The answer is, it depends. And are you sure you really want to?
I discovered henna for hair when I lived in San Francisco. If you read my earlier blog entries, you’ll discover my love affair firsthand.
This is the color and state of my hair before I went the henna route. It’s mostly my natural color; I intermittently got a highlight here or there, but they mostly all faded and grew out and got bleached by the sun. It’s pretty dry, especially at the ends.
My mostly natural hair color before henna
And this is what my hair looked like after doing henna on it for two years (full-head applications each time — so the ends have probably been treated with henna a dozen or more times). I didn’t maintain that length the whole time, by the way; it was collarbone length for a while. Nice and shiny, eh?
This is the result of two years of consistent, full-head henna coloration over blonde hair.
Now don’t get me wrong, I was in love with my henna head. I loved the color, the conditioning, taking time to do something nice for myself every six weeks or so.
But moving back from San Francisco to Reno, I was in for a surprise. In the Bay Area, henna made my hair silky soft and shiny. In Reno, time and time again, it would dry out my hair for days afterwards. Olga, a HennaTribe friend from Germany, has said multiple times that henna gave her hair the texture of straw. I had no idea what she was talking about until I started hennaing my hair here in the Nevada high desert.
I modified my mix, but to no avail. My hair was inconsolable.
The only theory I could come up with was humidity. What if henna absorbs moisture? In San Francisco, it would absorb it from the air and transfer it to my hair. In Reno, though, the air is bone dry. Perhaps the henna drew moisture from my hair and transferred it to the air? Or, perhaps the henna residue that coats your hair for a few days post-coloring wasn’t able to remain very supple without that ambient moisture to support it. I should note here that my hair softened up after a few days, and it was still incredibly shiny. But that first week or so, I was not liking it at all.
Anyway, henna wasn’t doing my hair any favors here in the desert, so I decided to make an experiment out of it and see if I could get it bleached back to blonde.
Very important note: If you don’t know exactly what is in your henna for hair paste, DO NOT BLEACH OVER HENNA. Lower quality or mass-produced henna sold for hair often contains metallic salts. Metallic salts plus bleach will melt your hair. You will leave the salon bald. My stylist described it like using a hot curling iron on a synthetic wig. Not pretty.
Anyway, I’m not good with chemicals at home, so I went to my stylist to see if she could help me out. She was extremely reluctant to try it because she didn’t want to melt my hair. I told her that I would take all responsibility for any negative results, so ahead we forged. I always bought my henna from Darcy at the Henna Lounge, using body-art quality henna for my hair, so I knew I didn’t have to worry about additives.
It took us three major bleach applications in a row to get the henna out. This was not a very pleasant experience, because I have a pretty sensitive scalp. I left the salon with chemical blistering on my scalp and hairline (ouch!). Also, if you’ve ever used bleach on your hair, you probably have an idea of what it did to the texture of my hair. My notes from that day:
So it is possible to bleach years and years of henna back to blonde. However, I wouldn’t recommend it. The morning I took this photo I was crying because of how much my hair was breaking.
However, I’m fixing that with hardcore deep reconstructing and conditioning treatments!
Long story short, here’s the result of bleaching out my henna:
After the henna was bleached out
It was damaged enough that I ended up cutting it, but lots of deep conditioning treatments helped while I let the damaged parts grow out.
It’s been about two years now since I bleached out my henna, and I’m just now growing my hair back out. I missed the color a lot, though, so I recently went to an Aveda salon and got demi-permanent red. Leaving the salon, I looked in a mirror and got so incredibly nostalgic! The Aveda red is like a naturally toned-down shade of henna red, and the Aveda products did make my hair noticeably softer. I’ll have to post a photo for comparison’s sake soon. 
Thus ends the frightening tale of a head of henna, a move to the high desert, and three industrial applications of bleach.
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Amazing color! What brand of henna did you use?
It’s henna from Darcy at http://www.hennalounge.com. Her henna is top quality and always fresh, I looooove it.
i do need to ask, what recipe did you used to use to get that shade of red or did it just darken over time? i used to use permanent dye of that similar colour till it was discontinued on me and theres so many reds you can get from what you add to henna that i dont know which will get the the result i want. my hair is also naturally blond and very light.
Hi Candice! My recipe was pretty basic. I mixed pure henna powder with chamomile tea and my favorite conditioner and let it sit for about 4 hours. I applied it like this about once a month over my whole head. I noticed that adding either coffee or essential oils like lavender or tea tree oil will make it very slightly browner, which in my case I didn’t want. The chamomile gave it a little more golden undertone. Keep in mind that henna hair color is sort of translucent — it’s like nail polish in that you get that really rich henna color after you’ve done two coats. It also darkens a bit a few days after you apply it, so expect that very first coat to be a little bit orangeish for a day or two.
Good luck, and have fun!
thank you very much!
did you go to the salon for the bleaching or did you do it yourself?
i put henna in my hair months ago and it is no where near as bright as what yours was… but i tried bleaching my hair last night and it did not turn out the way i expected.
i dont know if i should dye it again or just wait for it to grow out….
pls help
I went to the salon. Bleach is pretty finicky under good circumstances, and bleach over henna (or any red hair coloring, I’ve discovered) is pretty tricky. I also have sensitive skin and wanted to avoid frying my scalp as much as possible.
You could always go to a salon to see if they could help you out. A possible solution would be to get demi-permanent hair color while it’s growing out to even the tone. Then when the last bits of henna/bleach have grown out, you can let the demi-permanent color fade.
Hey! I love your hair! Ive been dying mine with henna about two months now and its kinda orangey and I love that deep crimson red you had, now i just use straight henna with lemon juice nothing else added, just curious as to what i should be adding to get that awesome colour.
Thanks Shawna! How long are you leaving it in before washing it out? I got that color after 2-3 treatments (each about 2-3 weeks apart) where I left it on my head for 4+ hours. If you can’t leave it on that long, it might simply take more applications.
Regarding my recipe, I didn’t use lemon. My favorite results were using henna + chamomile tea + conditioner.
You might want to make sure you’ve got good quality henna too! My favorite supplier is HennaLounge.com.
I usually have been leaving it on about 2 hours. I will definitely start leaving it on longer and try your recipe Thank you so much!
Ok another question, I read that the tea makes the dye release faster so I may not have to leave it overnight, how long after mixing it should I wait before applying?
Hey Elaine! I know this is a pretty late post, but a few a question:). I went to the henna lounge website and clicked on their hair hennas. There are a few different types, so could yu specify what henna it was? A direct link would be great. That red was so beautiful I wanted to make sure I was buying the same product as you!
Thanks so much!
Mikal
Hi Mikal! I actually used body art quality henna. Here’s a link for Henna Lounge’s Rajasthani henna powder. The Body Art Quality product in the hair section, here, should be the exact same thing. Henna Lounge has awesome henna powder, so you’re in good hands ordering there.
Did you use 100% henna or a mix of henna and cassia? I’m a fan of henna but I’d like to try and get a colour that firey I’m just not sure if I should mix my henna with something else or not. (I really don’t understand what the difference between copper and red hair is when people describe how they mix). Love the red though.
I used 100% body art quality henna mixed with warm chamomile tea. The chamomile gave it golden undertones on my hair. Cassia is colorless, so it would probably dilute the red a little and you’d end up with your hair color plus a translucent red (so strawberry blonde if you’re blonde; auburn if you’re brunette). Also, keep in mind that my final red color was achieved after three full applications. The first application I did on my dark blonde hair was orange for the first day, then a pretty coppery blonde after the henna oxidized. I’d classify copper as a less saturated red with yellow or orange undertones. You can see what I mean if you check out my henna for hair archives.
I have dyed my hair with pure henna for about a year now and I’ve become so busy in my work I have little time to get around to dying with henna. I want to go darker and so I was wondering that if instead of bleaching could I dye a synthetic black over it? Or is it necessary to bleach it first? Just wondering!
-Nyaida
Aveda /henna question: I used henna for years and loved it, then with three kids to attend decided to try Aveda. Now its gotten so expensive… My last full head color was six weks ago. Anyone tried henna so soon after Aveda color? Ive heard (from whom I not sure.!) that the results may be disastrous…?
Nope, going darker is easy — just color right over it. Keep in mind that the color might turn out slightly differently on the hennaed hair than on your roots, though.
I haven’t, but using henna over an existing hair dye wouldn’t necessarily be disastrous — the color just might be a little different than what you’d expect, as it’s blending with both your natural color (on the undyed roots) and the colored length. Just remember that henna is a trial-and-error process, so be patient with it. If you get good quality henna, it won’t harm your hair, it’s just that the actual end color can be difficult to predict.
i already hennaed my hair once over my natural hair color which is a light brown or dark dark blond. the result was a nice dark copper color. but now its getting darker and i want bright red. like paramore Haley williams red. can i add anything to my henna to make it bright red??? or should i bleach my hair then use henna for a bright red head or will it turn bright orange?? i would bleach it and then the next day henna it and leave it over night.my henna has nothing added to it its just 100% pure henna !! also if i add food coloring cool aid will it make it redder
The best way to get Paramore red is probably a combination of bleach and normal, chemical hair color.
The closest you could get with henna would be to bleach your hair and then henna over it twice. Your first application will start out orange. Also — it’s totally not worth it to bleach henna out of your hair if you’ve done it more than once. It’s so hard on your poor head!
before 7 months iwas put on the my hair black henna now i want chenge it mattblondi. how can i do it?
Hey Elaine! That red in the after photo is exactly what I’ve been going for for the past two years or dying my hair with traditional color. SO GORGEOUS!!!! Sorry I’m a little behind everyone else here, but I was just wondering if you could tell me exactly what product you used so that I can order it…. I clicked the link you left in the above comments but got a “site under construction” page.
Oops! Try this link instead. And have fun!
It depends on what was in the henna. If you don’t know whether it really was 100% all natural ingredients (you can’t always trust the box), there’s a good chance that using chemical coloring on your hair will melt it.