and I can alternate with permanent color. I don't want to use any more hair color with ammonia and the next time I'm coloring my hair I'm going to use Naturtint, a permanent hair color with no ammonia. I've used it before and it worked pretty well.

I'm a very recent henna convert. I would recommend it over chemical coloring any day!

Tea Lady

Ummmm--I don't use anything. I'm going gray naturally and finding it a very interesting experience! :D

I use permanent Garnier in Very light blond!
Touch up only the roots. Hair at waist length and my goal is to have them at tailbone or longer!
I love being blond!! :D

permanent dye to cover the grey and add a bit of a kick to the color.

cheryl

I've just started coloring again. After over a year of growing out
the grey, I only hated it more and more. The mix of grey with
my natural dark brown made my skin tone look muddy and as it
got longer I could not style it in a way where it didn't
look straggly with the grey (much of my grey is coarser
and curlier than my dark brown strands).

So I used Revlon High Dimension in Dark Brown this past
weekend. A little warmer than my natural color but it
looks much better than it did. And I look like I un-aged about
10 years. :D

That's great!! :D